President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized Democratic climate policies after researchers and news outlets reported that climate scientists are moving away from the most extreme emissions scenario formerly used in United Nations-backed modeling. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the U.N.’s projections “(RCP8.5) were WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!” and said Democrats have used climate fears to justify energy policies and government spending.
Researchers writing in the journal Geoscientific Model Development said the high-emissions pathway known as SSP5-8.5 (formerly RCP8.5) has become implausible for the 21st century based on trends in renewable costs, the emergence of climate policy and recent emissions trends. GB News reported that the scenario is being phased out as a likely representation of future emissions.
Trump accused Democrats of using “Climate Alarmism” to push what he called a “GREEN NEW SCAM” and wrote that his administration would be “based on TRUTH, SCIENCE, and FACT,” in the Truth Social post. He has previously criticized international climate assessments, calling climate change a “con job” at the U.N. General Assembly last September.
Democrats criticized Trump’s remarks. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the president’s statements “total disinformation” at the Clinton Global Initiative, saying the claims were “not true and yet being propagated.” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin defended the president in an interview with Fox News, saying “The president is absolutely right” and criticizing left-wing climate policies as economically harmful.
Authors in Geoscientific Model Development recommended that future climate scenarios continue to cover a wide range of possible outcomes, from severe warming to lower-emissions futures, while noting the upper end of previously assessed ranges is narrower than before. GB News and the cited journal were among the sources reporting and analyzing the shift away from the SSP5-8.5 pathway.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
