Energy and Environment

Background

Energy and Environment (E&E) is a social sciences journal indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index,¹ Scopus,² EBSCO databases,³ Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, and Compendex.⁴

Energy and Environment is published 8 times a year, formerly by Multi-Science UK, which described it as “an interdisciplinary journal aimed at natural scientists, technologists and the international social science and policy communities covering the direct and indirect environmental impacts of energy acquisition, transport, production and use.”⁵

Note that Multi-Science Publishing ceased trading effective December 31, 2015⁶ and transferred responsibility for Energy and Environment to Sage Publishing.⁷

Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen, a reader in geography at the University of Hull in England and notable climate change skeptic, was Energy and Environment’s former editor. She stepped down after Multi-Science sold the journal to SAGE and adopted a new double-blind peer review policy, DeSmog reported.⁸

Benny Peiser, once described by The Guardian as one of “the most quoted climate sceptics in the UK media,”⁹ is past co-editor of the journal (as of 2010).¹⁰ In 2011, Peiser was listed on the journal’s “editorial advisory board,” and also under contacts for paper submissions.¹¹ In 2012 he was only listed on the journal’s “editorial advisory board.” He is no longer listed on the Multi-Science profile of E&E.¹²

A 1995 article (PDF) written by Paul Thacker describes Energy and Environment as a journal that climate change deniers go to when their papers have been rejected by mainstream peer-reviewed publications. At the time, the journal was found in only 25 libraries worldwide and was not included in Journal Citation Reports which lists the impact factors for the top 6000 peer-reviewed journals.¹³

“It’s only we climate skeptics who have to look for little journals and little publishers like mine to even get published,” said Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen.

Energy & Environment has been accused of abusing the peer-review process, and has drawn sharp criticism for its publication of sub-standard articles. Michael Mann questioned the journal’s integrity in publishing a disputed study in Climate Research co-authored by Willie Soon¹⁴ (who has received funding from the oil and coal industries) and Sallie Baliunas.¹⁵

According to Boehmer-Christiansen, she publishes papers counter to widely acknowledge climate science because, she contends, the skeptic position is often stifled in other outlets: “I’m following my political agenda — a bit, anyway,” she said. “But isn’t that the right of the editor?”¹⁶ ¹⁷

Hans von Storch, director of the Institute for Coastal Research at the GKSS Research Center (Germany), describes the journal as “attractive for skeptic papers.” He adds that “They know they can come through and that interested people make sure the paper enters the political realm.”¹⁸

Stance on Climate Change

According to the journal’s mission statement, “E&E has consistently striven to publish many ‘voices’ and to challenge conventional wisdoms. Perhaps more so than other European energy journal, the editor has made E&E a forum for more sceptical analyses of ‘climate change’ and the advocated solutions. We look for contributions that make energy technology a contributor to improving social and environmental conditions where this is most needed.”¹⁹

Funding

Below is the pricing structure for personal subscriptions to the Energy and Environment Journal:²⁰

The general subscription rate for E&E is £576 for print + online, (effective: 1st September 2014 – 31st August 2015).²¹

Key People

As of January, 2016, the following individuals were listed on Energy and Environment’s entry on the Multi-Science UK website:²²

Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen — Editor.

Editorial Advisory Board

Maarten Arentsen
David Ball
Max Beran
David Cope
Richard S Courtney
Wolfgang Eichhammer
Ying Fan
Peter F. Gill
Hilary I Inyang
Mark Kaiser
Aynsley Kellow
Atle Midttun
Mithra Moezzi
Julian Morris
Arthur Rorsch
Simon Shackley
Malin Song
Steve Thomas
James Woudhuysen
ZhongXiang Zhang

Past Editorial Advisory Members

Benny Peiser²³

Authors

See the attached spreadsheet for a full list of Energy and Environment (E&E) Authors.

Notable authors include:

Actions

June 2014

A group that DeSmog found had links to mining, finance, agriculture and free market “think tank” the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) published a paper in the Journal of Agricultural Science where they argued that there was “no compelling evidence” that greenhouse gas emissions could cause dangerous global warming.²⁴

The paper was a reprint of an identical article from the November, 2013 issue of Energy and Environment titled “A Review of the Scientific Evidence Underlying the Imposition of a Carbon Tax or ETS in Australia.”²⁵

February 2011

Energy and Environment threatened RealClimate.org with a libel suit because of remarks Real Climate made about E&E’s peer review process.²⁶

The key quote that the journal appeared to find offensive was as follows:

“The evidence for this is in precisely what happens in venues like E&E that have effectively dispensed with substantive peer review for any papers that follow the editor’s political line.”

RealClimate responded to the libel suit:

“We are not surprised to find that Bill Hughes (the publisher) is concerned about his journal’s evidently appalling reputation. However, perhaps the way to fix that is to start applying a higher level of quality control rather than by threatening libel suits against people who publicly point out the problems? Is being known as the journal who tries to sue critics of their editorial policies (or worse, tries to intimidate critics by threatening libel suits) really going to help?”²⁷

2003

Sallie Baliunas and Willie Soon wrote a highly controversial paper titled “Proxy climatic and environmental changes of the past 1000 years” that was initially published in the journal Climate Research. The paper, which was partially funded by the American Petroleum Institute, argued that recent climate change is not unique, and that it has changed in the past due to natural causes.

A FOIA request made by Greenpeace revealed that the API gave Soon and Baliunas a total of $118,443 for the study, over the years 2002 and 2003, in grants titled “Sun’s impact on climate over the last 1000 years” and “1000 years of solar variability.”²⁸

After thirteen of the authors that Baliunas and Soon cited in their paper refuted the conclusion of the paper, several editors of Climate Research resigned in protest of the paper’s publication. “They submitted a flawed paper,” said Hans von Storch, editor-in-chief of Climate Research. He said that the journal’s peer review procedure failed to identify methodological flaws in the study.²⁹

Despite these criticisms, Energy and Environment proceeded to publish a more expansive article by Soon and Baliunas where they made the same disputed claims as in Climate Research.

While some have said that scientific claims in E&E “have little credibility among scientists,” many studies published in the journal have made it into the political realm. For example, the discredited study by Soon and Baliunas was used as evidence during July 2003 U.S. Senate Hearings:

“Our paper shows this contradiction and argues that the results of [Michael] Mann […] are out of step with the preponderance of the evidence. The scientific evidence. That is worth repeating: Mann’s theory of global warming is out of step with most scientific thinking on the subject.” — Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-OH).³⁰

The same E&E study also appeared in a 2003 report submitted to the White House that disagreed with the EPA’s conclusion that increases in global temperatures where caused by human activities.

Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF)

When the Global Warming Policy Foundation published a list of “900+ Peer Reviewed Papers” skeptical of climate change,³¹ GWPF included more articles published in Energy and Environment than in any other journal, as reported by the Carbon Brief.³²

Other Resources

“Energy and Environment,” SourceWatch.
“Energy and Environment,” Sourcewatch.
“Energy & Environment,” Wikipedia.

Resources

1
“Master Journal list,” Thomson Reuters. Archived January 25, 2016. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dCgS6
2
“Energy and Environment,” Scopus. Accessed June 24, 2015 (subscription required)
3
“Environment Index: Database Coverage List” (PDF). EBSCO. Archived January 25, 2016. Archived .pdf also on file at DeSmog.
4
“Energy and Environment,” Multi-Science.co.uk. Archived January 12, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tr6lm
5
“Energy and Environment,” Multi-Science.co.uk. Archived January 12, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tr6lm
6
“Multi-Science Publishing Co. Ltd,” Multi-science.co.uk. Archived March 22, 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/CD89K
7
“our journals…”, Multiscience.co.uk. Archived March 22, 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/TDspc
8
Mat Hope. “Climate Science Deniers’ Favourite Journal Just got ‘Overhauled’ — And it Could Lead to a Skeptic Shutout,” DeSmog, February 23, 2018.
9
Damian Carrington. “Chris Huhne blasts Lord Lawson’s climate sceptic thinktank,” The Guardian, November 22, 2011. Archived January 12, 2016. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/C2aDo
10
“Energy and Environment,” Multi-Science.co.uk. Archived August 19, 2010. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/rfgnV
11
“Energy and Environment,” Multi-Science.co.uk. Archived May 31, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/phsiA
12
“Energy and Environment,” Multi-Science.co.uk. Archived June 1, 2012. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/PXrID
13
Paul D. Thacker. “Skeptics get a journal” (PDF), Environmental Science and Technology Online, August 31, 2005. Retrieved from Realclimate.org. Archived December 15, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
14
Willie Soon and Sallie Balinuas. “Proxy climatic and environmental changes of the past 1000 years” (PDF), Clim Res 23:89-110, January 31, 2003. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
15
David Hasemyer. “Documents Reveal Fossil Fuel Fingerprints on Contrarian Climate Research ” InsideClimate News, February 21, 2015. Archived December 15, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/QgheX
16
“Storm Brews Over Global Warming” (PDF), Chronicle of Higher Education, September 4, 2003. Archived September 3, 2006. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
17
“Climate change: How do we know?” NASA.gov. Archived January 25, 2016. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KfviX
18
Paul D. Thacker. “Skeptics get a journal” (PDF), Environmental Science and Technology Online, August 31, 2005. Retrieved from Realclimate.org. Archived December 15, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
19
“ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT: MISSION STATEMENT” Energy and Environment. Archived December 15, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/8Jsm5
20
“Personal Subscriptions to Energy and Environment,” www.multi-science.co.uk. Archived December 15, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pILCx
21
“Journal Subscriptions,” www.multi-science.co.uk. Archived December 15, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/7n4h2
22
“Energy and Environment,” Multi-Science.co.uk. Archived January 12, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tr6lm
23
“Energy and Environment,” Multi-Science.co.uk. Archived May 8, 2013. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pp2yb
24
Graham Readfearn. “Australian Psychological Society “Disturbed” By Climate Denialist Group’s ‘Misleading’ Newspaper Advert,” DeSmog, August 11, 2015.
25
“A Review of the Scientific Evidence Underlying the Imposition of a Carbon Tax or ETS in Australia,” Sage Journals. Published Online: September 1, 2013. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ePbaw
26
“E&E threatens a libel suit,” RealClimate.org, February 22, 2011. Archived January 12, 2016. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/vOupY
27
“E&E threatens a libel suit,” RealClimate.org, February 22, 2011. Archived January 12, 2016. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/vOupY
28
“Dr. Willie Soon: A Career Fueled by Big oil and Coal,” Greenpeace USA. Archived January 12, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pfNhs
29
Jeff Nesmith. “Three Journal Editors Resign Over Paper by Skeptics,” Cox News Service, July 29, 2003. Republished by The Heat is Online. Archived November 17, 2007. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/TNHFV
30
Paul D. Thacker. “Skeptics get a journal” (PDF), Environmental Science and Technology Online, August 31, 2005. Retrieved from Realclimate.org. Archived December 15, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
31
“900+ Peer-Reviewed Papers Supporting Skepticism Of “Man-Made” Global Warming (AGW) Alarm,” The Global Warming Policy Foundation, April 14, 2011. Archived April 20, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/aM0Vn
32
“Energy and Environment – journal of choice for climate skeptics – Analysing the 900+ skeptic papers part III,” CarbonBrief, April 21, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ILDqh

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