President-elect Donald Trump has spent the past few days tapping climate-change deniers and fossil fuel executives to fill his presidential cabinet.

But on Sunday, he said he was "open-minded" about climate science, claiming falsely that "nobody really knows" what's happening to the planet.

"I've — look, I’m somebody that gets it," Trump told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace in a taped interview. "And nobody really knows. It's not something that's so hard and fast."

Wallace noted earlier that Trump called climate change "a hoax" during his presidential campaign, although in the interview the two men refer only to "the environment." The Fox News host pointed out that Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency — Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt — is suing the EPA to quash its landmark climate regulations.

Delegates at the Republican National Convention hold pro-coal signs on July 19, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. Image: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images



Wallace also recalled Trump's recent meetings with prominent environmentalists, including former Vice President Al Gore and the actor Leonardo DiCaprio. And he noted that Trump previously told the New York Times that he was "open-minded" on climate change.

"I'm still open-minded," Trump replied, according to a transcript of the conversation. "Nobody really knows."

But climate scientists say they do know. Really.

Centuries of data confirm that global warming is happening and caused mainly by human activities such as burning oil, coal and natural gas for electricity and motor fuel or clearing rainforests.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's most authoritative group of climate experts, has said it is "extremely likely" that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions have been the "dominant cause" of observed global warming trends since the mid-20th century.

Global average temperature departures from the preindustrial average. Image: World meteorological organization

Climate scientists might debate the pace at which global warming will accelerate in coming decades, or how quickly the ice sheets will melt and raise sea levels. Yet there is virtually no debate in the mainstream scientific community that humans are influencing the climate.

On Sunday, Trump also misspoke about the Paris Climate Agreement, a landmark pact that entered into force on Nov. 4.

Under the agreement, more than 100 countries have committed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels through 2100.

Trump had previously vowed to withdraw the U.S. from the global climate pact before backtracking in the Times interview, saying he was "looking at it very closely."

A thermometer isn't liberal or conservative; it doesn't give you a different number depending on whether you vote left or right. pic.twitter.com/C2DJdS7TeB — Katharine Hayhoe (@KHayhoe) December 3, 2016

He also told Wallace he is "studying" the Paris climate deal and that he may make a decision on the matter "pretty quickly."

"I do say this — I don't want that agreement to put us at a competitive disadvantage with other countries," Trump said in the interview.

"As you know, there are different times and different time limits on that agreement. I don't want that to give China or other countries signing agreements and advantage over us," according to the transcript.

There are not different times or time limits for the Paris Climate Agreement.

Instead, each nation independently established its own individual targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Together, those commitments should add up to achieving the common 2-degree goal, although so far countries are off pace to meeting that targets. In fact, an increase in temperatures is almost assured if emissions aren't cut further.

America set its own commitments in collaboration — not in competition — with China in 2014.

A worker installs solar panels in China's Shandong Province of China. Image: VCG/VCG via Getty Images



In a historic joint announcement, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled their countries' respective pledges at a ceremony in Beijing.

The U.S. has promised to cut its total greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

China has committed to "peak" its carbon emissions by 2030 and to make efforts to peak earlier. The country will also increase non-fossil fuel energy to 20 percent of its energy consumption within 14 years.

Trump's statements during the Fox News interview were some of his most extensive comments on the environment — and climate change in particular — since he was elected president last month. His remarks may unnerve other nations that are committed to the Paris treaty and were counting on the U.S. to participate and lead on this issue.