It’s been 161 days since President Trump’s second inauguration.
In that time, US climate adaptation policy has been utterly transformed — and not for the better.
Today’s episode — recorded at the recent Adapt Unbound 2025 conference in New York — unpacks how the Trumpian crusade against climate science, overseas aid, and the federal government writ large is undermining US — and global — climate resilience.
Jonathan Cook, formerly Senior Resilience and Adaptation Advisor at USAID, and Jainey Bavishi, formerly Deputy Administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), explore the administration’s gutting of the US’s adaptation initiatives and hollowing out of critical climate data infrastructure. They assess what’s been lost, what can still be salvaged, and where new opportunities for action lie.
They also get into the real-world implications of losing public goods like open-source climate data, and what the retreat of federal leadership on climate adaptation means for the states, regions, and the private sector.
It’s a sobering listen, but an essential one for those wanting to understand where US climate adaptation goes from here.
👀 Adapt Unbound is coming to Europe! Join public and private sector leaders shaping the future of climate adaptation and resilience in Amsterdam this October 14 & 15. Learn more HERE
Listen below, download from the Podcasts page on Climate Proof, or tune in via Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
📝Want the transcript? It’s available exclusively to members. Upgrade your subscription then return here for access👇
We talk about:
👉 Why the privatization of public goods like the National Weather Service threatens to create new inequities in access to life-saving information
👉 How USAID’s evisceration has left a gaping hole in global adaptation capacity — and what other actors can do to fill it
👉 The prospects for unlocking private capital for climate resilience, and the limitations of relying solely on market forces
👉 How states and local governments have to now step up to embed resilience across all investments
👉 Why this moment calls demands a reframing of adaptation as an economic and financial imperative
Thanks for listening!
Louie Woodall
Editor
