Scientists Ditch Worst-Case Climate Scenario to Jeers From Trump (1)

It’s not often that scenarios used by scientists to anticipate the impacts of climate change get wide public attention. But a recent journal article on warming scenarios has provoked discussion globally, including in the White House.

US President Donald Trump, who has dismissed climate change as a hoax, exulted on social media Saturday that the paper phased out the worst-case scenario, known as RCP8.5. The United Nations “just admitted that its own projections (RCP8.5) were WRONG!” he said.

Scientists, not the UN, are retiring RCP8.5 from use in future climate research; over the past decade it was a mainstay in landmark UN climate reports. ...