'Vast Blind Spot': IPCC Accused of Ignoring 'Decades Long' Fossil Fuel Misinformation Campaign on Climate

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The United Nations (UN) climate science panel is being accused of ignoring research into fossil fuel-funded misinformation campaigns that have been key to holding back action on globalย warming.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changeย (IPCC) โ€” an assessment of more than 6,000 research papers โ€” found global warming caused largely by fossil fuel burning would have severe impacts even if limited to 1.5ยฐCย (2.7ยฐF).

Described by the IPCC as โ€œone of the most important climate change reports ever published,โ€ย the report is designed to inform policy makers and the public around theย world.

But several researchers are angry the report did not take account of academic research into the โ€œdecades-long misinformation campaignโ€ funded and promoted by fossil fuel interests and so-called โ€œfree marketโ€ conservative think tanks that has been a major brake onย progress.

Several researchers say the lack of consideration of academic research into misinformation campaigns was a vital but missed opportunity to educate the public and policy makers.ย The groups that have colluded with the fossil fuel industry have been credited with pushing President Donald Trump to pledge to pull the U.S. from the UN‘s Parisย Agreement.

A Vast Blindย Spot

โ€œThis is an important barrier to climate action, but it is never addressed,โ€ said Professor Robert Brulleย of Drexel University, who has published research on the funding and influence of climate science denialย efforts.ย 

โ€œA large existing literature on this was ignored by the IPCC,โ€ heย added.

The IPCC special report showed that keeping global warming to 1.5ยฐC would require a rapid phase-out of fossil fuel use between now and the middle of theย century.

As well as assessing the impacts of global warming at 1.5ยฐC compared to 2ยฐC (3.4ยฐF) on people and the environment, the reportโ€™s chapter four detailed factors that influence policy makers and the publicโ€™s response to climateย change.

Dr. Timmons Robertsย of Brown University in Rhode Islandย was one of more than 50 contributors to theย chapter.

He said the โ€œhighly organized misinformation campaign funded by the fossil fuel industryโ€ was a โ€œmain factor driving inaction,โ€ย yet he said this was described as a โ€œvast blind spotโ€ in theย report.

โ€œIt leaves readers and policy makers without tools to address the problem in the real world,โ€ addedย Roberts.

Professor Justin Farrell of Yale University has published a detailed analysis of the work of a network of more than 150 organizations that form a โ€œclimate counter movement.โ€ Farrell found those groups had been key to polarizing the public on climateย change.ย 

He said: โ€œWe cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand about the real reasons why climate change science is ignored and solutions are continuallyย subverted.โ€

He said social science research had revealed โ€œhow and why climate science continues to be purposefully undermined at large scales by powerful industry and politicalย actors.โ€

Farrell added: โ€œThe public โ€” and the planet โ€” deserve to hear this evidence and know the truth, and any report on climate change can and should integrate these well-researchedย facts.โ€

Funders of groups that have pushed misinformation on climate science and the impacts of policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions include petrochemical billionaires Charles and David Koch, energy companies including ExxonMobilย and hedge fund billionaire and Donald Trump backer Robert Mercer. Many millions more have flowedย through so-called โ€œdark moneyโ€ routes, including Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.

Ignore at ourย Peril

Dr. John Cook ofย George Mason Universityโ€™s Center for Climate Change Communicationย said it was โ€œimpossible to understand and change public attitudesโ€ on climate change without considering misinformationย campaigns.

He said: โ€œSocial science research tells us that efforts to communicate the reality of human-caused global warming can be undone by misinformation โ€” so we ignore climate science denial at our ownย peril.โ€

Professor Stephan Lewandowskyย of the University of Bristol said it was crucial the public was aware about such campaigns โ€œso they can dismiss the noise generated by contrarians for the propaganda that itย is.โ€

Some research on the tendency for conservative white males to deny human-caused climate change, workย led by Professor Riley Dunlap of Oklahoma State University, was cited in the IPCCย report.

But Dunlap said there was a โ€œlarge body of social science researchโ€ that had documented the misinformation campaign and its tactics andย impacts.

He said: โ€œThe IPCC should take this accumulated body of knowledge into account and publicize it, thereby helping to pull back the curtain on the ‘denial machine’ so that the public can see through the misinformation itย spreads.โ€

Difficultย Circumstances

The report does reference some research into ways that action to cut emissions could be stymied. The report says โ€œindustry group lobbying, further contributed to reducing space for maneuverย of some major emitting nations.โ€ย  People with a โ€œfree market ideologyโ€ also tended to have โ€œweaker climate change beliefs,โ€ย the report says. People who perceived themselves to be โ€œprotected by godโ€ were less prone to take measures to adapt to climateย change.

People with โ€œparticular political views and those who emphasize individual autonomyโ€ were prone to rejecting climate science or believing there was โ€œwidespread scientific disagreement about climateย change.โ€

Professor Matthew Hornseyย of the University of Queensland in Australia has also researched climate science denial and said he did not want to be critical of IPCC authors who were โ€œdoing a great job in difficultย circumstances.โ€

But he said the report was โ€œrelatively silent on the role of political elites in supporting organized campaigns of misinformation about climateย change.โ€

He said: โ€œThis is something that most neutral observers would agree is a big factor in stopping progress on climate change, particularly in Australia and theย U.S.โ€

โ€œBut I can also understand why the authors might want to steer clear of making any explosive statements around this. One of the great triumphs of the skeptic movement is that theyโ€™ve made it feel โ€˜politicalโ€™ or โ€˜biasedโ€™ to talk frankly about political interference in Australia and theย U.S.โ€

DeSmog contacted the two coordinating lead authors of chapter four of the IPCC report, but had not received a response at time ofย publishing.

Main image: Charles Koch at a conference in Aspen in 2016. Credit: Fortune Brainstormย TECH,ย CCย BYNCNDย 2.0

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