"The Treasury secretary said it is “difficult to deconstruct” the reasons for global warming, which he described as a belief of the “elite.”"

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed on Tuesday that it was difficult to determine the actual causes of climate change, dismissing decades of science that has attributed global warming to the burning of fossil fuels. He instead called on international financial institutions to focus their attention on economic growth and alleviating poverty.

The comments came in remarks on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Mr. Bessent had previously ordered the World Bank to remove some of its climate finance targets and finance “all affordable and reliable sources of energy” including gas, oil and coal.

The Trump administration has reversed most of the spending on clean energy that was underway during the Biden administration and pushed ahead with policies that end restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions and aim to ramp up domestic production of fossil fuels.

President Trump last year called global warming a “hoax” and a “con job.” While the Treasury secretary did not go that far, his comments contradicted the scientific consensus about why the world’s climate is changing."

Alan Rappeport and Lisa Friedman report for the New York Times April 14, 2026. [2]