Trump questions UN global warming report

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said he has yet to read a UN report warning of global warming-caused chaos unless drastic action is taken and added that he is skeptical.

The landmark report released on Monday said that time is running out to avert climate-induced disaster. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) declared it had "high confidence" in its predictions.

At the White House, Mr Trump said he has not read it yet.

"It was given to me and I want to look who drew it, you know - which groups drew it, because I can give you reports that are fabulous and I can give you reports that aren't so good," he told reporters.

"But I will be reading it, absolutely."

It was Trump's first reaction to the report, which says that the Earth surface has warmed 1 deg C and is on track toward an unliveable 3 deg C or 4 deg C rise.

The Trump administration has dismantled emissions reduction policies domestically, and vowed to ditch the Paris treaty on attempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. However, Washington did not obstruct the report, as some had expected.

Many in Mr Trump's Republican party are self-described climate change skeptics, questioning whether the overwhelming consensus of scientists around the world about manmade causes for ever-rising temperatures is accurate.

AFP