This fall, when the World Meteorological Organization confirmed the grim news— a record 3.5 parts per million annual increase in the global concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—there was a somber, unspoken backstory.

As the WMO compiled the numbers, it was preparing for the possibility that the central player in that monitoring effort—the United States—could withdraw at any time.

Just weeks after President Donald Trump returned to office in January, the White House budget office circulated a memo outlining its plan for an unprecedented cut to funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with climate research taking one of the biggest hits. The president’s budget proposal , released in May, gave details: a 30 percent slash in agency funding, including the

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