Climate Change 2016 news: Environmentalists question Trump's nomination of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state

President-elect Donald Trump announced earlier this week that he is nominating Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, to be his secretary of state. Given Trump's views on climate change, many environmental groups are questioning how the next administration will impact the global progress made in addressing climate change.

Unlike Trump, Tillerson has acknowledged climate change and the threat that it poses. However, given his affiliation with the multinational oil and gas corporation, many environmentalists aren't too optimistic about his future contributions to the issue.

"If the only voice that acknowledges that climate change is even real comes from a secretary of state who was CEO of one of the largest oil companies in the world, then that speaks volumes about where this administration is headed," said Jeremy Symons, associate vice president of Climate Political Affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, via TIME.

While Tillerson has expressed support for the Paris Agreement in the past, his actions have not necessarily reflected this.

In a statement to Business Insider, Dylan Tanner, executive director of InfluenceMap, says that their analysis revealed that Tillerson's support for climate change is not consistent with the activities of ExxonMobil and its trade associations. Tanner says that the company has "a systematic pattern of opposing climate policy on a worldwide scale."

However, given that Tillerson is one of the few in Trump's camp that has acknowledged this pressing issue, it remains to be seen whether his views will have a positive impact in the next administration.

This is in comparison to Scott Pruitt, Trump's choice for head of Environmental Protection Agency, whose views on climate change were made known in a National Review article published earlier this year. Pruitt stated that the debate is "far from settled" and criticized President Obama's Clean Power Plan. Trump's nominee for Department of Energy, Gov. Rick Perry, has also claimed that climate change is a scientific theory that has yet to be proven.

In other news, Trump's transition team recently disavowed the questionnaire sent to the Energy Department that requested the names of those involved in climate change issues. When news of this questionnaire broke, the team was criticized especially given their views on the issue.

"The questionnaire was not authorized or part of our standard protocol. The person who sent it has been properly counseled," a member of Trump's transition team told CNN on Wednesday.