President Donald Trump on Tuesday sought to cast doubt on a UN report on climate change that had dire warnings about how little time we have to stop a global catastrophe.

Trump suggested that the world's climate might actually be "fabulous" and that he'd seen reports expressing that position.

The UN report outlines the effects of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Trump has previously called climate change a "hoax," and last year he announced he would pull the US out of the Paris climate accord.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday cast doubt on a United Nations report warning that we have just 12 years to curb climate change by suggesting it wasn't more credible than reports that say the environment is "fabulous."

The UN report, which is based on more than 6,000 scientific references from 91 authors across 40 countries, outlines the impact of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. It warns that the world is rapidly running out of time before the planet will see catastrophic effects.

Drafted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN's climate-change body, the report calls for "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society."

Trump said on the White House lawn on Tuesday that the UN report "was given to me."

"And I want to look at who drew it, you know, which group drew it," he said.

He suggested that other reports were as valid as the UN's, though he did not specify any.

"I can give you reports that are fabulous, and I can give you reports that aren't so good," Trump said.

Trump has previously called climate change a "hoax" and tweeted in 2012 that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive."

Activists protested after Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate accord last year. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

As president, Trump has been unwilling to take steps to curb climate change that he feels would damage some industries.

Last year, he announced he would pull the US out of the landmark Paris agreement on climate change. The accord, signed by 195 nations in December 2015, set a global goal of keeping the planet from warming by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Trump's decision was met with condemnation from several world leaders.

"We are going to be environmentally friendly, but we're not going to put our businesses out of work, and we're not going to lose our jobs," Trump said at the time. "We're going to grow."