--- title: Paul Ryan Climate Change: Humans May Not Be at Fault description: The jury is still out on whether humans cause climate change, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan said at a debate Monday. canonical: https://time.com/3505656/paul-ryan-climate-change/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-14T11:34:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:45:56.848Z article:section: Politics og:title: Paul Ryan Climate Change: Humans May Not Be at Fault og:description: The jury is still out on whether humans cause climate change, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan said at a debate Monday. og:url: https://time.com/3505656/paul-ryan-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb952003952faf633/69876091524fc011dcde9d15/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Paul Ryan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paul Ryan Climate Change: Humans May Not Be at Fault twitter:description: The jury is still out on whether humans cause climate change, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan said at a debate Monday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb952003952faf633/69876091524fc011dcde9d15/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paul Ryan Says Humans May Not Cause Climate Change > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 14, 2014 11:34 AM UTC  Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., is interviewed by Maria Bartiromo during her "Opening Bell With Maria Bartiromo" program on the Fox Business Network, in New York City on Sept. 29, 2014. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., is interviewed by Maria Bartiromo during her "Opening Bell With Maria Bartiromo" program on the Fox Business Network, in New York City on Sept. 29, 2014. Richard Drew—AP  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 14, 2014 11:34 AM UTC The jury is still out on whether humans cause climate change, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan said at a debate Monday. “I don’t know the answer to that question,” Ryan said, in response to a question about whether humans are responsible for the warming of the planet. “I don’t think science does, either.” His remarks were reported by the [Associated Press](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ea995b2292994d6d8f44fa9782f7aa96/paul-ryan-debate-democratic-house-challenger). Ryan, who is running for reelection in southern Wisconsin against Democrat Rob Zerban, argued that “we’ve had climate change forever” and that proposals to stem climate change are expensive and will not guarantee results. Zerban said humans are to blame for climate change and need to address the issue. The exchange was a heated moment in a wide-ranging debate that included foreign affairs and the economy. Ryan is widely expected to hold his seat in the GOP-leaning district. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ea995b2292994d6d8f44fa9782f7aa96/paul-ryan-debate-democratic-house-challenger)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3505656/paul-ryan-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3505656/paul-ryan-climate-change/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan Says Humans May Not Cause Climate Change","datePublished":"2014-10-14T11:34:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:45:56.848Z","description":"\"We've had climate change forever\"","url":"https://time.com/3505656/paul-ryan-climate-change/","keywords":["2014 Election","Environment","climate change","politics","Paul Ryan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb952003952faf633/69876091524fc011dcde9d15/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb952003952faf633/69876091524fc011dcde9d15/paul-ryan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paul Ryan","caption":"Paul Ryan","creditText":"Richard Drew—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3505656/paul-ryan-climate-change/","name":"Paul Ryan Says Humans May Not Cause Climate Change"}}]}] ```