Trump administration issues report confirming global warming

FILE - In this July 28, 2017 file photo, the sun dips below the horizon at midnight as trainee Maatiusi Manning takes in the view from aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails toward Greenland after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. After 24 days at sea and a journey spanning more than 10,000 kilometers (6,214 miles), the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica has set a new record for the earliest transit of the fabled Northwest Passage. The once-forbidding route through the Arctic, linking the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, has been opening up sooner and for a longer period each summer due to climate change. Sea ice that foiled famous explorers and blocked the passage to all but the hardiest ships has slowly been melting away in one of the most visible effects of man-made global warming. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) less FILE - In this July 28, 2017 file photo, the sun dips below the horizon at midnight as trainee Maatiusi Manning takes in the view from aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails toward Greenland ... more Photo: David Goldman, STF Photo: David Goldman, STF Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Trump administration issues report confirming global warming 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The Trump Administration released a sweeping federal climate report concluding that the Earth is warming at an alarming rate due to human activity.

The Earth is undergoing its warmest period “in the history of modern civilization,” fueled primarily by rising levels of carbon dioxide, according to the study Friday. It was released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which began under President Barack Obama and is mandated by Congress to report every four years on the state of climate change.

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The conclusions about melting glaciers, diminishing snow cover, ocean acidification and other results of a warming planet are hardly new. The central premise, that humans are to blame contradicts previous statements of President Donald Trump and many high-ranking members of his administration, who have questioned the scientific findings regarding climate change.

The White House declined to say whether Trump agreed with the report’s conclusions. A spokesman issued a statement saying the administration supports rigorous scientific analysis and debate.

“In the United States, energy related carbon dioxide emissions have been declining, are expected to remain flat through 2040, and will also continue to decline as a share of world emissions,” Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said in the statement.

Senators’ letter

Scientists had expressed concern that the White House would either alter the report’s findings or block its release. On Wednesday, nine Democratic senators sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, calling on the administration to refrain from political interference. In the end, the report was issued as the scientists wrote it.

“I am quite confident to say that there has been no political interference in the scientific messages in this report,” David Fahey, a research physicist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and coordinating lead author of the study, said on a conference call Friday.

It would not have been easy for the Trump administration to suppress or doctor the report, said Rachel Licker, a senior climate scientist for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists. The study is mandated by Congress under a 1990 law signed by President George H.W. Bush. It also underwent a rigorous review process including public comments and multiple federal agencies.

The report comes as the Trump administration has aggressively promoted fossil fuels and moved to dismantle federal programs to fight climate change. Friday’s report does not necessarily signify that will change, Licker said in an interview.

“This is a report that does not prescribe any policy action,” she said. “It does not tell America what to do. That’s up to policy makers in the administration.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Ryan in New York at jryan173@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Will Wade, Stephen Cunningham