Climate scientists have political agendas, US president says in interview with 60 Minutes

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump has reiterated his doubts about climate change, suggesting that the climate could “change back again,” and that climate scientists are politically motivated.

The US president has long questioned man-made global warming. In an interview with CBS programme 60 Minutes that aired Sunday night, he said that he no longer believes climate change is a hoax, as he tweeted in 2012.

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“I think something’s happening. Something’s changing and it’ll change back again,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a hoax. I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s manmade. I will say this: I don’t want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don’t want to lose millions and millions of jobs.”

The White House has previously declined to clarify Trump’s position. He tweeted in 2017 during a cold snap that “perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming.”

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!

Trump has said he will withdraw the US from the Paris agreement, an international pact to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, cars and industry. His administration is seeking to roll back all of the country’s significant climate efforts.

The president’s comments come as the record-breaking Hurricane Michael flattened communities in Florida and barely a week after an international coalition of scientists warned that it will be incredibly difficult to avoid the intensified heat waves, flooding and extreme storms that will come with higher temperatures caused by humans.

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Climate scientists say hurricanes are likely to grow stronger in warming oceans.

Asked about that, Trump said “you’d have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda.”

As for melting ice caps and rising seas, Trump said “you don’t know whether or not that would have happened with or without man.”

Global temperatures are already up 1C since industrialization. Keeping them from rising more than 1.5C and avoiding environmental catastrophe would require unprecedented action to begin phasing out fossil fuels within the next 12 years, according to the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change. At 1.5C warmer, seas could still rise 26cm to 77cm.

Much of Trump’s cabinet has questioned the scientific consensus that humans are causing higher temperatures that pose immediate and growing threats.

Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida this weekend also questioned how much humans are contributing to climate change. Rubio acknowledged temperature rises and swelling seas but argued inaccurately that “many scientists would debate the percentage of what is attributable to man versus normal fluctuations.”