As the 2024 presidential election approaches its conclusion, both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are addressing climate issues during their campaigns.

Harris has often labeled climate change a “crisis,” while Trump consistently disputes its legitimacy and promotes falsehoods about climate science, including claims that have already been debunked by YSL News and other reputable fact-checkers.

Seeking to regain the presidency, Trump previously withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, aimed at lowering global warming through reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, he rolled back domestic regulations that limited these emissions, a decision that one 2020 study predicted would lead to an additional 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Harris aims for a promotion after four years in the Biden administration, which has made strides in climate policy, notably by passing the Inflation Reduction Act—a significant legislation focused on combating climate change. However, she has also supported aspects of the bill that increase fossil fuel leasing on federal lands and highlighted the administration’s notable growth in domestic oil production.

YSL News examined the climate-related remarks made by both candidates in speeches, which were archived on Rev.com and C-SPAN from 2022 to September 2024. The investigation also included climate science discussions in the media and the candidates’ campaign websites.

This review found no instances of climate misinformation from Harris, as she tends to make general statements rather than specific scientific claims. In contrast, Trump’s remarks frequently contradict scientific evidence.

Claim: Climate change is a hoax

“One of the most urgent tasks, not only for our movement, but for our country is to decisively defeat the climate hysteria hoax.  It’s a hoax. The whole thing is a total It’s so crazy.” − Donald Trump, April 21, 2022

Extensive research demonstrates that the climate on Earth is changing, and this change is largely driven by human activities. Independent climate organizations worldwide have confirmed a significant long-term warming trend.

Both atmospheric and oceanic warming have been observed.

The impact of this warming includes:

• Loss of Arctic sea ice
• Melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland
• Alterations in animal species’ habitats
• Changes in precipitation patterns
• Increased frequency of heat waves
• Reduced snowpack in the western U.S.
• Shift in plant bloom timings
• Glacier melt
• Rising sea levels
• More frequent flooding due to rising sea levels

Scientists, like Twila Moon from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, affirm that these changes stem from emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activity. She stated in an email, “Even by 1900 scientists understood the fundamental physics and chemistry that is causing today’s warming. We can measure how much heat-trapping gas is in the atmosphere and where it is emitted from, and we can track Earth’s temperature.”

Research has shown that the observed global warming aligns with expected levels based on greenhouse gas emissions, like CO2, attributed to human activities, as previously reported by YSL News. The timeline of this warming also corresponds with the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

YSL News requested evidence from Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung to support this and the other claims listed below, but received no response.

Related fact checks:

• Claim: Most temperature sensors in the U.S. are located near airport runways, compromising climate data reliability
• Claim: A comparison of August temperatures suggests CO2-driven global warming is a ‘hoax’
• Claim: Climate change is labeled a ‘hoax’ because CO2 constitutes only 0.04% of the atmosphere

Claim: Modern climate change is just natural variation or weather

“In my opinion, you have a thing called weather. You go up and you go down . The climate’s always been changing.” – Donald Trump, in response to whether climate change was human-induced, March 2022

While it’s true that Earth’s climate has changed over time, modern climate change is primarily driven by humans, poses a threat to infrastructure, and is happening much faster than historical climate shifts, say experts. It should not be confused with short-term weather fluctuations.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains the distinction: “Weather describes the atmospheric conditions at a certain moment. It can be measured in various time frames like hours, days, or even years. Climate, on the other hand, refers to the average of weather conditions over a significantly longer period.”

Scientists have documented these long-term changes, attributing some natural events, like volcanic eruptions or cyclical orbit shifts, as potential climate influencers, but they have been ruled out in the context of modern climate change, previously noted by YSL News.

The rapid pace of current climate change is unprecedented in history. While natural climate shifts generally unfold over extensive periods, human activities have accelerated climate change within mere decades, a speed that surpasses any alterations recorded over the past approximately 500 million years, according to recent studies.

Historically, rapid climate changes have been linked to mass extinction events, stated paleoclimatologist Ashleigh Hood to YSL News.

Related fact checks:

• Claim: Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, and Pluto have all experienced warming in the last century
• Claim: Contemporary climate change is driven by Milankovitch cycles and solar inertial motion, rather than human CO2 emissions
• Claim: U.S. trees absorb all CO2, and modern climate change results from El Niño and underwater volcanoes

Claim: Experts predict that average global sea levels might increase by 1/8 of an inch in 500 years, but could also decrease

“I assert that the real existential threat isn’t global warming, where oceans might rise and could also lower, but they suggest that it may rise just 1/8th of an inch over the next 497 years.” − Donald Trump, June 28, 2024

According to Howard Diamond, a climate scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is no proof that suggests sea levels will rise only 1/8 inch within 500 years. In fact, NOAA anticipates average global sea levels to increase between 1 to 12 feet by the year 2150 in relation to levels from 2000, influenced by the volume of CO2 emissions from human activities.

Diamond indicated that the agency has not forecasted a potential drop in average global sea levels over the next 500 years, and he was not aware of any other climate organization making such predictions.

“With the current rate of CO2 emissions and its longevity in the atmosphere, a projection like this lacks scientific foundation,” he noted in an email.

Although average global sea levels are on the rise, certain areas of the world are witnessing a relative drop in sea levels—the height of the ocean as it relates to land—due to glacial isostatic adjustment, where previously compressed land from ice age glaciers is now rising.

Other factors, such as ocean currents, wind patterns, and changes in gravitational forces, can also lead to varying levels of relative sea level rise in different regions. Global average sea level rise predictions take into account these regional discrepancies.

Related fact checks:

• Claim: A timelapse of coastlines from satellite images shows climate change isn’t real
• Claim: Images verify the state of sea level at the Statue of Liberty
• Claim: Water levels at Plymouth Rock prove minimal change in sea levels since 1620
• Claim: Decreasing sea levels in Norway demonstrate that global sea levels aren’t rising

Claim: If global warming were real, there would be no cold weather events

“Climate change is one of the biggest scams because global warming didn’t happen, remember the boats that went to the Arctic? They were freezing cold, concerned about melting icebergs. They went through a severe cold snap that lasted two days and the ice formed around their ship, endangering them so much that helicopters had to rescue them. And meanwhile, they were claiming global warming.” − Donald Trump, Dec. 11, 2023

Cheung did not specify the incident Trump referred to in his comments. However, it’s important to note that unexpected cold events can still happen on a warming planet and do not contradict the phenomenon of global warming.

“Cold snaps, even in the Arctic, occur on a warming planet due to natural day-to-day weather variability,” noted Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, speaking to YSL News. “Over time, there are fewer cold extremes and more frequent, extended heat waves.”

Despite the ongoing presence of freezing weather in polar regions, the Arctic has warmed at a rate four times faster than the global average since the late 1970s, leading to a reduction in sea ice. This loss results in lower solar radiation being reflected back into space and more heat being absorbed by the darker ocean waters, creating a self-reinforcing warming cycle.

Due to the variability of weather, analyzing only a small number of weather occurrences does not provide a clear picture of climate change; experts stress that a comprehensive examination of the entire climate record is essential.

Related fact checks:

• Claim: Cold weather events indicate the Earth is cooling, not warming
• Claim: The 1913 temperature record in Death Valley disproves global warming
• Claim: Temperature readings from Staten Island 14 years ago indicate humans aren’t responsible for climate change

Claim: Scientists switched from ‘global warming’ to ‘climate change’ because the Earth is cooling

“They used to call it different things. Global warming, remember? That wasn’t working since it was getting a bit cooler. So they said, ‘What should we name it? Let’s call it ‘global cooling.’ No, so they opted for ‘climate change,’ as that accommodates everything.” − Donald Trump, Sept. 3, 2024

While there are natural fluctuations in the climate that can lead to temporary cool periods, there has been a consistent trend of overall global warming over the past several decades. Scientists continue to use the term “global warming,” although its definition is slightly different from that of “climate change.”

“Global warming refers to the long-term increase in Earth’s surface temperature noted since the pre-industrial era (from 1850 to 1900), largely due to human activities like fossil fuel combustion, which elevates levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” according to NASA.

The term “climate change,” however, encompasses a broader range of changes beyond just warming, including altered precipitation patterns, drought, ice melt, and shifts in wind and ocean currents, as Mann explained.

There is, however, a documented history of climate-related vocabulary being influenced for political reasons. In a memo from 2002, Republican strategist Frank Luntz advised the George W. Bush administration to prefer the term “climate change” instead of “global warming” because it was perceived to be “less alarming” than “global warming.”

Following this guidance, Bush seemingly shifted his language, avoiding the term “global warming” after having previously used it regularly, as indicated by media coverage at the time.

This memo was part of a known political strategy from the 1990s aimed at minimizing the acknowledgment of global warming or outright denying its occurrence.

“It’s completely false,” stated Naomi Oreskes, a science historian at Harvard University, in an interview with YSL News. She characterized Trump’s remark as “the pot calling the kettle black.”

Claim: Scientists agreed in the 1920s that Earth would undergo freezing

“Back in the 1920s, they thought the planet was going to freeze. They talked about something called global cooling. I believe there was a cover on Time magazine showing a very cool Earth, linked to this global cooling notion, but now they seem to have changed their mind.” − Donald Trump, June 28, 2024

According to Oreskes, there was no scientific agreement in the 1920s that the world was heading into a freeze, dismissing Trump’s assertion as “bogus.” She noted that some scientists at the time recognized the Earth was between ice ages and that a future ice age might occur, but these ideas were largely speculative.

When asked about the Time Magazine cover Trump referred to, Cheung did not provide a response. However, YSL News has previously disproved numerous social media claims regarding a fabricated Time Magazine cover that allegedly highlighted a “forthcoming ice age,” which did not actually exist in the 1920s when the magazine featured only illustrations of people.

Trump’s remark reflects a widespread myth among climate change skeptics claiming there was a consensus in the 1970s that the Earth would cool instead of warm. This is also inaccurate.

During the 1970s, scientists were exploring a minor cooling trend that started in the 1940s, which was eventually understood to be due to cooling caused by sulfate pollution countering the warming effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers were also advancing their knowledge of natural ice age cycles, as noted by Richard Alley, a geoscientist from Pennsylvania State University, in his comments to YSL News.

Because of these circumstances, some studies were put forth suggesting potential future cooling, and Newsweek published an article discussing this research in 1975. However, Alley pointed out that the number of 1970s studies anticipating a warming trend due to human-produced greenhouse gas emissions outnumbered those suggesting cooling.

Additionally, a 1979 report from the National Academy of Sciences confirmed the prevailing view that “increasing carbon dioxide levels will result in a warmer planet.”