AMS: Rescinding the EPA endangerment finding does not change the science on climate harm

When the EPA rescinded its 2009 Endangerment Finding - the legal determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare - it did not alter the physical record of the climate system. The American Meteorological Society said as much in a rapid response statement released shortly after the decision.

The AMS statement, representing an organization of approximately 12,000 professionals, students, and weather enthusiasts founded in 1919, reaffirms a set of scientific conclusions that the Society characterizes as extensive, robust, and thoroughly vetted. Those conclusions bear directly on the content of the now-rescinded finding.

What the AMS reaffirms

The Society's statement rests on several interconnected scientific points. Human activity is the primary driver of modern climate change, mainly through greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. The pace and magnitude of current changes exceed anything humanity is known to have experienced in the past 10,000 years. A stable climate underpins agriculture, water availability, infrastructure, and the natural systems that support human life - all of which are sensitive to change.

The AMS also states directly that harmful impacts are already occurring and that these impacts are expected to increase substantially, outweighing any localized or short-term positive effects.

On the evidentiary foundation: the Society notes that climate change is among the most comprehensively studied topics in the history of science. Thousands of researchers across dozens of scientific disciplines have investigated the climate system over decades. Independent scientific institutions worldwide have assessed the evidence and arrived at consistent conclusions. No broadly contradictory assessments from credible scientific organizations exist.

The policy-science distinction

The AMS statement draws a clear line between the policy decision - which elected officials and agency administrators have authority to make - and the scientific conclusions, which are not subject to administrative revision.

"The repeal of the Endangerment Finding does not alter the central unambiguous scientific conclusion: The climate change that people are causing threatens human lives and well-being," the statement reads. The Society argues that policy decisions serve the nation best when grounded in the best available scientific knowledge - and that the rescission moves in the opposite direction.

The 2009 Endangerment Finding was issued after the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA had the authority and potentially the obligation to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act if they were found to endanger public health. The finding provided the legal basis for a range of federal climate regulations covering vehicles, power plants, and other sources. Its rescission removes that regulatory foundation.

Where scientific consensus stands

The AMS's rapid response format signals the urgency with which the Society views the decision. The same scientific organizations - including the National Academies of Sciences, the World Meteorological Organization, and analogous bodies in dozens of countries - have repeatedly assessed the evidence and reached the same conclusions. That consensus has not shifted.

What has shifted is the regulatory policy built on top of that science. The practical consequences of the rescission will depend on subsequent legal challenges, congressional action, and state-level responses - questions that fall outside the AMS statement's scope. What the statement asserts is that neither the rescission nor the political environment surrounding it changes what the physical measurements and scientific models show about where the climate is heading and why.