Texas Sen. Ted Cruz beefed with several climate activists who interrupted his remarks at a Thursday night event.

The protesters interrupted the Texas Republican by sitting on the stage next to him and chanting slogans to highlight climate change and protest his energy policies. Rather than backing down, Cruz engaged with the activists using the microphone, challenging them on their understanding of basic climate and energy facts. Grainy footage of the incident, posted on social media, captures Cruz’s interaction with the protesters.

“Hold on, hold on, which country is the biggest climate polluter on planet Earth?” Cruz asked the protesters. “You have no idea. You’re a protester and you’re utterly ignorant about what you’re protesting about. What’s the answer?”

“OK, so you have none,” Cruz said a few seconds later. “He’s literally protesting about climate, and he can’t tell you who the biggest polluter on planet Earth is. And he won’t.”

One of the activists retorted at Cruz with a response that is mostly inaudible in the footage.

“What country is the largest polluter on planet Earth today?” Cruz said, before one of the protesters responded that it is the United States.

“OK, so this young lady has no clue, she said ‘the United States of America,” Cruz said. “She is protesting, and she has literally no idea. By the way, the answer is Communist China. Which country leads the world in reduction of carbon emissions? Are you gonna know the answer to that? I’ll give you a hint, it was the wrong answer you gave before: it’s the United States of America.”

That led the crowd to applaud Cruz.

“Do you know why?” Cruz continued. “The reason is because of the thing you’re protesting against: fossil fuels. No, no, you’re so ignorant, you don’t know. So if you’re going to protest, confront some facts.”

WATCH:

Climate protesters disrupted Sen. Cruz’s speech tonight. He flipped the script and put them on the spot. “Which country is the biggest climate polluter on Planet Earth? You have no idea!”

The obvious well-known answer is Communist China. They wouldn’t say or they don’t know.… pic.twitter.com/PGrLPkrplO

— Darin Miller (@DarinBMiller) July 12, 2024

China is currently the world’s leading carbon polluter, as reported by The Carbon Brief. In 2022, the country authorized the construction of an average of two new coal plants per week, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Meanwhile, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 17.5% between 2005 and 2022. Many experts in the energy sector attribute this significant reduction to the natural gas boom of the late 2000s. The increase in affordable and cleaner natural gas allowed the U.S. to decrease its reliance on coal, which is a more carbon-intensive energy source.