President Donald Trump says he plans to review the UN report that warns of global warming-caused chaos unless drastic action is taken – although he says he’s skeptical of its authors.
‘It was given to me and I want to look at who drew it, which group drew it,’ Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, as he left for an Iowa campaign rally.
‘Because I can give you reports that are fabulous and I can give you reports that aren’t so good,’ he said. ‘But I’ll be looking at it, absolutely.’
The landmark report released Monday said that time is running out to avert climate-induced disaster.
The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) declared it had ‘high confidence’ in its predictions.
But as of Tuesday evening, Trump said he has not read it yet.
It was Trump’s first reaction to the report, which says that the Earth surface has warmed one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and is on track toward an unliveable (sic) 3C or 4C rise.
The Trump administration has dismantled emissions reduction policies domestically, and vowed to ditch the Paris treaty on attempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. However, Washington did not obstruct the report, as some had expected.
Many in Trump’s Republican party are self-described climate change skeptics, questioning whether the overwhelming consensus of scientists around the world about manmade causes for ever-rising temperatures is accurate.