Clintel

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The Climate Intelligence Foundation ( Clintel for short ) is a Dutch foundation that, according to its own information, was founded by the science journalist Marcel Crok and the geoscientist Guus Berkhout , who started his career at the oil company Royal Dutch Shell . The Climate Intelligence Foundation, which is judged by the media to be a climate denial organization , became known through the Declaration There is no climate emergency , in which, according to Clintel, several hundred scientists and experts identify the existence of the climate crisisdeny. The signatories include academics, politicians, lobbyists and high-ranking people from the oil and gas industry, as well as others who are associated with various climate denial organizations such as the Cato Institute , the Heartland Institute and the Global Warming Policy Foundation .

History and organization

Clintel became known at the beginning of September 2019 when the investigative nonprofit media organization Desmog uncovered the background of a campaign whose aim was to prevent politicians from setting zero emission targets in law. At the time, around 400 people had signed the Clintel Declaration, which was sent to politicians from the European Union and the United Nations. According to Clintel, there were around 500 signatories in September 2019 and around 700 in October 2019.

declaration

The declaration was published on September 26, 2019. In addition to the signatories, there are 14 "ambassadors" for various countries, including Guus Berkhout for the Netherlands, Richard Lindzen for the USA, Fritz Vahrenholt for Germany and Christopher Monckton for Great Britain.

Explanation

The declaration includes the following six main points, which are briefly explained.

  • "Both natural and anthropogenic factors are causing the warming"
  • "The warming is slower than expected."
  • "Climate policy is based on unsuitable models."
  • "Carbon dioxide is plant food, the basis of all life on earth."
  • "Global warming has not exacerbated natural disasters"
  • "Climate policy must take into account scientific and economic realities."

The Guardian wrote that the declaration reiterated "deny climate science" and "reiterated well-worn and long-debated climate change issues," which contradict the findings of "scientific institutions and academies around the world" as well as those of the IPCC. Robert Brulle, professor of sociology at Drexel University , said the claims in the declaration were both "stale" and "obviously scientific nonsense." The aim of the declaration is to maintain the narrative "of the" controversial "nature of climate change". The declaration works like a panic reaction to the considerable media coverage of the climate crisis that had been caused by Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion . Geoffrey Suppran from Harvard University saw the declaration as an attempt to prevent increased climate policy efforts at the climate summit in New York. "As always" it is about "feeding the echo chamber of sympathetic right-wing media and blogs and hunting down naive and innocent journalists who might be tempted to bet on the wrong balance in their climate reporting .

A fact check by the science platform "Climate Feedback" rated the scientific credibility of the declaration on a scale from +2 to −2 with −1.8. The statement was "distorted", "inaccurate", "misleading" and used cherry picking . The claims contradict or misrepresent the evidence found by geoscientists, nor did the authors provide any evidence to support the trivializing of climate change. Claims such as the statement that climate models ignore the influence of carbon dioxide on plant growth are simply wrong. In addition, the scientists pointed out that of the 500 signatories who presented themselves as "scientists and experts", only 10 were actually climate scientists. Similar petitions have also been used in the past to gain credibility with a large number of signatories . But evidence counted in science.

Further fact checks came to similarly critical assessments. Corrective came to the conclusion that, although all but two of the claims were at least partially correct, the authors often left out the "central context". In addition, contrary to scientific practice, no evidence is given.

The professor of psychology Iain Walker and the scientist Zoe Leviston see the declaration as an example that the tactics of climate denial are changing. The open climate change denial had been replaced by attempts to portray climate change as natural and to deny the need for climate protection. But this is just another form of denying the facts. The group "clearly rejects the scientific consensus on climate change".

Signatory

The signatories include academics, politicians, lobbyists and high-ranking people from the oil and gas industry, as well as others who are associated with various climate denial organizations such as the Cato Institute , the Heartland Institute and the Global Warming Policy Foundation . There are also connections to a transatlantic network of think tanks that advocate deregulation in the environmental sector, has a history of climate denial and is financed by the Koch brothers, among others . According to Correctiv, 179 people are referred to as "professors" in the list. Of these, only 5 have specialized in the topic of climate, 2 of them are already retired.

Well-known signatories include Tim Ball , Freeman Dyson , Patrick J. Michaels , Willie Soon , Ivar Giaever Susan Crockford , Madhav Khandekar , Patrick Moore , Ian Plimer , Nils-Axel Mörner , Nicola Scafetta and Václav Klaus . 23 signatories from Germany are listed: in addition to Fritz Vahrenholt, among others, Stefan Kröpelin , Ulrich Kutschera , Horst-Joachim Lüdecke , Michael Limburg and Ludwig E. Feinendegen . Of the 13 German signatories who signed by September 2019, 8 are already retired according to Correctiv. Most of them have connections to EIKE ; three are directly linked to EIKE through authorship or membership in the advisory board, six others are often mentioned by EIKE or have appeared at EIKE events in the past. Correctiv also reported that several of the German signatories provided false information about their qualifications and academic backgrounds. Several people had given professorships that could not be verified or were denied by the university mentioned; In one case, an institute was named which, according to the press officer of the university concerned, does not exist.

The Guardian reported that among others, 75 Australian business figures had signed, including mining engineers and retired geologists. At the same time, "some of the signatories have high-level connections to conservative politics, industry and mining". In addition, reference was made to the fact that many of the organizers and members of Clintel had already signed another declaration of climate denial by the Clexit group in 2016 . After the Brexit vote, it called for nations "not to tolerate UN and EU bureaucrats manipulating science to justify their dreams of redistributing wealth."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Hundreds of climate skeptics to mount international campaign to stop net-zero targets being made law . In: The Independent , September 6, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  2. ↑ Climate Science Deniers Planning European Misinformation Campaign, Leaked Documents Reveal . In: Desmog , September 6, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  3. ↑ There is no Climate Emergency, as of September 2019 . Clintel's website. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b c There is no Climate Emergency, as of October 2019 . Clintel's website. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  5. ↑ a b 'CO2 is plant food': Australian group signs international declaration denying climate science . In: The Guardian , September 26, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  6. ↑ Letter signed by “500 scientists” relies on inaccurate claims about climate science . In: Climate Feedback , September 23, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  7. ↑ 500 scientists contradict climate change: The fact check . In: Mimikama , October 14, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  8. ↑ a b c d Open letter on climate change: Neither "500 scientists" have signed, nor are all claims true . In: Correctiv , October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  9. ↑ Iain Walker, Zoe Leviston: There are three types of climate change denier, and most of us are at least one . In: Quartz , October 15, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.