It's not a great time to be a climate scientist.

That was the general sentiment hanging over the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in downtown Washington this week, write Zack Colman and Chelsea Harvey.

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to do his worst to unravel climate policy when he retakes the White House next month. He has pledged to re-exit the Paris climate agreement, dismantle his predecessor's landmark climate law, and roll back environmental regulations across the government.

That has rattled the 25,000 researchers attending the world's largest science conference. They fear censorship, funding cuts and layoffs.

"Everybody at AGU is nervous," Jill Brandenberger, climate security program manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, told Zack and Chelsea. "The unknown is what makes people nervous."

The first Trump administration tried to undo or weaken environmental rules. But its success was a mixed bag and while many federal agencies erased references to climate change on their websites, they largely plodded on with related work.

Dozens of scientists at the conference told Zack and Chelsea that they were concerned Trump 2.0 could be even more antagonistic toward their work, especially after the Biden administration gave climate research a financial shot in the arm.