Energy Department’s Climate Office Now Avoids the Phrase ‘Climate Change’

The only office within the U.S. Department of Energy to have the word “climate” in its title has told staff not to use the phrase “climate change,” Politico reported on Wednesday. According to the D.C. outlet, staffers of the Office of International Climate and Clean Energy have been instructed to avoid phrases like “climate change,” “emissions reduction,” or “Paris Agreement” in written communications or in briefings. “No words or phrases have been banned for this office or anyone in the department,” an energy spokeswoman said, however, according to Politico’s sources, there haven’t been any formal bans on phrasing, but rather a general sense of avoidance for climate-related terms given the Trump administration’s antagonistic stance towards climate-change research and activism.