More than 85 climate scientists issued a joint rebuttal to a U.S. Department of Energy climate report, identifying multiple errors and misrepresentations of climate science. The rebuttal cites cherry-picking of studies, misleading framing of drought evidence, and omission of key impacts on agriculture. A lawsuit filed by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Environmental Defense Fund alleges Energy Secretary Chris Wright arranged for five hand-picked climate skeptics to compile the report in secret. The DOE working group included individuals who have questioned mainstream climate risk assessments. A DOE spokesperson said the report underwent internal review by DOE researchers and national labs.
This comes weeks after the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Environmental Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration that alleges that Energy Secretary Chris Wright "quietly arranged for five hand-picked skeptics of the effects of climate change" to compile the government's climate report and violated the law by creating the report in secret with authors "of only one point of view."
The DOE's Climate Working Group consisted of four scientists and one economist who have all questioned the scientific consensus that climate change is a large threat to the world and sometimes frame global warming as beneficial. For instance, in the DOE report the authors claim that rising carbon dioxide can be a "net benefit" to U.S. agriculture, neglecting to mention the negative impacts of more heat and climate-change fueled extreme weather events on crops.
The DOE report also states that there is no evidence of more intense "meteorological" drought in the U.S. or globally, referring to droughts that involve low rainfall. But the dozens of climate scientists point out that this is misleading, because higher temperatures and more evaporation not just low rainfall can lead to and exacerbate droughts. They say that there are, in fact, many studies showing how climate change has exacerbated droughts.
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