Biden rehires climate scientist fired by Trump after warning of $500 billion cost of global warming
The Biden administration has reinstalled the scientist responsible for publishing the government's most important reports on after he was dismissed during the final days of the Trump administration. The said Dr. Michael Kuperberg, an environmental scientist, was returning as the executive director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a post he had held for six years. His removal came after he oversaw production of the fourth edition of the National Climate Assessment. It warned of dire consequences for the U.S. if it failed to cut emissions or prepare for a warmer planet. And it said unchecked warming could trigger losses of hundreds of billions of -dollars a year, including crop damage, lost labor, and extreme weather damages. 'With continued growth in emissions at historic rates, annual losses in some economic sectors are projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century - more than the current gross domestic product (GDP) of many U.S. states,' it reported. The stark conclusions were reported to have angered the White House and he was ousted despite being midway through producing the fifth edition, due next year. His replacement, Davd Legates, was best known for playing down the severity of climate change and the human causes of warming. Kuperberg said he was looking forward to continuing his work on climate change. 'As a scientist, it's been my honor to serve the American people under Democratic and Republican administrations to help deliver science to inform solutions,' he said. 'And as a public servant, it's been my privilege to work with the nation's best scientists and policymakers, both inside and outside of government.' His return was announced a day before Biden signed an executive order directing the federal government to develop strategies to reduce the risk of climate change on public and private financial assets. Gina McCarthy, White House climate advisers, said: 'It means that Americans should be able to know the real risks that extreme weather and rising seas pose to the homes that they have invested in, or the small businesses that have been built up. 'It means that their hard earned retirement shouldn't be wiped out by the impacts of climate change or irresponsible investors.' Kuperberg's removal in November came as the Trump administration tried to undermine the federal government's definitive climate assessment. His replacement, Legates, triggered accusations that the administration was trying to shape its conclusions by installing loyalists. Within weeks, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy was forced to distance itself from climate change documents he published under its name. They addressed 'media misinformation,' doubts about computer modeling and claimed higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had increased farming yields. Legates and a colleague were dismissed soon afterwards. Jane Lubchenco, the top climate official at OSTP, welcomed Kuperberg's return. 'There is no doubt that the climate crisis is accelerating and if we're serious about tackling this crisis, we need proven scientific leadership that transcends politics,'she said. Trump frequently questioned the scientific consensus that humans were responsible for a changing climate. Instead he suggested that it was a Chinese hoax and set about promoting the use of fossil fuels. Even when he conceded climate change was real, he suggested the Earth would cool down by itself. President Biden has promised to put climate change considerations at the heart of his administration. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency admitted that humans were to blame for climate change as it released a report that had been blocked by Trump. The report showed that 2016 was the warmest year on record and 2020 was the second warmest. And the White House has set up a Scientific Integrity Task Force, which officials say will review lapses of scientific integrity and ways to remedy them.