Climate change models should not be used as policymaking tools because they are based on assumptions that can be easily manipulated to produce desired outcomes, according to economists and data analysts.

In January, President Biden issued an executive order that calls for federal agencies to account for the social cost of carbon, which is defined as the economic damages associated with a ton of carbon dioxide emissions over a specified time period. But key assumptions about the climate’s sensitivity to carbon dioxide emissions, future projects about climate impacts, and a mathematical concept known as the discount rate have all come under renewed scrutiny. That’s a problem for Team Biden since these assumptions all figure into the social cost of carbon.