Twenty-two professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have written to Donald Trump to say that climate change poses a serious risk to humanity, disavowing a retired colleague who claimed it did not.

The letter was sent after Richard Lindzen, an emeritus professor at the renowned institute, urged the President to withdraw the United States from international efforts to limit global warming, claiming such actions were not justified by the science.

Professor Lindzen is one of only a handful of actual climate scientists who disagree with the overwhelming consensus among experts on the issue — that climate change is real and will increasingly lead to devastating storms, deadly heatwaves, drought and other problems around the world unless action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Signed by various associate, assistant, emeritus and full professors, the MIT climate scientists' letter said: “It has come to our attention that our colleague Richard Lindzen, professor emeritus at MIT, has sent a letter urging you to withdraw from the UN climate convention, claiming that actions with respect to global climate are not scientifically justified.

“As his colleagues at MIT in the program in atmospheres, oceans and climate, all of whom are actively involved in understanding climate, we write to make it clear that this is not a view shared by us, or by the overwhelming majority of other scientists who have devoted their professional lives to careful study of climate science.

“The risks to the Earth system associated with increasing levels of carbon dioxide are almost universally agreed by climate scientists to be real ones.

“These include, but are not limited to, sea level rise, ocean acidification, and increases in extreme flooding and droughts, all with serious consequences for mankind.”

It said that various scientific bodies, such as the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union, had backed the scientific consensus.

“We owe it to future generations to remain engaged with the international community to seek the widest possible efforts to understand and mitigate those threats,” the letter added.

Professor Lindzen is recognised as a climate scientist by others in the field even though they profoundly disagree with him.

However one leading climatologist, who has worked on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s reports, described him as someone who enjoyed taking a “contrarian” position.

In his letter to Mr Trump last month, Professor Lindzen wrote: “The US and other governments have undertaken actions with respect to global climate that … already have, and will continue to cause serious social and economic harm – with no environmental benefits.

“Restricting access to fossil fuels has very negative effects upon the well-being of people around the world. It condemns over four billion people in still under-developed countries to continued poverty.

“There is clear evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful to food crops and other plants that nourish all life. It is plant food, not poison.”

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. “Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,” says the photographer. “Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.” Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a “public health emergency”. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

His views on poverty in the developing world appear somewhat out of date. Renewable technologies like solar have recently become significantly cheaper than fossil fuels as a source of electricity in many developing countries, resulting in a boom based largely on pure economics.

The ‘greening’ effect, in which plant growth is boosted by extra carbon, is real and is often cited as a benefit of global warming by sceptics, who ignore or dismiss the predicted negative effects. However plants will not absorb enough carbon to prevent the rise in temperature and the associated extreme weather conditions.

The Global Warming Policy Foundation, the UK-based sceptic think tank, adopts a ‘lukewarmist’ position.