In a letter, the Consumer Federation of America and 39 other organizations urged the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to keep their Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Database, which tracks and records disasters that have caused over a billion dollars in damages.

This resource has served as a vital tool for scientists, policymakers, insurers, emergency managers, and the public for over four decades. The loss of this tool would aggravate recent threats to public climate data, which threaten to drive up insurance costs for consumers already struggling to afford rising premiums.

With more areas becoming vulnerable to climate disasters as global temperatures climb, tracking and collecting data on climate disasters is essential to support resilience and adaptation planning by the public and private sector. NOAA plays a central role in aiding municipalities and homeowners disaster preparedness. As historical predictions become less reliable, the public needs greater access to climate and weather data—not less—to effectively prepare for the reality of increasing climate disasters