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Donald Trump dismissed climate change as “a change in weather” just hours after holding talks on the issue with Prince Charles .
The US president revealed how the future king spent 90 minutes lobbying him to take action to help save the world for future generations.
Mr Trump, who has previously described climate change as a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese , claimed that the prince “did most of the talking” but did not reveal whether it had any effect on his views.
“He is really into climate change,” Mr Trump told Piers Morgan on ITV’s Good Morning Britain . “I like that... I totally listened to him.
“He wants to make sure future generations have climate that is good climate and that is not a disaster.
“I think we had a great conversation,” the president added. “I tell you what moved me is his passion for future generations.
Show all 25 1 /25Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Masked Butterflyfish (Chaetodon semilarvatus) swimming over a bommie reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed, off the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Rising sea temperatures cause corals to bleach (go white) and die
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage A giant clam is seen nestled among coral reefs at the Obhor coast, 30 kms north of the Red Sea city of Jeddah
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Coral reef in seychelles that has degraded After the reef has died they break up and become rubble. On this reef there is some regrowth of young corals so there is hope for recovery
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Coral gardening A rabbitfish in a net
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage A school of fish and a sea can in a healthy coral reef off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Sky views of great barrier reef in Australia
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage A fish swims among coral reefs at the Obhor coast
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Researchers from the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in the southern Israeli resort city Eilat monitor coral growth while scuba diving in the Red Sea
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Coral gardening A rope nursery
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Fish swimming off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The rebounding tourism sector is worrisome for the fragile marine ecosystem
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Coral gardening A parrotfish on the reef
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Gorgonian sea fan on a a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage A diver swims during a Great Barrier Reef experience on Lady Elliot Island, Australia
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Jessica Bellsworthy, a PhD student conducting research on the coral reefs of the Gulf of Eilat, holds a coral in an aquarium at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Coral reefs in the water off the Obhor coast, 30 kms north of the Red Sea city of Jeddah in 2008
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage A diver photographs golden anthias (Pseudanthias aurulentus) on a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Coral gardening A damselfish
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Divers swim past a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage A puffer fish hovering above coral in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Researchers from the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in the southern Israeli resort city Eilat monitor coral growth while scuba diving on June 12, 2017 in the Red Sea off Eilat. Global warming has in recent years caused colourful coral reefs to bleach and die around the world -- but not in the Gulf of Eilat, or Aqaba, part of the northern Red Sea. At the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in southern Israeli resort city Eilat, dozens of aquariums have been lined up in rows just off the Red Sea shore containing samples of local corals
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage
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Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage fish swimming off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada
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“This is real, he believes that, he wants to have a world that is good for future generations and I do, too.”
But when asked if he believed in climate change, Mr Trump replied: “I believe that there is a change in weather and I think it changes both ways.
“Don’t forget it used to be called global warming , that wasn’t working, then it’s climate change, now it’s extreme weather.”
He argued that the US had experienced worse weather in the past, referring to hurricanes in the 1890s.
Mr Trump also claimed that the US was “among the cleanest climates” and blamed China, Russia and India for high pollution, suggesting that “in some other cities you can’t even breathe.”
It came as Joe Biden , the forerunner for the Democrat 2020 presidential nomination, released a climate change plan that would pour $1.7 trillion (£1.3 trillion) of investment into achieving 100 per cent clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050.
Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events His campaign team later admitted that parts of the proposals were copied word-for-word from texts previously published by climate activist groups Blue Green Alliance and the Carbon Capture Coalition.
Mr Biden’s team said the citations of the sources had been “inadvertently left out”.
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