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2020–2021 GSA-USGS CONGRESSIONAL SCIENCE FELLOW FINAL REPORT
Climate in the National Spotlight

For five years before starting as the GSA-USGS targets consistent with 1.5 °C warming? If those conditions, with
Congressional Science Fellow in the U.S. Senate, their origins deep in the field of climate science, were not met, the bill
I spent most of my time studying the physics and was not going to be acceptable physically, politically, or otherwise.
chemistry of the atmosphere as a Ph.D. student. It is not surprising that our field was given such a prominent seat
My days could not have been more different than at the table this past year. Climate science and climate change
those during my time in the Senate—long periods seemed to reach into the public consciousness more than at other
of reading, struggling with code to run and analyze point in recent memory. On top of the many notable and arresting
Charles Gertler simulations, performing calculations, and, when climate disasters of 2021, a new Intergovernmental Panel on
the time was right, writing. Despite rich collaborations with my men- Climate Change assessment report warned with increased precision
tors and other scientists throughout the world, my Ph.D. was largely of the consequences of continued global warming and stated with
a solitary and gradual pursuit, in stark comparison to the fast-paced lower uncertainty that present climate disasters were due to historic
teamwork reacting to often hourly changes that characterized my warming. The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to a humble
time in the Senate. giant in my field not far from Washington D.C., Professor Syukoro
And yet, the science I produced as a Ph.D. student was part of a “Suki” Manabe at Princeton. The presidential campaigns in the
body of work that I have been privileged to witness firsthand affect 2020 Democratic primary took bolder stances on climate than ever
decision making at the national level. This confirmed to me that many before. Perhaps due to this increased public awareness, advocates of
optimistic scientists are right to believe that science can shape the climate policy were more optimistic than they had been in at least a
largest decisions we make as a nation and society—that the slow pur- decade that major climate policy could be passed.
suit of new knowledge and higher precision creates a baseline of evi- These advocates are right to be optimistic, and despite the recent
dence from which to act. I also learned that the process of making political challenges to enacting climate legislation as conceived at the
those large-scale decisions could not be more different from the pro- end of 2021, should continue to be. One reason for optimism is that
cess of producing the knowledge that leads to them. I now appreciate while scientists worked to identify the problem of climate change and
even more that an understanding and experience with both processes refine our understanding of the risks to a point where policy makers
can lead to impactful work and outcomes. could act to deal with it, another group of thinkers worked to create a
While the fate of the Build Back Better Act remains undecided, menu of potential policy options to deploy, representing a broad swath
my responsibilities as a Congressional Science Fellow were dedicated of the political spectrum in their approaches. I learned through
mostly to certain climate provisions in that package that were priori- smaller-scale action on The Hill that a problem is not enough for our
ties of Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA), in whose office I served. political system to act—there must already be potential solutions
I witnessed targets that had been distilled by decades of scientific ready to deploy, and ideally a critical mass and broad coalition of sup-
research and public engagement on acceptable risks (e.g., 1.5 °C of port to address the issue. This is now finally the case with climate.
average surface temperature warming compared to preindustrial tem- History took place when the Build Back Better Act passed the
peratures, a net zero economy by 2050, 100% carbon-free electricity House on 21 Nov. 2021, regardless of whether the bill becomes law
by 2035) serve as both goalposts and litmus tests for the results of in that exact form. It was a privilege to see my own scientific field
complex negotiations. influence federal legislation at such close range, and as I continue to
To be sure, many scientists take rightful issue with such simplified pursue a career that enables climate action consistent with scientific
distillations of complex physics and social trade-offs. To be a climate knowledge, I will take numerous lessons from this experience with
scientist is to understand that there is no magical point of no return, me. Foremost among them is that simple thresholds that capture the
that each marginal bit of warming brings more changes to the climate essence of scientific knowledge—if not the full complexity—can
system, and that the farther we get from our baseline climate, the be useful and even necessary to achieve results in political negotia-
larger the unknowns about the behavior of the system and other tions. In addition, a problem in search of a solution is not enough
potential dangers. To be a climate policy professional is to understand for political action; potential solutions and political coalitions of
that those dangers are in large part a function of the social and eco- support are necessary for success. The tremendous amount of scien-
nomic structures that organize our society, which in turn are what tific work done to characterize climate change and to quantify its
lead to warming. We cannot promise with absolute precision how a risks with precision was effort on the scale of the problem, an
1.5 °C world would differ from a 1.6 °C world. undertaking that continues to serve the greater good.
But still, simple tests are remarkably useful for reaching a deal in
a multilateral negotiation, because they serve as markers to certify This manuscript is submitted for publication by Charles Gertler,
that all parties can be confident that their needs are being met. I fre- 2020–2021 GSA-USGS Congressional Science Fellow, with the
quently heard the question asked as to whether one party or another understanding that the U.S. government is authorized to reproduce
—be it a leader or a set of stakeholders—would be able to accept and distribute reprints for governmental use. The one-year fellowship
certain conditions. From my vantage point, in constructing the is supported by GSA and the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of
Build Back Better Act, climate science had as much of a seat at the the Interior, under Assistance Award No. G20AP00106. The views
table as the President; a climate bill had to be acceptable to the con- and conclusions contained in this document are those of the author
ditions determined by the science, just as the bill had to be accept- and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official
able to the major political entities pursuing its creation. The biggest policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. government. Gertler
question about the climate portion of the bill was, does this combi- worked in the office of Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and can be con-
nation of incentives and new programs reach emissions reduction tacted by email at charles.gertler@gmail.com.