Climate scientists urge others to take up CO2 tracking as US cuts loom

Proposed budget cuts in the US will lead to the loss of vital carbon dioxide measurements, but no other countries are preparing to step in so far, researchers warn

By Michael Le Page

15 July 2025

Carbon dioxide measurements at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii could be halted by US spending cuts

NOAA

Scientific agencies in other countries must prepare to take over as much of the key carbon dioxide monitoring services currently carried out by the US as possible, climate scientists are warning.

This monitoring could end next year under planned budget cuts, resulting in the loss of crucial data. “At the moment I’m not aware of anyone saying, ‘Okay, we can do it. We will take over’,” says Pierre Friedlingstein at the University of Exeter in the UK. “It has to be done.”

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Friedlingstein leads the Global Carbon Budget, an international effort to quantify exactly how much CO₂ is being emitted and how much is being taken up by the land and oceans – crucial factors for understanding Earth’s rising temperatures.

This work relies heavily on the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is being targeted for budget cuts by the Trump administration. A budget document for fiscal year 2026 proposes to eliminate the agency’s spending on climate and weather research and cut its full-time staff by more than 2000 people. It also proposes to shut down laboratories including Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, a key site for CO₂ monitoring.

“The NOAA GML [Global Monitoring Laboratory] greenhouse gas programme is the backbone of global carbon observing, which serves many roles,” says Ralph Keeling at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.