Climate change alarmists have been likened to a fanatical 'cult' by an MIT professor of meteorology.

Dr Richard Lindzen told a Massachusetts-based radio station that people who believe in global warming are becoming more hysterical in their arguments.

'As with any cult, once the mythology of the cult begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical,' he said.

Dr Richard Lindzen (right) told a Massachusetts-based radio station that people who believe in global warming (stock pictured left) are becoming more hysterical in their arguments. 'As with any cult, once the mythology of the cult begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical,' he said

'You've led an unpleasant life, you haven't led a very virtuous life, but now you're told, you get absolution if you watch your carbon footprint. It's salvation.'

According to Howie Carr at Breitbart, the 74-year-old highlighted reports by Nasa that 2014 was the hottest year in recorded history.

He points out that the Nasa climate scientists who made the claim was only 38 per cent sure this was true.

'Seventy per cent of the Earth is oceans, we can't measure those temperatures very well,' he said. 'They can be off a half a degree, a quarter of a degree.

In 1990, the UN's climate panel predicted with ‘substantial confidence’ that the world would warm at twice the rate that has been observed since. The IPCC report found that, by the end of the century, the emission of greenhouse gases will bring temperatures that are about 3.7°C (6.7°F) warmer

THE IPCC CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was published in November. It said continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes. This will increase the likelihood of 'severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems.' Such impacts include extreme weather and rising sea levels, heat waves, flooding and droughts. Ocean acidification, which comes from the added carbon absorbed by oceans, will harm marine life. Without changes in emissions, 'climate change risks are likely to be high or very high by the end of the 21st century.' At the current rate, by mid-century temperatures will increase by about another 2°C (3.6°F) compared to temperatures from 1986 to 2005. By the end of the century, that scenario will bring temperatures that are about 3.7°C (6.7°F) warmer. The impact on the Earth could already be considered dangerous, the report claimed. Advertisement

'Even two-10ths of a degree of change would be tiny but two-100ths is ludicrous. Anyone who starts crowing about those numbers shows that they're putting spin on nothing.'

Dr Lindzen was a lead author of Chapter 7, 'Physical Climate Processes and Feedbacks,' of the IPCC Third Assessment Report on climate change.

But he has previously blasted the IPCC for blaming humans for a global warming trend that appears to have cooled in recent decades – and then glossing over the warming slowdown.

'I think that the latest IPCC report has truly sunk to level of hilarious incoherence,' Dr Lindzen told Climate Depot – a site known for questioning the theory of global warming.

A number of studies have suggested that powerful winds in the Pacific Ocean, which have driven surface heat deep underwater, could be the reason behind the current 'pause' in global warming.

The IPCC has said that rising temperatures will exacerbate poverty and damage land and marine species.

It also claims that the world is in 'an era of man-made climate change' and has already seen impacts of global warming on every continent and across the oceans.

On Tuesday, President Obama said that 'no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change'.

He has pledged that he would veto legislation turning back White House efforts on the environment.