As Trump abdicates U.S. leadership on climate change, Asia is filling the void

The United States once stood as the global beacon of scientific excellence. From the Manhattan Project and Apollo missions to mRNA vaccines, American institutions led the charge in understanding and confronting the planet’s most pressing challenges. But today, that leadership is eroding. 

Nowhere is this loss of U.S. leadership more visible than in the realm of climate science.

The partisan assault on climate research has deepened under President Donald Trump’s second term. His administration — as sadly predicted — dismantled Biden administration-era climate offices, rescinded the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases and began repealing the 2009 endangerment findings — the legal foundation for climate rules. 

Advisory boards have been gutted and replaced with petroleum industry allies, sidelining independent scientific expertise. These moves signal a deliberate effort to replace evidence-based policy with politically driven narratives.

Over 100 National Science Foundation climate grants have been terminated, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget was slashed by nearly a third and NASA contracts supporting the U.S. Global Change Research Program were canceled, halting work on the next congressionally-mandated National Climate Assessment. 

Long-term monitoring programs, such as oceanic and atmospheric research, are being dismantled, creating dangerous gaps in climate data just as extreme weather events intensify. 

Seemingly with no purpose other than to demoralize the scientific community with a symbolic dagger through the heart, the famous laboratory atop Hawaii’s Mauna Loa peak, which has been measuring rising carbon dioxide concentrations since 1958, has been shut down. 

Scientists in the U.S. are increasingly marginalized in policymaking. Trump’s Gold Standard Science executive order claims to restore integrity but instead places political appointees in charge of scientific review. Reports commissioned by the Department of Energy and authored by handpicked climate deniers downplay climate risks and are used to justify regulatory rollbacks.

Federal websites have scrubbed references to “climate change” while administration officials amplify misinformation through partisan media, framing climate action as economically destructive.

At the same time, however, Asia is rising.

Asian governments are investing heavily in climate resilience, renewable energy and environmental research.

China recently announced its first absolute emissions reduction target, pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 7% to 10% by 2035 from its expected 2025 peak. The plan includes a rapid scale-up of wind and solar capacity, boosting non-fossil fuels use to over 30% of energy consumption, and accelerating electric vehicle adoption. President Xi Jinping framed the move as “credible and deliverable,” signaling China’s intent to lead in global climate governance. Indeed, China’s export of clean energy infrastructure to the rest of the world is driving down global carbon emissions. 

In stark contrast, Trump has dismissed such commitments as a “con job,” arguing that international climate agreements disadvantage U.S. industries.

China, Singapore, South Korea, and, increasingly, Hong Kong, are building world-class institutions that attract global talent. Established in 2020, the Institute of Energy at Peking University is accelerating renewable energy adoption and developing strategies for carbon neutrality. 

The Earth Observatory of Singapore leads a $50 million Climate Transformation Program that monitors climate processes, biodiversity, mitigation, engineering solutions for sea-level rise and climate finance.

These nations understand that climate change is not a distant threat — it is a present crisis that demands urgent, science-based solutions.

City University of Hong Kong is building a climate and sustainability institute. Of the first 20-plus assistant professor candidates interviewed so far, half came to Asia from leading U.S. universities, including Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

There is a good reason why Asia is taking this issue seriously. Hong Kong’s climate crisis has reached alarming levels in 2025. The city endured its hottest September on record, with a mean temperature of about 85 degrees, nearly 3 degrees above normal. Torrential rain shattered historical norms: the Hong Kong Observatory issued five black rainstorm warnings, its most urgent, in just over a week, surpassing the previous annual record of three. On Aug. 5, daily rainfall hit 14.5 inches, the highest for August since records began in 1884. Typhoon activity was equally extreme: Hong Kong faced nine typhoons, another record broken, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which triggered the rare No. 10 Hurricane Signal twice in one year, which hasn’t happened since 1964. 

If the United States continues to sideline science, it will not only lose its intellectual edge but it will also jeopardize its ability to protect its citizens from the accelerating impacts of climate change. The floods in Texas, the wildfires in California, the hurricanes punishing the East Coast — these are not anomalies; they are harbingers.

Science must be restored to its rightful place: at the heart of public policy, education and innovation. The U.S. still has extraordinary scientists, institutions and resources. But unless it recommits to climate leadership, it will watch from the sidelines as others shape the future.

Asia is not waiting. And neither is the climate.

Benjamin Horton is dean of the School of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong and a leading coastal scientist specializing in sea-level change and coastal resilience. Michael E. Mann is the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is co-author with Peter Hotez of the newly released book, “Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten our World.”