Story highlights "The person who sent it has been properly counseled," a Trump aide said

"Nobody really knows" if climate change is real, Trump said

(CNN) Donald Trump's transition team is disavowing a questionnaire sent to the Energy Department requesting the names of employees working on climate change issues.

"The questionnaire was not authorized or part of our standard protocol. The person who sent it has been properly counseled," a Trump transition official told CNN Wednesday.

The Trump team has been criticized for asking for the names of federal government employees working on climate change issues. The vast majority of scientists have repeatedly concluded human activity has contributed to climate change. At least 97% of actively publishing climate scientists agree that "climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities," according to NASA.

"Any employee of the Department of Energy that has been working on climate science over the last 8 years is actually doing their job. It would be irresponsible not to deal with the issue," Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey Wednesday told CNN's Carol Costello on "Newsroom."

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