Putin says 'nobody knows' causes of global climate change

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said "nobody knows" what causes climate change, seeming to cast doubt over whether global warming is of manmade origin and stating it could be blamed on cosmological processes.

"Nobody knows the origins of global climate change," Putin told reporters at the start of his marathon end-of-year news conference.


"We know that in the history of our Earth there have been periods of warming and cooling and it could depend on processes in the universe," he added.

"A small angle in the axis in the rotation of the Earth or its orbit around the Sun could push the planet into serious climate changes," he argued.