Acting EPA administrator says administration deserves credit for decline in carbon emissions in wake of climate report

"In the first year of the Trump administration, we've seen a 2.7% reduction in CO2 from 2016 to 2017," Wheeler said at a Washington Post event.

The Fourth National Climate Assessment, released by the administration the day after Thanksgiving, concluded the effects of rising temperatures will devastate the US economy, result in thousands of premature deaths and lead to severe weather events.

Wheeler also noted "a 14% reduction in CO2 emissions in the United States since 2005," a time period that includes the Obama administration, which implemented strict environmental policies Wheeler and the Trump administration have sought to reverse, amend or eliminate.

Wheeler also said the report does not take into account "innovation that we've seen already in the marketplace."

"I think we really need to take a hard look at where the markets are going, where technology is going, where innovation is going, and what has driven the reduction in CO2, and we need to give credit for that CO2 reduction," Wheeler said.

President Donald Trump has cast doubt on the report as well. Before boarding Marine One on the way to a political rally in Mississippi Monday, Trump was asked about the report.

"I don't believe it," he responded.

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