William Happer (pictured) is a 79-year-old physicist who rejects mainstream climate science
An expert chosen by Donald Trump to lead a panel on climate change once compared carbon monoxide to persecuted Jews in Nazi Germany.
The Trump administration is exploring the idea of forming a special committee to look at climate change and security risks.
The effort is being coordinated by a William Happer, a 79-year-old physicist who rejects mainstream climate science.
Happer, an emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be perceived as an asset rather than a pollutant, The Washington Post reported.
The initiative is the Trump administration’s most recent attempt to question the findings of federal scientists and experts on climate change.
In November Trump criticized a report which revealed that global warming is intensifying and posed a major threat the U.S. economy by saying: 'I don’t see it.'
Happer, who is on the National Security Council, has a history of dropping Nazi references and called climate science a 'cult' in 2009.
Happer said on 'Squawk Box on CNBC in 2014: 'The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler.
He added: 'Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews.'
He also pointed to instances when carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas from the burning of coal, oil and gas, is good for humans.
Happer, who worked at the Energy Department under George H.W. Bush, is not formally trained as a climate scientist.
He developed a reputation for his work on laser technology used in missile defense and on the interactions between light and atoms.
In November Trump (pictured) dismissed a report finding that global warming was intensifying and posed a major threat the U.S. economy by saying; 'I don’t see it'
At an 2016, he tried to promote the suggestion that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and benefits the planet.
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