On Saturday, former President Donald Trump criticized Democratic climate policies following a shift in scientific consensus away from one of the most severe global warming scenarios previously used in climate models endorsed by the United Nations.
“GOOD RIDDANCE! After 15 years of Democrats predicting that ‘Climate Change’ will destroy the planet, the United Nations’ top climate committee just admitted its projections (RCP8.5) were WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!” Trump exclaimed on his Truth Social platform.
He went on to accuse Democrats of leveraging climate change concerns to drive energy policies and increase government spending.
“For far too long, Democrats have used climate activism to scare Americans, push terrible energy policies, and funnel BILLIONS into their fraudulent research programs,” Trump continued. “Unlike the Democrats, who use climate alarmism to promote their GREEN NEW SCAM, my administration will always be grounded in TRUTH, SCIENCE, and FACT!”
Trump’s statements come in the wake of climate scientists moving away from the most extreme emissions scenario established by the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC’s dire scenarios had previously predicted significant global temperature and sea level rises, which could lead to global crop failures and catastrophic events akin to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The scenario, known as RCP8.5 and later SSP5-8.5, projected severe global warming outcomes under extremely high emissions assumptions.
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According to GB News, the scenario is being phased out after researchers concluded it no longer reflects the most plausible trajectory based on renewable energy growth, emissions trends, and climate policies.
Researchers writing in the journal Geoscientific Model Development said future climate scenarios should continue to cover a wide range of outcomes, from severe warming to lower-emissions futures.
“For the 21st century, this range will be smaller than assessed before: on the high-end of the range, the high emission levels (quantified by SSP5-8.5) have become implausible, based on trends in the costs of renewables, the emergence of climate policy and recent emission trends.”
Trump’s post follows remarks he made last September at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where he called climate change a “con job.”
“It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” Trump said at the time. “All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong.”
“They were made by stupid people that have cost their country’s fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success,” he continued.
Trump’s comments drew criticism from Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who called the remarks “total disinformation.”
“You know, yesterday at the U.N., President Trump said, ‘Climate change is a hoax,’ because it’s just total disinformation,” Clinton said during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. “It’s a statement that is just not true, and yet being propagated.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin later defended Trump’s climate remarks in an interview with Fox News.
“The president is absolutely right, and we’ve seen it in the name of climate change, these left-wing policies willing to cause extreme economic pain for people who can at least afford it,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
