Donald Trump makes 'climate change-denier' Environmental Protection Agency boss

• Video report by ITV News Health Editor Rachel Younger

Environmentalists have likened Donald Trump's appointment of a "climate change-denier" to head America's Environmental Protection Agency as tantamount to putting an arsonist in charge of forest fires.

The President-elect is far from convinced on the science of climate change, and wants to reverse Barack Obama's shift towards wind and solar power.

Trump claims Americans are tired of seeing billions of dollars lost because of unnecessary environmental regulations.

He has promised supporters that he will build more coal fire plants in a bid to generate jobs.

Now Trump has worried environmentalists further - by appointing a man who once sued the EPA to be its new boss.

Incredible as it sounds, Scott Pruitt will head the very institution he sued as an ally of the fossil fuel industry over its efforts to reduce emissions.

Opponents have criticised the move, likening it to putting an arsonist in charge of forest fires.

Pruitt's appointment, claims Trump, will cut regulations and create jobs for responsible energy providers.

But environmentalists are far from convinced.

While Trump argues that climate change is a hoax, there's a growing international acceptance that global warming is anything but.

A consensus surrounding the science of climate change was cemented in Paris last year, when almost 200 countries committed to an agreement to reduce emissions.

But Trump has threatened to pull out.

However, while his politics may be driven by the gut, the economics may prove rather more complicated.

Even if Trump gets rid of clean energy incentives and subsidises new coal plants, investors want certainty, and in a changing world four years isn't much.

But for those who care about science and the health of our planet, it may feel like an eternity.