Donald Trump told his fellow G7 leaders on Friday that he's a strong environmentalist – boasting of awards he received while he was a real estate developer.

Speaking to reporters in Italy, Trump's chief economic adviser said the president had 'reiterated his views on the environment' during a family-dinner-style meeting with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK.

'He did – quote – say: "The environment is very, very important to me, Donald Trump. I care a lot about the environment",' Cohn recalled.

'He talked about environmental awards that he has received in the past. So he didn't want anyone to think that he didn't care about the environment. He very much cares about the environment.'

PolitiFact asked the White House just last month to substantiate Trump's occasional campaign-season claim about winning green accolades.

They came up with two, both dating back to 2007.

President Donald Trump bragged to the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK that he's won environmental awards – but the only ones on record are from nine years ago and concern golf course land

'The environment is very, very important to me, Donald Trump. I care a lot about the environment,' Trump told French president Emmanuel Macron (pictured) and the leaders of the world's other industrialized economic superpowers

Trump spent his Friday in working sessions with the other leaders, talking about economic, security and global environmental issues

That year his Bedminster New Jersey Trump National Golf Course won an environmental award from the Metropolitan Golf Association – not from Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council or the EPA.

The organization praised the golf club for 'the preservation of a dedicated 45 acre grassland bird habitat on the property, as well as intensive erosion control and stream stabilization management plan.'

Trump also won the 'Green Space Award' awarded in 2007 by the Friends of Westchester County Parks.

That prize came after he donated more than 400 acres of land to the state park system – specifically to create the Donald J. Trump State Park.

The land was originally slated to become another golf course, but environmental permitting get in the billionaire's way because of wetlands on the property, and its proximity to a drinking-water reservoir that might have become polluted by landscaping chemicals.

Trump ultimately scrapped the golf course, chastising a town supervisor for doing 'a terrible disservice to your constituents who have sadly lost out on a tremendous opportunity.'

Three years later, amid a round of budget cuts, the state of New York decided not to keep maintaining the land. The park itself remains largely undeveloped.

One of Trump's two environmental awards actually went to a New Jersey golf course bearing his name, for preserving a bird habitat and controlling soil erosion

The other award was a thank-you for donating land to the New York state park system for an installation bearing his name in 2007. The state stopped maintaining the land three years later, and it remains largely undeveloped.

On Friday, Cohn insisted that Trump's love for the planet would always come second to his campaign pledges about job creation.

'He reiterated that China and India are countries that we have fallen behind in some ways, in some nature, in the world of manufacturing and job creation,' the White House economist said Trump had told the G7 leaders. 'And he didn't want to be in a second place when it came to job creation.'

But Cohn then tripped over his own tongue, describing a campaign 'promise' as a campaign 'problem.'

Trump 'ran on the policy of job creation and improving the lifestyles of the lower-income and middle-income families,' he said.

'And he was committed to following through on his campaign problem - promise, not problem - promise! Say promise! - promise of creating a better job environment in the United States and more job mobility.'

White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn (left) briefed the press in Taormina, Italy along with National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster

Cohn plunged ahead without skipping a beat, saying that when green values and the prospect of bringing greenbacks into American communities came into conflict, he would side with the latter.

'To the extent that the environment, environmental restrictions were having input in that,' Cohn cautioned, 'that was something that he deeply needed to consider.'

Trump also addressed his thoughts about whether the U.S. will remain subject to the Paris global warming treaty, Cohn said.

'The president hasn't made that decision,' he cautioned, but 'is thinking about what his options are.'

Trump, Cohn said, told his fellow leaders that he 'would rather take my time and understand the issues, and then get to the right decision on that.'

'His views are evolving,' Cohn said. 'He came here to learn and get smarter.'