Hans H.J. Labohm

Credentials  

• Drs. (Doctorandus)*. [14]

* While a number of sources (here, and here for example) identify Hans Labohm as having a PhD this appears to be a confusion over the term “Doctorandus” which is a Dutch academic title equivalent to a MA or MSc degree. Labohm studied Economics and Economic History at the University of Amsterdam.[12], [8],[13]

Background

Hans Labohm was past advisor and senior visiting research fellow to the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael, from 1992 to 2005. [1]

He is now an independent economist and publicist. Labohm describes himself as the “unofficial coordinator” of the network of Dutch climate change skeptics. He also a member of De Groene Rekenkamer (The Green Court of Audit), a little-known Dutch anti-environmental group with conservative ties and links to many of the Dutch climate change skeptics. [14]

Labohm has written for various Netherlands newspapers in the Netherlands including Het Financieele Dagblad, Trouw, NRC Handelsblad, and De Volkskrant. Labohm also has a regular column at the Dagelijkse Standaard, a conservative web blog started by Joshua Livestro (once an advisor for Sarah Palin on matters relating to Europe’s economy). Labohm has also been a regular contributor to Tech Central Station (TCS). [2]

Labohm is also the editor-n-chief of climategate.nl.f [29], [31]

Stance on Climate Change

November 2008

In an interview with Kate & Richard Mucci for Matrix News Network (USA), where he was introduced as an expert reviewer of the IPCC, Labohm responded to a question about his beliefs on climate change:  (see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 on YouTube). [28]

Kate Mucci: Now where does this notion that CO2 emissions from human activity actually cause global warming? The causal relationship is not established at all.

Hans Labohm: “Yeah, well that’s true. […]  CO2 plays a role in the rise of temperatures, that was the conclusion which one drew. But at the end of the previous century measurements became more accurate as we got to time resolution and then it became clear that temperature rises precede rises of the CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere by approximately 800 years. And that means that the causal relationship is just the other way around.”

Note that this is a common climate change myth addressed by SkepticalScience.

In Part 2 of the interview, Labohm suggests there is “nothing unusual” about any warming that has occured:

“There has been global warming—most scientists believe there has been global warming over the last 150 years or so. And the, well, that is of course normal because of the end of the so called the Little Ice Age, which ended around 1850. So there’s nothing unusual about it.”

Note that this is another myth specifically addressed my SkepticalScience.

He went on to criticize the IPCC and emissions reducton targets:

“We have a kind of mini Kyoto in Europe that these CO2 schemes and these schemes which aim at reducing the emissions of CO2 will have no detectable effects, um, worldwide temperatures,” Labohm said.

” […] the point is that people have been indoctrinated by the one-sided, uh, announcement and statements of the IPCC and this particular fact that they don’t have no detectable effect on temperatures. Has always been hidden by the IPCC and by the proponents of the manmade global warming hypothesis.”

2008

Labohm was quoted in in Senator James Inhofe‘s Senate Environment and Public Works report, “More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over
Man-Made Global Warming Claims”:

“I started as an anthropogenic global warming believer, then I read the [UN‘s IPCC] Summary for Policymakers and the research of prominent skeptics.”  “After that, I changed my mind” [3]

Key Quotes

November 2008

Some additional quotes from Labohm’s interview with Matrix News Network (USA) below: [28]

Kate Mucci: “So Hans Labaum, what do you think about freezing all co two emissions?”

Hans Labohm: “Well, I think that the complete freeze on CO2 emissions will be the end of our civilization as we know it, because our way of life is critically dependent upon the availability of energy at affordable prices. And there are billions of people out there who also want to attain a better standard of living.

“For Al Gore and others to suggest that there are many horrible things going on in the world and attributes it to man-made global warming but there is no convincing scientific evidence to substantiate those claims. Consequently, his assertions are pure fiction, not even science fiction.”

On polar bears (see Part 2 of the interview):

“As far as the polar bears ears are concerned, polar bears has survived many periods of climate change over the last two, three, four, 5,000 years in the past. And at the moment, the polar bear population is thriving. The number of polar bears has grown dramatically over the last 50 years. Estimates range from a factor two to effect of five. So there’s nothing wrong with the polar bears.”

November 5, 2007

Labohm wrote an article in Tech Central Station/TCS Daily titled “Proliferatoin of Climate Scepticism in Europe”:

“Nevertheless, in my capacity as expert reviewer of the IPCC, I have also received (a tiny) part of the Nobel price, which has been awarded to Al Gore and the IPCC (yes, thanks for your congratulations). Should I be grateful? I don’t think so. Both ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and the latest IPCC report labour under cherry-picking, spindoctoring and scare-mongering (Al Gore’s movie more than the IPCC reports). Awarding the Nobel price for such flawed science is a disgrace” [4]

Note: Although Labohm describes additionally described as an IPCC “Expert Reviewer,”this does not mean that the IPCC officially requested him to review any of their documents.

Key Deeds

March 14, 2019

Labohm received the “Groene Helden” (translated “Green Heroes”) prize, presented by The Green Court of Audit/De Groene Rekenkamer. [26], [27]

According to a translation of his acceptance speech quoted by DGR, via Google Translate: [26]

“I was already afraid that the climate hype would give rise to more regulation and a tendency of our economic model towards central planning. And we knew, from the experiences and also from the theory, of the 70s that the central plan produces model and less prosperity and less freedom for the people. So as an economist, I was afraid of such a development.” [26]

View the video below.

August 2016

Hans Labohm is listed as a “Founding Member” of group named Climate Exit (Clexit) led by climate change denier Christopher Monckton. According to Clexit’s founding statement (PDF), “The world must abandon this suicidal Global Warming crusade. Man does not and cannot control the climate.” [20], [21]

Desmog reports on how the group grew in the wake of the UK‘s decision to leave the EU. A key member of Clexit’s “60 well-informed science, business and economic leaders” is Hugh Morgan, a former board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia and former CEO of Western Mining Corporation with close ties to Australia’s Liberal party. [22], [23]

According to Clexit’s founding statement: 

“If the Paris climate accord is ratified, or enforced locally by compliant governments, it will strangle the leading economies of the world with pointless carbon taxes and costly climate and energy policies, all with no sound basis in evidence or science […]” [21]

May 12, 2015

Hans Labohm was a signatory to an open letter to Pope Francis on climate change. The letter invites the Pope to reconsider his views on climate change before his upcoming encyclical letter on the environment, which is widely expected to call for measures to prevent climate change in the interests of the world’s poor. [30]

The open letter was coordinated and signed by Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance. According to the letter, “Good climate policy must recognize human exceptionalism, the God-given call for human persons to ‘have dominion’ in the natural world (Genesis 1:28), and the need to protect the poor from harm, including actions that hinder their ascent out of poverty.” [30]

July 14, 2008

Hans Labohm was signatory to an open letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon calling for the UN to “lead the UN into abandoning the CO2-based theory of global warming and nullifying its former recommendations.” [25]

“The assertion that the recent rapid rise of CO2 is unique and dangerous is both deceptive and irrelevant because CO2 does not drive the world’s climate,” the letter claimed, adding “ there is clearly no evidence for the CO2-based theory of global warming. Indeed, there is only evidence against it.” [25]

The letter was signed by many notable climate change deniers, including but not limited to: [25]

• James Peden
• Piers Corbyn
• Vincent Gray
• Richard Courtney
• Hans Labohm
• Will Alexander
• Joseph D’Aleo

April 2006

Labohm was a signatory to the 2006 open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that recommended the government stall any action on climate policy because the “climate changes all the time due to natural causes.” [5]

The letter was signed by numerous other “accredited experts” including Richard Lindzen, Roy Spencer, Sonja-Boehmer Christiansen, Vincent Gray, and Fred Singer.

May 2004

Labohm was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s fourth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC4) in Chicago. [24]  

DeSmog has done research on the co-sponsors of the conference and found that 19 of the 65 sponsors (including Heartland itself) have received a total of over $40 million in funding since 1985 from ExxonMobil, Koch Industries family foundations or the Scaife family foundations.  

Labohm’s speech, titled “Climate Change: Political, Social and Economic Implications” can be viewed below. 

December 13, 2007

Signed an open letter to the UN‘s Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. The letter states that “the IPCC’s conclusions are quite inadequate as justification for implementing policies that will markedly diminish future prosperity.” [6]

Affiliations  

• Climategate.nl — Editor-in-Chief. [29]
• Natural Resources Stewardship Project (NRSP) — Past allied expert. The NRSP is now defunct. [7]
• International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) — Member, Scientific Advisory Board, and independent economist. [8]
• James Inhofe (R-OK) — listed as one of 20 economists on Inhofe‘s list of 400+ “prominent climate scientists” who refute the existence of man-made global warming. 
• Tech Central Station (TCS) — Contributor. [9]
• CFACT Europe — Member of the Board of Advisors. [10]
• The Heartland Institute — Member of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) and formerly listed as an “Expert” on global warming. [14], [16]
• European Institute for Climate and Energy (EIKE) — Member, Advisory Board. [15]
• De Groene Rekenkamer (The Green Court of Audit) — Member, “formerly listed as a scientific” board/consultant. [17]
• Stichting Meer Vrijheid (More Freedom Foundation) —Listed as a “Recommendation” under the board and staff listings, and as an advisor to the management at “Clingendael.”[18]
• Fréderic Bastiat Stichting — Formerly listed as a member of the board. [19]
• Climate Exit (Clexit) — Founding member. [20]

Social Media

• HLabohm on YouTube

Publications

Although Labohm has not published original research in peer-reviewed journals, he disputed this claim, saying that his following articles had received more peer review than Michael Mann’s Hockey Stick:

• “Klimakatastrophenzweifel – eine Einführung” (translated to  Novo Magazine (Jan./Feb. 2007). 

Novo Magazine does not appear to be a peer-reviewed journal by traditional standards.

• “What is Wrong with the IPCC?” (PDF) Science and Public Policy Institute, November 2007.

The Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI) is a global warming skeptics group led by Robert Ferguson, a past director of the Center for Science and Public Policy (CSPP). SPPI prominently features publications by climate skeptics including Christopher Monckton. 

• “Climate Policy: Quo Vadis?”, Amsterdam Law Forum, Vol 2, No 2 (2010).

According to the Amsterdam Law Forum’s Peer Review Process, “Amsterdam Law Forum provides an alternative to the current scholarly publishing paradigm, allowing for innovation and experimentation in scholarly communication. The journal is not peer reviewed at this moment. It is the ambition of the Amsterdam Law Forum to offer a full peer review process in the future.” [11]

Books

Labohm co-wrote a book titled Man-Made Global Warming: Unravelling a Dogma, published by Multi-Science Publishing in 2004.  The other authors were Simon Rozendaal, a journalist, and Dick Thoenes, a chemical engineer. 

The premise of Unravelling a Dogma is that the current science on global warming is “not strong enough to scientifically prove that manmade global warming exists.”

Resources

1. “Hans Labohm,” Netherlands Institute of International Relations: Clongendael. Archived February 15, 2005.
2. “What is Wrong with the IPCC?” (PDF) Science and Public Policy Institute, November 2007.
3. “U. S. Senate Minority Report: More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims Scientists Continue to Debunk ‘Consensus’ in 2008 & 2009” (PDF), U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, December 11, 2008.
4. Hans H.J. Labohm. “Proliferation of Climate Scepticism in Europe,” TCS Daily, November 5, 2007. Archived July 1, 2011.
5. “Open Kyoto to debate,” National Post, April 11, 2006. June 8, 2010.
6. “Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations,” December 17, 2007. Republished by the Science and Public Policy Institute. Archived July 23, 2011.
7. “Natural Resources Stewardship Project ‘Allied Experts’,” Natural Resources Stewardship Project. Archived February 19, 2009.
8. “Who We Are,” International Climate Science Coalition. Archived October 28, 2019.
9. “Articles by Hans H.J. Labohm,” ideasinactiontv.com. Archived July 30, 2016.
10. “Board of Advisors,” CFACT Europe. Archived October 25, 2012.
11. “Editorial Policies,” Amsterdam Law Forum. Archived October 28, 2019.
12. “Copenhagen climate Challenge Associated Signatories,” Copenhagen Climate Challenge, December 10, 2009. Archived February 19, 2012.
13. “What is Wrong with the IPCC?“ Science and Public Policy  Institute, November 7, 2007. Archived December 25, 2011.
14. “drs. H.H.J. Labohm,” Telderstichting. Archived May 19, 2013.
15. “Advisory Board members,” EIKE. Archived October 28, 2019.
16. “Experts: Hans Labohm,” The Heartland Institute. Archived April 17, 2016.
17. “FAQ,” De Groene Rekenkamer (The Green Court). Archived August 30, 2011.
18. “Directors,” Stichting Meer Vrijheid. Archived October 28, 2019.
19. “What is the Frederic Bastiat Foundation?” Fréderic Bastiat Stichting. Archived May 4, 2013.
20. “The Clexit Committee comprises” (PDF), Clexit.net. Archived.pdf on file at Desmog.
21. “After Brexit, Clexit” (PDF), Clexit.net. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.
22. Graham Readfearn. “After Brexit, Climate Science Denialists Form New Group to Call for a Clexit,” Desmog, August 3, 2016.
23. “Hugh Morgan AO,” Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Archived February 22, 2002. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/1ObOB
24. “Fourth International Conference on Climate Change, Program,” (PDF) Heartland institute. Archived February 20, 2018. 
25. “The UN Climate Change Panel must be called to account and cease its deceptive practices- Policies based on false science must be ended” (PDF), July 14, 2008. Retrieved from ilovemycarbondioxide.com. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
26. “Hans Labohm ontvangt Groene Helden prijs op 3e Ontgroeningsdag,” De Groene Rekenkamer, March 14, 2019. Archived October 28, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.ph/WPPqq
27. “Organization,” De Groene Rekenkamer. Translated with Google Translate. Archived October 28, 2019. Archive URL:https://archive.ph/qvj4V 
28. “Video: Climate Change. Interview with Hans Labohm,” Climate Realists, November 8, 2008. Full video archived at DeSmog. 
29. “About Hans Labohm (Editor-in-Chief),” Climatgate.nl. Archived October 28, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.ph/1XROq
30. “An Open Letter to Pope Francis on Climate Change,” Cornwall Alliance For The Stewardship of Creation. April 27, 2015. Archived with WebCite May 27, 2015.
31. “New Little Ice Age Coming,” Climategate.nl. Archived October 28, 2019. Archive.fo URL:https://archive.ph/HQzwT

Other Resources

• Sourcewatch Profile, Hans H.J. Labohm.
• “Hans Labohm,” Wikipedia (Dutch).