Comments on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent report, “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate.”

Climate Central argues that the Department of Energy (DOE) report, “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate,” fails to represent the scientific consensus and should not serve as a policy basis. The organization asserts that the DOE report selectively ignores two decades of scientific developments and omits major international assessments. Specifically, Climate Central contends that the DOE understates the link between human-caused climate change and the increasing intensity, rainfall, and rapid intensification of hurricanes, as well as the acceleration of sea-level rise. It further argues that the DOE's analysis of temperature extremes is misleading by focusing on the 1930s Dust Bowl era without global context and that its assessment of wildfires in the western U.S. is incomplete. Finally, the document disputes the DOE's claims regarding solar variations and the validity of extreme event attribution (EEA) methodologies, while arguing that the DOE's use of GDP to downplay disaster costs ignores the increasing physical hazards of climate change.

• The DOE report is not representative of the scientific consensus and omits major international assessments and scientific developments from the last twenty years, making it unsuitable as a basis for policy.
• The DOE report understates the impact of climate change on hurricanes by focusing on frequency rather than changes in characteristics such as intensity, rainfall, and rapid intensification.
• The DOE report's analysis of U.S. temperature extremes is misleading because it emphasizes the 1930s Dust Bowl era as a regional anomaly without providing the broader global context of cooler temperatures during that period.
• The DOE report provides an incomplete assessment of wildfires in the western United States, omitting evidence that anthropogenic climate change has increased burned areas, fire season length, and fuel aridity via vapor pressure deficit (VPD).
• Contrary to the DOE report's claims, peer-reviewed research indicates that sea-level rise is accelerating globally and around the contiguous U.S., and that human activity is the dominant driver.
• The DOE report incorrectly asserts significant uncertainty regarding the role of solar variations in climate change, whereas the IPCC AR6 concludes that solar activity is not a significant contributor to long-term trends.
• The DOE report's use of GDP to suggest that disaster costs are manageable does not refute the fact that climate-driven hazards—such as the frequency of billion-dollar disasters—are increasing.

APA

Climate Central (2025). Comments on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent report, “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate.”. https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/1zRRPSP5ymvP6yfgQ21Tob/0aba25c08ac3d2cccc1be856f8e369a0/DOE_report_public_comments.pdf

Chicago

Climate Central. Comments on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent report, “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate.”. 2025. https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/1zRRPSP5ymvP6yfgQ21Tob/0aba25c08ac3d2cccc1be856f8e369a0/DOE_report_public_comments.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Climate Central |title=Comments on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent report, “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate.” |date=2 September 2025 |url=https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/1zRRPSP5ymvP6yfgQ21Tob/0aba25c08ac3d2cccc1be856f8e369a0/DOE_report_public_comments.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{climatecentral2025comments, author = {{Climate Central}}, title = {{Comments on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recent report, “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate.”}}, publisher = {Climate Central}, year = {2025}, month = sep, url = {https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/1zRRPSP5ymvP6yfgQ21Tob/0aba25c08ac3d2cccc1be856f8e369a0/DOE_report_public_comments.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }