The Trump administration axes funding for climate impacts on health research

A growing body of evidence points to mounting health risks posed by climate change. Despite this, it seems the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will quit funding that kind of research. ProPublica first reported the news on Monday, citing internal records that the investigative outlet viewed.

NIH gave directions to staff members last week that likely puts a stop to any more funding for new academic programs or research into the impacts climate change has on health, according to ProPublica. It remains to be seen whether the new directive will affect active grants. But it follows news last month from Mother Jones that the Department of Health and Human Services halted funding for three existing climate and health programs at NIH. That includes the Climate Change and Health Initiative launched in 2021 that supported research into the health effects of wildfires, heat stress, and virus transmissions through mosquitoes, to name a few projects.   

The moves threaten efforts to protect Americans from more extreme weather and other disasters made worse by climate change, public health advocates warn. 

“This is a direct attack on our health, on the science that keeps us protected,” Juan Declet-Barreto, Bilingual Senior Social Scientist for Climate Vulnerability at the Union of Concerned Scientists, tells The Verge.

Kids born in 2024 can expect “poorer air quality, hotter days, and lifelong social and community disruptions from climate change,” according to a US policy brief from health journal The Lancet, which publishes an annual report on health and climate change.

Smog, for instance, forms when air pollutants — nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds — react with each other in sunlight. Hot, sunny days speed up that chemical reaction, which is why global warming is expected to lead to more smog across much of the US. Declet-Barreto also points out that extreme heat is already the leading weather-related killer in the US, and that climate change is intensifying heatwaves, storms, and floods. Exposure to both smog and prolonged heat can be detrimental to a person’s respiratory health and exacerbate existing conditions like asthma or COPD. And that’s only a few of the many ways the effects of climate change can take a toll on the human body.

“HHS is taking action to terminate research funding that is not aligned with NIH and HHS priorities. At HHS, we are dedicated to restoring our agencies to their tradition of upholding gold-standard, evidence-based science,” HHS deputy press secretary Emily Hilliard said in an email to The Verge.

Mountains of research show that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are causing climate change. President Donald Trump, however, has repeatedly called climate change a hoax, and campaigned on a platform to “drill, baby, drill,” while accepting tens of millions of dollars in funding from the oil and gas industry. Since taking office this year, Trump has quickly moved to stop funding for clean energy and climate action and roll back dozens of regulations on pollution — moves advocates have also warned puts Americans’ health at risk.