More than 80 scientists have panned the Department of Energy’s recently released report on climate change, describing it as riddled with errors, founded on cherry-picked data and “just plain wrong.”
“This report makes a mockery of science,” said Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University who organized the response alongside Rutgers climate scientist Robert Kopp. “It relies on ideas that were rejected long ago, supported by misrepresentations of the body of scientific knowledge, omissions of important facts, arm waving, anecdotes, and confirmation bias.”
In July, the DOE released a report entitled ”A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate”, which significantly downplayed the effects of climate change. In it, the writers concluded that “claims of increased frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and droughts are not supported by U.S. historical data,” and that “CO2-induced warming appears to be less damaging economically than commonly believed,” according to a summary.
Climate scientists from a range of institutions, including MIT, UCLA and the University of Washington, signed a statement to the agency disputing these conclusions and questioning the way that facts were framed in the report. The scientists note that the report’s authors cherry-picked findings and cited “outdated or discredited studies” in order to support their assertions while failing to conduct a peer review of their work.
