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!”

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.

“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.”