Trump repeats false claim there is no climate change crisis as he brands science 'fake'

Donald Trump has repeated the false claim that climate change is not real and that the science demonstrating the crisis is "fake".

The president appeared to be tweeting a statement he heard from Fox News on Tuesday morning, writing, “Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace: “The whole climate crisis is not only Fake News, it’s Fake Science. There is no climate crisis, there’s weather and climate all around the world, and in fact carbon dioxide is the main building block of all life.”

He then tagged the conservative network’s morning show, Fox and Friends, adding, “Wow!”

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However, Mr Trump’s tweet is misleading in more ways than one.

For starters, the Greenpeace organisation rebukes Mr Moore’s claims that he is an environmental expert and has said he was not responsible for creating the group.

Shape Created with Sketch. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 1/10 A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 2/10 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 3/10 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 4/10 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 5/10 Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 6/10 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 7/10 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 8/10 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 9/10 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 10/10 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 1/10 A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 2/10 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 3/10 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 4/10 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 5/10 Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 6/10 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 7/10 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 8/10 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 9/10 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 10/10 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

“Patrick Moore often misrepresents himself in the media as an environmental ‘expert’ or even an ‘environmentalist,’ while offering anti-environmental opinions on a wide range of issues and taking a distinctly anti-environmental stance,” the group said in a statement. “He also exploits long-gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes.”

While Greenpeace noted Mr Moore “played a significant role in Greenpeace Canada for several years,” the organisation said “he did not found Greenpeace.”

Moreover, the president's misleading claims surrounding climate change contradict his own administration's findings that global warming is "intensifying across the country" and will lead to increased destruction worldwide.

The government-funded National Climate Assessment's report urged immediate action to combat climate change in an effort “to avoid substantial damages to the US economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.”

When asked about his government’s report on climate change, Mr Trump responded, “I don’t believe it.”

“Right now we’re at the cleanest we’ve ever been and that’s very important to me,” the president said in November of last year.

He added, “But if we’re clean, but every other place on Earth is dirty, that’s not so good … so I want clean air, I want clean water, very important.”

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