DeSmog

Lavoisier Group

Lavoisier Group

Background

The Lavoisier Group, borrowing the name of French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, was founded in March 2000 by the late Ray Evans, then an executive at the Western Mining Corporation (WMC), Hugh Morgan (past CEO of WMC), and Peter Walsh.

Morgan has funded other skeptical think-tanks and organizations including the Centre for Independent Studies, the HR Nicholls Society, and the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).1About the Lavoisier Group,” The Lavoisier Group, August, 2008. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/EsquP Morgan is also a former director of the IPA, a group that has consistently combatted the renewable energy industry and pushed climate science denial. 2Graham Readfearn. “Commonwealth Business Council Picks In-house Denier To Chair Climate Forum,” DeSmog, November 5, 2011.

The Lavoisier Group was created after the United Nation’s Kyoto Protocol was signed, and was in response to submissions by the Australian Greenhouse Office intending to implement carbon trading to meet its Koyoto commitments. The group said its founders were concerned at a lack of debate on the science of climate change and “the drift in policy development that was then apparent at the highest levels of the Canberra mandarinate.”3About the Lavoisier Group,” The Lavoisier Group, August, 2008. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/EsquP

“It was not obvious to us that, first, decarbonisation was inevitable and, second, that the science on which these conclusions were based was beyond reproach,” the group’s website read. The Lavoisier Group also opposed the Kyoto Protocol, which it described as “virtually a dead letter.” According to one early Lavoisier Group pamphlet on Kyoto:4“Australia and the Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2001.

“The founders were concerned that Australia might ratify the Kyoto Protocol without properly understanding either the scientific claims on which it is based, or the economic implications which would follow from the regime of decarbonisation which the Kyoto Protocol requires. The Group seeks to stimulate debate and discussion about the science, the politics and the economics of the Kyoto Protocol, so that even if many other countries ratify it, Australia will make a decision based wholly on our national interest.”5“Australia and the Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2001.

The initial Board of the Lavoiser Group included Peter Walsh AO, President; Ian Webber AO, Vice President; Harold Clough AO, Treasurer; Peter Murray AOMAM Bob FosterRay Evans, Secretary. 6“Australia and the Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2001. The group lists two aims on its website:7Our Aims,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 22, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/7sV4q

“To promote vigorous debate within Australia on the science of global warming and climate change, and of the economic consequences of both unilateral or multilateral decarbonisation.

“To explore the consequences which any international treaty relating to global decarbonisation targets, and the methods of policing such treaties, would have on Australian sovereignty and independence, and for the WTO rules which protect Australia from the use of trade sanctions as an instrument of extraterritorial power.”8Our Aims,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 22, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/7sV4q

Australian economist John Quiggin, writing in the Australian Financial Review, described the Lavoisier Group as “devoted to the proposition that basic principles of physics […] cease to apply when they come into conflict with the interests of the Australian coal industry.”9John Quiggin. “Wishful thinking of Walsh’s true believers,” Australian Financial Review, April 11, 2001. Republished on John Quiggen’s home page. Archived August 22, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/zVwrv

Former Lavoisier secretary Ray Evans once described the ”90-odd Lavoisier members” as a “’dad’s army’ of mostly retired engineers and scientists from the mining, manufacturing and construction industries. Many, he says, regard climate change as ‘a scam’.”10The global warming sceptics,” The Age, November 27, 2004. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/E6xm6

Stance on Climate Change

2010

Hugh Morgan, writing in the 2010 “President’s Report” of the Lavoisier Group, defended carbon dioxide and criticized “decarbonisation”:11Hugh Morgan, “President’s Report 2010,” The Lavoisier Group.

“In Australia we have to start cleaning up the mess which 15 years of playing at decarbonisation has created. The most pressing problem is the electricity supply industry. Australians have enjoyed one of the lowest cost electricity industries in the Western world – a situation enabled by easy access to vast reserves of very cheap brown coal, and large reserves of low cost black coal. We have been doing everything possible in recent years to destroy our coal-fired electricity industry in the superstitious belief that carbon dioxide is a pollutant.”12Hugh Morgan, “President’s Report 2010,” The Lavoisier Group.

2007

According to Clive Hamilton’s 2007 book, Scorcher, one can find the following arguments in the various papers promoted by the Lavoisier Group:13Clive Hamilton. Scorcher: The Dirty Politics of Climate Change. Black Inc., May 1, 2007.

  • There is no evidence of global warming.
  • If there is evidence of global warming, then it is not due to human activity.
  • If global warming is occurring and it is due to human activity, then it is not going to be damaging.
  • If global warming is occurring and it is due to human activity, and it is going to be damaging, then the costs of avoiding it are too high, so we should do nothing.

March, 2006

In comments submitted on the Stern Review, the Lavoisier Group declared:14“Comment on Scientific Issues in the Stern Review Papers” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, March 2006. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“The truth is that climate change research is still in its infancy, and that consensus extends only to issues of little relevance to policy. Climate change is poorly understood, and industrial emissions of greenhouse gases may be a small, even negligible, factor.”15“Comment on Scientific Issues in the Stern Review Papers” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, March 2006. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Funding

Although the Lavoisier Group’s funding sources are not public, the Sydney Morning Herald reported in 2008 that it had links to numerous other groups that had been formerly funded by Exxon Mobil.16The climate change smokescreen,” The Sydney Morning Herald, August 2, 2008. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/CpLc0

According to a 2004 article in The Age, “It is unclear how much Hugh Morgan supports Lavoisier financially, but members pay an annual subscription of $50 and the annual budget is around $10,000. When they want to print a pamphlet to distribute at universities or take an advertisement in a newspaper – as they did in The Australian a few years ago – they appeal to members for money.”17The global warming sceptics,” The Age, November 27, 2004. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/E6xm6

Key People

Office Bearers

Name20082009Description
Harold CloughYYTreasurer
Hugh Morgan YPresident
Ian WebberYYVice President
Peter WalshY President (Former)
Ray Evans (Deceased)YYSecretary

Board Members

Name20082009Description
Bob FosterYY
Bruce KeanYY
David ArchibaldY
George FoxYYPast CEO, English Electric Company.
Peter ChewYY
Philip Wood Y
Tom BostockYYCEO, Western Mining Corporation (1990 – 2003).

Articles, Conference Papers and Submissions

The Lavoisier Group lists a range of articles and presentations on its website. Below is a list of authors, sorted by article count:18Articles, Conference Papers and Submissions,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/tfXBm

View a complete list of Lavoisier articles, including titles and authors, here (.xlsx).

Lavoisier Documents

Below are PDF documents retrieved from the Lavoisier Group’s website. Not all were necessarily authored by the Lavoisier Group, or by members.

Actions

November 2015

As DeSmog reported, a group calling themselves “The Climate Study Group” published an advert in The Australian newspaper, asserting that there was “no evidence CO2 has determined climate in the past or that it could do so in the future” and that “the next ice age remains the real global threat.”19Graham Readfearn. “Australian Psychological Society ‘Disturbed’ By Climate Denialist Group’s ‘Misleading’ Newspaper Advert,DeSmog, August 11, 2015. 20“What You Don’t Know About Climate,” (PDF), Lavoisier Group. The Lavoisier Group re-posted the text of the ad on its website.21Welcome to the Lavoisier Group Website,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DCIX4

The Australian Psychological Society (APS) criticized the ad, saying it “misuses psychology-based arguments” to “mislead the public” on the science of climate change. In a Letter to The Australian, APS said that the authors had shown “cognitive biases” in ignoring a “huge body of scientific evidence” on climate change.22“Psychology and the New Climate Alarm” (PDF). On file at DeSmog. 23“The pot calling the kettle black” (PDF), Australian Psychological Society, July 2015. Archived at DeSmog.

Professor Lyn Littlefield, APS executive director, wrote in the letter:

“The Australian Psychological Society was disturbed to see psychology being misused to mislead the public on such an important topic as climate change, and for this to be published in a reputable newspaper.”24“The pot calling the kettle black” (PDF), Australian Psychological Society, July 2015. Archived at DeSmog.

DeSmog also found that The Climate Study Group’s members had ties to mining, finance, agriculture and free market “think tank” the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).25Graham Readfearn. “Australian Psychological Society ‘Disturbed’ By Climate Denialist Group’s ‘Misleading’ Newspaper Advert,DeSmog, August 11, 2015.

Group members included 76-year-old Dr Tom Quirk, who was an IPA director from 1998 until February 2014. Bob Officer, another member, served as a former IPA director and an economics and finance industry consultant. Mark Reyner, a former mining company director in the aluminum industry, is a former chairman of National Australia Bank who graduated from the University of New South Wales with a chemical engineering degree in 1960. Richard Morgan, described as the “convenor” of the group, has a career focused on the agricultural fertiliser industry. Graham Sellars-Jones is a former stockbroker. The remaining members of the group have been listed as John Chambers and Andrew Miller.26Graham Readfearn. “Australian Psychological Society ‘Disturbed’ By Climate Denialist Group’s ‘Misleading’ Newspaper Advert,DeSmog, August 11, 2015.

The Lavoisier Group also promoted a submission by the The Climate Study Group to the UNFCCC Taskforce in April 2015 arguing against the 2020 emissions reductions targets set for Australia. The paper concludes with the following recommendation:27“Submissions for Australia’s post -2020 emissions reduction target” (PDF), The Climate Study Group. Retrieved from Lavoisier.com.au.

“In the context of the analysis in this submission of psychological research and new revelations of how bias can affect decision making, the Authors of this submission recommend the case for reduction of CO2 emissions is not well founded and certainly no Australian post-2020 emissions reduction target could be justified.”28“Submissions for Australia’s post -2020 emissions reduction target” (PDF), The Climate Study Group. Retrieved from Lavoisier.com.au.

May 21–23, 2012

The Lavoisier Group co-sponsored the Heartland Institute‘s Seventh International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC7) in Chicago, Illinois.29Cosponsors,” 7th International Conference on Climate Change. Archived May 10, 2012. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

DeSmog researched co-sponsors behind the conference and discovered that they had received a total of over $67 Million from ExxonMobil, Koch, and Scaife family foundations.30A Closer Look at Heartland’s ICCC7 Denial-a-Palooza Speakers and Sponsors,” DeSmog, May 23, 2012.

June 30–July 1, 2011

The Lavoisier Group co-sponsored the Heartland Institute‘s Sixth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC6) in Washington, DC.31Sixth International Conference on Climate Change Conference Program (PDF), the Heartland Institute. Archived July 25, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

DeSmog researched sponsors of the conference and found that 17 of the 43 sponsors, including the Heartland Institute itself, had collectively received over $46 million from either Scaife Foundations, Koch Foundations, or ExxonMobil.32Brendan DeMelle. “Denial-a-Palooza 6: Heartland’s Sixth International Conference on Climate Change, Courtesy of Koch, Scaife & Exxon,” DeSmog, June 30, 2011.

May 16–18, 2010

The Lavoisier Group co-sponsored the Heartland Institute‘s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC4) in Chicago, Il.334th International Conference on Climate Change: Sponsored by the Heartland Institute” (Conference Program – PDF), The Heartland Institute, May, 2010. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

DeSmog researched sponsors, and at the time 19 of the 65 sponsors (including Heartland itself) had received a total of over $40 million in funding since 1985 from ExxonMobil (who funded 13 of the organizations), and/or Koch family foundations (funded 10 organizations) and/or the Scaife family foundations (funded 10 organizations).34Brendan DeMelle. “Denial-a-palooza Round 4: ‘International Conference on Climate Change’ Groups Funded by Exxon, Koch Industries,” DeSmog, May 13, 2010.

March 8-10, 2009

The Lavoisier Group was a sponsor of the Heartland Institute‘s 2009 International Conference on Climate Change.35Co-Sponsors,” The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change. Archived April 28, 2011. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Fellow sponsor organizations had received over $47 million from oil companies and right-wing foundations.36Heartland Institute’s 2009 Climate Conference in New York: funding history of the sponsors,” DeSmog.

November 2008

The Lavoisier Group “donated generously to support the publishing costs” of a document titled “Thank God For Carbon,” authored by Ray Evans.37Thank God For Carbon” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, November, 2008.

Evans claimed that the “belief that anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide are responsible for raising the world’s temperature during the last 30 years or so is shown here to be without any solid foundation.”38Thank God For Carbon” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, November, 2008.

He refers to “the religious movement we can call the global warming movement” as being “held tenaciously by only a small proportion of the population.”39Thank God For Carbon” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, November, 2008.

Evans concludes that “The Emissions Trading Scheme is a much greater threat to our lives and to our nation than any increase in carbon dioxide that man can produce.”40Thank God For Carbon” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, November, 2008.

September 2008

Ray Evans, then-Secretary of the Lavoisier Group, wrote a paper titled “Satanic Gas: The Politics of Carbon Dioxide” where he argued that carbon dioxide has been wrongfully demonized. “Since 1998 […] global temperatures have either been stationary or, since 2002, in decline, but despite that, CO2 concentrations have continued to increase,” Evans claimed.41Satanic Gas: The Politics of Carbon Dioxide,” Quadrant, September 2008. Retrieved from Lavoisier.com.

Evans cited non-scientist Lord Christopher Monckton, who claims that positive feedback mechanisms such as water vapor “are not to be found in the real world.” In conclusion, Evans wrote:42Satanic Gas: The Politics of Carbon Dioxide,” Quadrant, September 2008. Retrieved from Lavoisier.com.

“[A]bove all, the belief that carbon is a demonic element, and that carbon dioxide is a satanic gas, is a retreat into fantasy of the most primitive and dangerous kind.”43Satanic Gas: The Politics of Carbon Dioxide,” Quadrant, September 2008. Retrieved from Lavoisier.com.

July 2008

The Lavoisier Forum was held in Melbourne, and titled “The Solar System and Earth’s Climate.” Speakers included Richard Mackey, Cliff Ollier, and Ewan Tyler who spoke on Rhodes Fairbridge:44Forum 2008: The Solar System and Earth’s Climate: Introduction,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fk6rN

“Richard Mackey gave a paper discussing Fairbridge’s pioneering work on the connection between the earth’s climate and the interaction of the sun with the Jovian planets. Cliff Ollier, who got to know Fairbridge extremely well, gives a personal account of their relationship, and Ewan Tyler, who was a student at the University of Western Australia during Fairbridge’s time there, provides us with a student’s view of what he was like,” the event description read.45Forum 2008: The Solar System and Earth’s Climate: Introduction,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fk6rN

Ian Wilson also presented, focusing on the sun’s effect on climate change in a presentation titled “Which Came First? The Chicken or the Egg?46“Which Came First? The Chicken or the Egg?” (PDF), Lavoiser Group, 2008.

January 2, 2008

The Lavoisier Group made a submission to the Garnaut Climate Change Review. One of their first assertions is that “There is no scientific consensus on the causal connection between anthropogenic carbon dioxide and global climate control. The weight of genuinely reputable scientific opinion is now firmly against any such connection.”

Their advice to the government is to “Wait and See” because “We do not know what the climatic future is […]”47“Submission from the Lavoisier Group to the Garnaut Climate Change Review: Issues Paper 1 Climate Change: Land use – Agriculture and Forestry” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, January 2, 2008.

June 29–30, 2007

Alex Robson presented at The Lavoisier Group’s 2007 workshop, “Rehabilitating Carbon Dioxide,” where he argues against emissions trading.48Alex Robson. “A Solution in Search of a Problem: The Shergold Report on Emissions Trading” (PDF), Lavoisier Group, June 2007.

Writing at the Lavoisier Group’s website, Robson claims that papers by David Archibald, William Kininmonth, Michael Hammer, and Tom Quirk mean that “atmospheric carbon dioxide has played virtually no role in influencing our climate since concentrations exceeded 200 ppm during the last glacial maximum 20,000 years ago, and will play no discernible role in the future, regardless of the size of any increase of these concentrations.”49Ray Evans. “‘Rehabilitating Carbon Dioxide’: An Overview,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SiVZd

February 28, 2007

Arvi Parbo announced the launch of Nine Facts About Climate Change, written by Ray Evans, at Parliament House in Canberra. Parbo introduces himself, noting “I am not a climate scientist, or a scientist of any kind.” He then goes on to claim that there has been “there has been a concerted and well-organised campaign to create worldwide apprehension and alarm” to believe in climate change.50“Comments at Launch of NINE FACTS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE” (PDF), Lavoisier Group, February 28, 2007.

“[W]hile the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing and a part of the increase is due to human activities, there is a saturation effect – the resulting warming is not linearly proportional to the concentration. A doubling of atmospheric CO2 does not produce twice the warming, again something not understood by the public. In fact I understand the relationship is logarithmic, in which case the additional warming effect with increasing concentration tapers off very quickly,” Parbo said, referring to Evans’ work.51“Comments at Launch of NINE FACTS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE” (PDF), Lavoisier Group, February 28, 2007.

The nine “facts” claimed by Evans are reproduced in full below:52Ray Evans. “Nine Facts About Climate Change” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, November 2006.

1. Climate change is a constant. The Vostok Ice Cores show five brief interglacial periods from 415,000 years ago to the present. The Greenland Ice Cores reveal a Minoan Warm Period 1450–1300 BC, a Roman Warm Period 250–0 BC, the Mediaeval Warm Period 800 1100AD, the Little Ice Age and the late 20th Century Warm Period 1900–2010 AD.

2. Carbon dioxide is necessary for all life on earth and increasing atmospheric concentrations are beneficial to plant growth, particularly in arid conditions. Because the radiation properties of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are already saturated, increasing atmospheric concentrations beyond current levels will have no discernible effect on global temperatures.

3. The twentieth century was almost as warm as the centuries of the Mediaeval Warm Period, an era of great achievement in European civilisation. The recent warm period, 1976–2000, appears to have come to an end and astro-physicists who study sunspot behaviour predict that the next 25–50 years could be a cool period similar to the Dalton Minimum of the 1790s-1820s.

4. The evidence linking anthropogenic (man-made) carbon dioxide emissions and current warming is limited to a correlation which holds only for the period 1976 to 2000. Attempts to construct an holistic theory in which atmospheric carbon dioxide controls the radiation balance of the earth, and thus determines average global temperatures, have failed.

5. The anthropogenists claim that the overwhelming majority of scientists are agreed on the anthropogenic carbon dioxide theory of climate control; that the science is settled and the debate is over; and that scientific sceptics are in the pay of the fossil fuel industries and their arguments are thus fatally compromised. These claims are an expression of hope, not of reality.

6. Anthropogenists such as former US Vice President Al Gore blame anthropogenic emissions of CO2 for high temperatures, droughts, melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels and retreating glaciers, and a decline in the polar bear population. They also blame anthropogenic CO2 for blizzards, unseasonable snow, freezing weather generally and for hurricanes, cyclones and other extreme weather events. There is no evidence at all to justify these assertions.

7. Increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide will have negligible impact on the earth’s radiation balance and will promote plant growth everywhere. There is no need to sequester CO2 in the ground or to subsidise nuclear or other non-carbon based methods of energy production.

8. ‘Tropical’ diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are not related to temperature but to poverty, lack of sanitation and the absence of mosquito control practices.

9. The decarbonisation of the world’s economy would, if attempted, cause huge economic dislocation. Any democratic government which seriously sought to fulfil decarbonisation commitments would lose office. Shutting down coal-fired power stations and replacing them with renewable energy sources such as windmills or solar panels will cause unemployment and economic deprivation.

In February 2006, Evans produced a similar document for the Lavoisier Group titled “Nine Lies About Global Warming,” with the key points also reproduced below:53Ray Evans. “Nine Les About Global Warming” (PDF), February 2006.

  1. Carbon dioxide is a pollutant.
  2. The twentieth century has been the hottest in recorded history and the decade 1990–2000 the hottest ever.
  3. The evidence linking anthropogenic (man-made) carbon dioxide emissions and current warming is decisive.
  4. The scientific consensus is that anthropogenic CO2 emissions have already caused significant global warming and must be severely curtailed to prevent future climate catastrophe.
  5. Anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and the global warming caused thereby are responsible not only for higher temperatures and more droughts than in the past, but also for more blizzards, unseasonal snow, and freezing weather. They are also responsible for increasing numbers of cyclones.
  6. Because of anthropogenic emissions, the polar ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising. The rising sea levels threaten low lying island states in the Pacific and Indian Oceans with complete inundation.
  7. Unless anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are reduced by 50–60 per cent of current levels by the year 2050, by 2100 our descendants will have to endure global temperatures of between 1.4 to 5.8°C warmer than the present.
  8. Tropical diseases such as malaria and dengue fever will spread from the tropics to the temperate regions.
  9. Shutting down coal-fired power stations and replacing them with renewable energy sources such as windmills and solar panels (or even nuclear power plants) will not cause unemployment or economic deprivation.

In May 2006, Evans went on ABC Counterpoint with Michael Manton and Vincent Gray to discuss his “nine lies.”54Nine Lies about Global Warming (transcript available) ABC, May 8, 2006. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/CUcWY

March 2006

The Lavoisier Group submitted comments on the Stern Review, presented global warming as a “theory.”55“Comment on Scientific Issues in the Stern Review Papers” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, March 2006. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“To sum up, the documents obscure or misstate key facts about climate change, and persistently overplay the role of greenhouse gases, the reliability of models, and the likelihood of substantial warming with catastrophic consequences,” The Lavoisier Group document reads.56“Comment on Scientific Issues in the Stern Review Papers” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, March 2006. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

The Lavoisier Group claims that “The truth is that climate change research is still in its infancy, and that consensus extends only to issues of little relevance to policy.” It concludes that “Climate change is poorly understood, and industrial emissions of greenhouse gases may be a small, even negligible, factor.”57“Comment on Scientific Issues in the Stern Review Papers” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, March 2006. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

2004

The Lavoisier Group helped launch William Kininmonth’s book, Climate Change: A Natural Hazard.58Climate Change: A Natural Hazard?: Book Launch Address,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/sXlui

The book “blasts the models used by climate scientists to predict and simulate what is happening. They are flawed, he says. ‘Climate change is naturally variable and it poses serious hazards for human kind,’ he writes. Focusing on man-made global warming is ‘self-delusion on a grand scale’.”59The global warming sceptics,” The Age, November 27, 2004. Archived August 24, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/E6xm6

May 28, 2003

In an Open Letter to the Prime Minister, Lavoisier President Peter Walsh urged the prime minister urging him not to consider a carbon tax or other emissions trading:60“An Open Letter to the Prime Minister” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group Inc., May 28, 2003.

“The Europeans who have championed the Kyoto Protocol and the regime of de-carbonisation which is the essence of the Protocol, together with their supporters in Australia, would have us believe that by reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by an almost imperceptible amount (through the establishment and enforcement of an international treaty), we can influence the world’s climate. This notion is, quite simply, a fantasy,” the letter reads. It adds that “Solar perturbations will continue to have a long-term influence, perhaps dominant influence, on our climate and there is nothing that we can do about that. We should, of course, continue our research into all of the factors, direct and indirect solar influences, oceanic heat transportation, atmospheric energy transfers, and others, which can influence climate change.”61“An Open Letter to the Prime Minister” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group Inc., May 28, 2003.

October 2001

The Lavoisier Group released a pamphlet on “Australia and the Kyoto Protocol.” Among other claims, the pamphlet declares there had been “virtually no temperature increases in the atmosphere” in 22 years.62“Australia and the Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2001.

“[N]ot only would a reduction by Australia of carbon dioxide emissions from 567 to 416 million tonnes have no discernible impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations; the world-wide reduction mandated under the Kyoto Protocol would, likewise, have no discernible impact on these concentration,” the document claimed.63“Australia and the Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2001.

It also suggests that Kyoto would lead to “global governance” and so “Australians who value their sovereignty and traditions of self-government will have no part in such a deal.” In a section on the “Science,” the pamphlet reiterates its claim that temperatures have not been increasing and suggests there is “an ongoing and vigorous debate about global surface temperatures over the last century.”64“Australia and the Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2001.

July 26, 2000

The Lavoisier Group made a submission to the Senate References Committee for the Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts on the Renewable Energy Bill 2000.The bills would introduce a carbon tax system in which CO2 emissions from coal-fired electricity generators would be reduced by a goal of 5.5 million tons.65“Submission to the Senate References Committee for the Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, July 26, 2000.

Lavoisier described the bills as “an example of government folly, particularly bureaucratic folly, which is cause for concern,” saying that the costs of energy would increase significantly for consumers in Australia.66“Submission to the Senate References Committee for the Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, July 26, 2000.

October 2000

In a submission to the JSCOT inquiry into the Kyoto Protocol, “The Lavoisier Group argues that with the Kyoto Protocol we face the most serious challenge to our sovereignty since the Japanese Fleet entered the Coral Sea on 3 May, 1942.”67“Submission to the JSCOT Inquiry into The Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2000.

A section entitled “Kyoto and the Science of Greenhouse” puts forward many common climate change denial talking points. First, it describes CO2 as “plant food”:

“But what is noteworthy is that the role of CO2 as essential plant food and fertiliser is never mentioned by the Kyoto protagonists. And, as every geologist knows, there have been periods in the earth’s history when atmospheric CO2 concentrations have been 20 times greater than at present.”68“Submission to the JSCOT Inquiry into The Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2000.

It suggests models are unreliable and have been “undermined”: “Each model gives different forecasts, and that in itself is evidence of very great complexity of the physical reality of the earth’s atmosphere and its relationship with the oceans, and above all the sun, from whence all our energy comes. […] Since the early to mid-1990s the credibility of the GCMs in predicting anything about global climate has been undermined to the point where they no longer feature in the debate.”69“Submission to the JSCOT Inquiry into The Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2000.

The document further claims that the well-established science connecting CO2 increases to global warming “has suffered one reversal after another,” and concludes that global warming and the greenhouse effect “is intellectually discredited, sustained only by massive subventions from governments in Western Europe, North America, and Australia.”70“Submission to the JSCOT Inquiry into The Kyoto Protocol” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, October 2000.

Lavoisier Group Contact & Address

The Lavoisier Group has shared the same contact information as the Bennelong Society, and the HR Nicholls Society. Now-deceased climate change denier Ray Evans was an authoritative member of all three organizations.71“Bennelong Society,” SourceWatch Profile. 72“HR Nichols Society,” SourceWatch Profile.

As of August 15, 2014 the main contact information was:73“Contact,” The Lavoisier Group. Archived August 15, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/BSkfs

PO Box 424 Collins Street West
Melbourne VIC 8007
Australia

In addition to his role at The Lavoisier Group, Hugh Morgan founded Centre for Independent Studies, the HR Nicholls Society, and the Institute of Public Affairs, where he has also been a director. According to SourceWatch, The Lavoisier Group’s website is designed by Chris Ulyatt, Editorial Director at the Institute of Public Affairs from 1991-1998.74Lavoisier Group,” SourceWatch Profile.

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