NEW YORK — Republican president-elect Donald Trump, who called climate change a hoax during his campaign and vowed to pull out of the Paris accord, now says global warming might be real after all.

Mr Trump told the New York Times on Tuesday (Nov 22) that perhaps humans are to blame for the rising temperatures that are melting polar ice caps and have been linked to extreme weather around the world.

“I think there is some connectivity. Some, something. It depends on how much,” Mr Trump said, according to tweets from New York Times reporters. He’s keeping an “open mind” on the Paris climate accord.

The comments represent an abrupt shift for Mr Trump. The head of his Environmental Protection Agency transition team, Mr Myron Ebell, has questioned the scientific evidence behind global warming. The president-elect’s previous statements on climate change, which include saying that the concept was “by the Chinese”, have put him at odds with most world leaders and an overwhelming majority of scientists.

At a United Nation climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco, that concluded last week, officials from around the globe warned that Mr Trump could isolate the US by backing out the Paris accord. China has vowed to take over as the world’s environmental leader if the US walks away from the effort under Mr Trump.

SCEPTICAL REACTION

The reaction from environmentalists to Mr Trump’s apparent about-face ranged from guarded optimism to outright scepticism.

“We hope the president-elect appreciates the stakes for the country in fighting this global scourge, the opportunity to build on US climate leadership and the urgency of creating good-paying American jobs in the global transition to cleaner, smarter ways to power our future,” Mr Bob Deans, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defence Council, said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.

Mr Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, was less generous, saying “talk is cheap”.

“Trump is kidding nobody on climate as he simultaneously stacks his transition team and cabinet with climate-science deniers and the dirtiest hacks the fossil-fuel industry can offer,” Mr Brune said in a statement. “Prove it, President-elect. The world is watching.” BLOOMBERG