Some 600 experts began to work Monday on the next major UN climate report, as the international consensus on global warming is challenged by US President Donald Trump, who deems the science a “hoax”.
French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut, whose country is hosting the five-day meeting in a Paris suburb, told the scientists their “extremely precious” work is crucial as multilateralism has weakened.
“There is also something that should concern us all: The rise of climate-related disinformation on our social media, in our newspapers and even at the heart of our policy political institutions,” Barbut said.
“Too many people deny the results of your work,” she told the experts from more than 100 countries gathered in a skyscraper in Saint-Denis.
Their work faces hurdles in the face of a US administration whose president called climate change the “greatest con job ever” and a “hoax” during a speech at the United Nations in September.
One of the lead authors of the next IPCC report is US climate expert Katherine Calvin, who was fired from her job as chief scientist at NASA following orders from the Trump administration.
“The statements, for example, from the American administration on the origin of climate change, the fact that it’s a hoax, if you will, we still find that quite surprising,” said an official at the French ecological transition ministry who requested anonymity.
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