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The Trump administration quietly released key climate change data last week that has historically been accompanied by expert analysis from government scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, CNN has learned.
The lack of context minimized the government's own findings that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide — the most abundant planet-warming gas in the air — jumped up by a record amount in 2024.
Instead of issuing a public-facing web story with an explanation of the annual measurement, as the agency has at this time of year for about a decade, NOAA public affairs officials scuttled those plans and instead released the new data on X and Facebook on April 14, sources at the agency told CNN. The social media posts link to NOAA's CO2 data-tracking web page.
The episode, along with recent budget and staffing cuts, illustrates the Trump administration's resistance to publicly distributing climate change-related data. The posts on X and Facebook, for example, did not call attention to the record-high rate of year-over-year increase in CO2 concentrations.
NOAA has also suspended monthly climate press calls during which scientists would discuss global temperatures and the reasons for particular trends. There is no indication NOAA limited its scientists' ability to speak with the press about the annual CO2 data.
A NOAA spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.
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📷: Charlie Riedel/AP/File
