President-elect Donald Trump seemed to reverse his feelings about climate change this afternoon during a sit-down meeting with journalists of the New York Times, admitting he thinks there may be a link between humans and warming temperatures. He said he is keeping an “open mind” about it, and added that he thinks “clean air is vitally important,” according to Times reporters who tweeted during the meeting.
“Clean air is vitally important,” Trump says about climate change. Says he is keeping “an open mind.”
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2016
Does Trump think human activity is linked to climate change? “I think there is some connectivity. Some, something. It depends on how much.”
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
If Trump actually ends up believing the science behind climate change, it would differ greatly from a position he has stated on the record — that it’s a Chinese hoax. He’s been very vocal about his denial of human-made climate change before, and since his win on Election Day, he has made moves that reflect this attitude. Trump put Myron Ebell, a renowned climate change skeptic, as head of the transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency. And Trump has said that he plans to remove regulations on coal, oil, and gas companies during his first 100 days in office, seemingly referring to the laws that Obama put in place to restrict greenhouse gas emissions.
During today’s meeting, Trump reiterated that he is still worried how climate change measures will affect companies in the United States.
On climate change, Trump says he is also thinking about “how much it will cost our companies” & the effect on American competitiveness.
— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) November 22, 2016
Trump has also talked before of his intentions to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate change agreement — a plan ratified by 112 countries aimed at keeping the global average temperature from increasing by 2 degrees Celsius. However, Trump also backed down on that claim today, saying he is looking at the Paris climate change accords “closely.”