'The dumbest climate conversation of all time'

Dear reader,

On Monday, Donald Trump and Elon Musk had a more than two hour-long discussion on X, including – as our environment reporter Oliver Milman put it – “a discursive, often fact-free conversation” about climate.

Climate writer Bill McKibben called the back-and-forth “the dumbest climate conversation of all time” that “spelunked down into entirely new levels of stupidity”.

Trump mused that rising sea levels, caused by melting glaciers, would have the benefit of creating “more oceanfront property”.

He also raised the threat of “nuclear warming” – a phenomenon that does not exist in science and which he seemingly invented.

Musk, meanwhile, said it was wrong to “vilify” the oil and gas industry, the key driver of planet-heating pollution, and that the only imperative to ditch fossil fuels was that they will one day run dry.

It might be funny, were Trump not a serious contender for the US presidency and Musk not the richest person in the world – and the owner of a platform with the potential to spread climate misinformation to millions.

At the Guardian, we believe the climate crisis poses a threat to all humanity, and that the science is not up for debate. Musk and his platform do a disservice to all of us by promoting ignorance and misinformation.

As you might expect, Musk did not appreciate being fact-checked by us, posting this on Tuesday night:

The Guardian has a global team of climate journalists with a decades-long history of raising the alarm on human-made climate change – by following the lead and evidence of scientists and ignoring corporate interests and denialism.

If you can, please consider supporting our independent climate journalism today from just £1. It only takes a minute, and means our global team of reporters can continue covering this vital issue with the urgency and depth it deserves.

Thank you for backing factual, pro-science, pro-planet journalism in the face of a swamp of misinformation and denialism that threatens the progress we can make in fighting the climate crisis.

Yours,
The Guardian