White House snubs climate change study
A CLIMATE change report by scientists that contradicts Donald Trump’s views on the subject has been played down by the White House.
The major study, by 13 federal US agencies, suggests the human race is most likely to blame for excessive recent global warming.
But a government spokesman responded that the climate was “always changing”.
The official, deputy press secretary Raj Shah, also said the sensitivity of Earth’s climate to greenhouse gas emissions is uncertain.
He insisted the White House supports “rigorous scientific analysis and debate”. The President and several of his administration members are “climate change deniers”.
Opponents accuse him of making it easier for US industry to pollute the atmosphere and of giving key government positions to figures sceptical of their own country’s scientists.
The Climate Science Special Report was said by one of its authors, Robert Kopp, to be probably the “most comprehensive” present study of its kind. It concludes that the current period is “the warmest in the history of modern civilisation” and warns of dire consequences for the world. These include a global sea level rise of 8ft by the end of the century, devastating storms and greater risk of droughts and floods.
The researchers – who insist they met no political interference or censorship – say it is “extremely likely human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause” of rapid global warming. “There is no convincing alternative explanation,” they add.
Mr Trump is pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement to cut global emissions.