Sierra Club report finds science of climate change accepted by leaders of every country recognized by US – including Bashar al-Assad and Kim Jong-un

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Donald Trump would be the only national leader in the world to dismiss the science of climate change should he become president, putting him out of step even with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea.



The potential isolation of the US on climate change has been laid bare by a new Sierra Club report which found universal acceptance of climate science among the leaders of the 195 countries recognized by the US state department.

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Close US allies such as Britain, Israel, Canada and France all have heads of government who have voiced their understanding that the world is warming primarily due to human activities.

Even totalitarian or undemocratic leaders accept mainstream climate science, with Assad calling for nations to “respond more effectively” to the issue and Kim supporting a tree-planting initiative to mitigate greenhouse gases. The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, has labelled climate change a “major global challenge”.

By contrast, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has called global warming “bullshit” and a “hoax” that was “created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing noncompetitive”.

Trump has vowed to remove the US from the Paris climate accord, which was agreed by 195 countries last year in an attempt to curb planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions. He has also threatened to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency, which has come under sustained fire from Republicans over its role in Barack Obama’s emissions-cutting Clean Power Plan.



The Sierra Club report states that it is “essential that voters know that Donald Trump’s position on climate change is just another of his reckless, dangerous positions based more in reality TV than actual reality”. The environmental group said Trump’s stance would leave the US isolated on the world stage and undermine key alliances.

Trump’s pronouncements on climate change are also contrary to a large proportion of US voters, with recent Gallup polling showing a record number of Americans now see climate change as a threat to their way of life.

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Separate research released on Tuesday by Yale University found that 45% of Americans are either “alarmed” or “concerned” about climate change, with levels of worry reaching levels not seen since 2008. Trump appears to be speaking for a small but notable minority, with Yale finding that 10% of Americans are “dismissive” of climate change as an issue.

Hillary Clinton is likely to assail Trump’s position on climate change during the presidential campaign, with the expected Democratic nominee handed a new party platform that calls for a carbon price and hefty support for solar and wind energy.

In his endorsement of Clinton on Tuesday, Senator Bernie Sanders said the former secretary of state understood the need to transition away from fossil fuels.

Sanders said that Trump, on the other hand, “chooses to reject science – something no presidential candidate should do.

“He believes that climate change is a hoax. In fact, he wants to expand the use of fossil fuel. That would be a disaster for our country and our planet.”