What are the views of Mitt Romney on Climate Change?

Answer 1

In June 2011, Romney said he believed "the world is getting warmer" and that "humans contribute to that."

In October 2011, by contrast, Romney said that "we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet."

In 2010 he wrote:

"I believe that climate change is occurring - the reduction in the size of global ice caps is hard to ignore. I also believe that human activity is a contributing factor. I am uncertain how much of the warming, however, is attributable to factors out of our control."

In New Hampshire in June 2011 he said:

"I believe the world is getting warmer. I can't prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer. And number two, I believe that humans contribute to that. I don't know how much our contribution is to that, because I know there have been periods of greater heat and warmth in the past, but I believe that we contribute to that. So I think it's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and the global warming that you're seeing?"

In New Hampshire in August 2011 he said:

"Do I think the world's getting hotter? Yeah, I don't know that, but I think that it is. I don't know if it's mostly caused by humans. … What I'm not willing to do is spend trillions of dollars on something I don't know the answer to."

In October 2011 he said:

"One, I believe what I said before, I think it's getting warmer. Two, I believe we contribute to it. And three, I don't know by how much -- a lot or a little. And so I am not willing to adopt multi-trillion dollar programs to reduce greenhouse gases in America. They don't call it America warming, they call it global warming."

He spoke again later that month, but this time he left out human activity as a cause of global warming. Rather than saying, as he had in the past, that we don't know how much of a role humans are playing in climate, Romney said, "We don't know what's causing climate change on this planet."