On 31 July 2018, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum outlining the Trump Administration’s research and development (R&D) “priorities.” Notably absent from the memorandum is any discussion of climate change. This is a marked departure from previous versions, issued during the Obama administration, which identified “global climate change” as a key R&D priority. Graphic: OMB

6 August 2018 (Silencing Science Tracker) –  On 31 July 2018, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum outlining the Trump Administration’s research and development (R&D) “priorities.” The memorandum is intended to “provide[] guidance to [federal] agencies as they formulate their Fiscal Year 2020 budget submissions.”The memorandum indicates that federal R&D funding should be “focused primarily on basic and early-stage applied research.” It identifies eight “R&D Priority Areas” as follows:

  1. Security of the American people;
  2. American leadership in artificial intelligence, quantum information sciences, and strategic computing;
  3. American connectivity and autonomy;
  4. American manufacturing;
  5. American space exploration and commercialization;
  6. American energy dominance;
  7. American medical innovation; and
  8. American agriculture.

Notably absent from the memorandum is any discussion of climate change. This is a marked departure from previous versions, issued during the Obama administration, which identified “global climate change” as a key R&D priority.

Climate Change Omitted from List of White House R&D Priorities