Donald Trump says he believes there is ‘some connectivity’ between humans and climate change in major U-turn
The President-elect had suggested climate change was a 'hoax'
Mr Trump received cheers and boos when he visited the newspaper AP
It is hard to keep up with the
pace of change in the mind of Donald Trump.
Just hours after announcing he was not going to pursue an investigation of Hillary Clinton over her use of a personal email server,
he indicated another important U-turn - this time in regard to climate.
During the campaign, Mr Trump has suggested climate change was nothing more than a “hoax”, and that the so-called myth may have been started by the Chinese.
Mr Trump has long accused the New York Times of being unfair to him (AP)
However, in a conversation with journalists from the
New York Times on Tuesday, he indicated he had rethought the matter.
Asked if thought human activity was linked to climate change; he responded: “I think there is some connectivity. Some, something. It depends on how much.”
He also said he would keep an open mind on whether he would pull the US out of a landmark international climate change deal.
During his presidential campaign, Mr Trump repeatedly said he would withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord. But on Tuesday, at a meeting with reporters
that itself experienced a U-turn in regard to whether or not it would even take place, he said: “I’m looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it.”
Mr Trump, who has been holed up for days in Trump Tower in New York as he puts together a team for his administration, told the reporters that he was also thinking about climate change in regard to American competitiveness and “how much it will cost our companies”.
He also said he thought clean energy was “very important”.
(20min delay)