NASA Officially Joins Biden Administration's National Climate Task Force

On Thursday, NASA announced that it has joined the National Climate Task Force, which is the Biden administration's agenda for addressing climate change. NASA points out that it has spent decades studying Earth in addition to other celestial bodies, and it holds the distinction of being the only space agency with 'end-to-end research' on our planet.

On January 27, the Biden administration penned an executive order that aims to put 'the climate crisis at the center of' US national security and foreign policy. Among other things, the executive order established the National Climate Task Force, which will 'facilitate the organization and deployment of a government-wide approach to combat the climate crisis.'

NASA points out that it is in a unique position to directly observe Earth from space and use its many satellites to gather long-term data on our planet — in addition to the huge load of data it already has. The space agency likewise works with the USGS and NOAA.

Beyond its satellites, NASA says that it is also working on predictive modeling tech that'll be used to examine scenarios related to specific policies, as well as conducting research that'll help the government with understanding climate change and establishing sustainable efforts to address it.

In a statement on the matter, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies director Gavin Schmidt said:

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing us today. Given our unique ability to observe the planet from space and the long-term data records we've been able to assemble, NASA is in a prime position to inform policy decisions in the current administration and beyond.