Lawrence Solomon

Credentials

[Pending further Investigation]

Background

Lawrence Solomon is the managing director and co-founder of the Energy Probe Research Foundation (EPRF). He is also the executive director of its Energy Probe and the Urban Renaissance Institute divisions.¹ ²

He has been a columnist with The Financial Post, the National Post (Toronto), and the Globe and Mail (Toronto). He has also been a contributor at the Wall Street Journal, and the editor and publisher of The Next City magazine.³

Solomon has described himself as “one of Canada’s leading environmentalists.” In his bio at EPRF, he listed himself as an advisor to President Carter’s Task Force on the Global Environment (the Global 2000 Report) in the late 1970’s, and as “at the forefront of movements to reform foreign aid, stop nuclear power expansion, save the world’s forests, restructure the electricity sector, convert free roads to toll roads, and counter global warming alarmism.”⁴

He wrote a book in 2008 titled The Deniers: The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud based on a series of articles he wrote for the National Post.

Stance on Climate Change

2007

Solomon has promoted the views of numerous climate skeptics in his “Deniers” series in the National Post. For example:

“The alignment of the planets, and especially that of Jupiter and Saturn, control the climate on Earth.” — “Climate change by Jupiter,” National Post, November 10, 2007.⁵
“The sun’s increased irradiance over the last century, not CO2 emissions, is responsible for the global warming we’re seeing, says the celebrated scientist [Habibullo Abdussamatov], and this solar irradiance also explains the great volume of C02 emissions.” – “Look to Mars for the truth on global warming,” The National Post. January 26, 2007.⁶January 26, 2007⁷
In “The Deniers – Part XI,” Solomon wrote: “After writing 10 columns on the subject, one for each ‘denier’ and his theories, one fact is undeniable: The science is not settled. Not on man’s role in causing the warming we’ve seen this century. Not on the consequences of this warming. Certainly not on the extent of warming – or cooling– to come.”⁸

Key Quotes

May 9, 2011

Solomon wrote the following at the Financial Post:

“The short version: It’s CO2 to the rescue. The more of it in the atmosphere, the better the Amazon’s chance of survival.”⁹

May 3, 2011

Solomon wrote the following in a National Post article titled “Tornadoes could be an omen of global cooling“:

“In other words, more violent tornadoes would, if anything, be a sign of ‘global cooling’, not ‘global warming’.”¹⁰

May 31, 2008

“Several renowned scientists have been predicting for some time that the world could enter a period of cooling right around now, with consequences that could be dire,” Solomon wrote in a National Post article titled “Our spotless sun” as part of “The Deniers” series. ¹¹

July 4, 2008

“Coal used to be a very dirty fuel but coal has become cleaner and cleaner over the decades. Clean coal now is quite clean. Clean coal now has the same emissions profile as natural gas. Clean coal can become cleaner still. We can take even more of the pollutants out of coal and I believe we should. Clean coal, I think, is the immediate answer to Canada’s energy needs and the world’s energy needs. There are hundreds of years available of coal supplies. We shouldn’t be squandering that resource. We should be using it prudently,” Solomon told the Frontier Center for Public Policy in an interview as part of its Conversations from the Frontier publication. ¹²

Key Deeds

March 9, 2009

Lawrence Solomon was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s Second International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC2) where he gave a speech titled “Our Green Friends.”¹³

DeSmog researched the funding behind the conference and found that sponsor organizations had collectively received over $47 million from energy companies and right-wing foundations, with 78% of that total coming from the Scaife Family of foundations.

July 2008

Solomon spoke at Frontier Center for Public Policy (FCPP) events in Winnipeg and in Regina. Solomon describes how CO2 is “the building block of life on Earth.” and that there is “something dangerous about attacking the basis of life on Earth.”¹⁴ ¹⁵

In Regina, he says that the Earth is “the greenest it’s ever been” thanks to increased C02 emissions, which he describes as “nature’s fertilizer.” He says “plants love it” and it “helps everything turn green.” Solomon goes on to indirectly criticize “some people who want to stop the c02 we’ve been putting into the atmosphere that’s been helping all our plant life.”

Although Solomon admits that “the planet is warming,” he says that “Plants love that too.”

June 7, 2008

Solomon published a column, titled “In Praise of CO2,” that asserted that carbon dioxide is “nature’s fertilizer, bathing the biota with its life-giving nutrients.”¹⁶

New Scientist criticized Solomon’s assertion that reducing greenhouse gas emissions could lead to “food production dropping worldwide.” A feedback article at New Scientist revealed that Solomon’s claim had misrepresented a 2004 study that concluded “the change in biomass” over two decades “is largely due to sunnier days in the Amazon and nothing to do with any ‘life-giving nutrients’ in CO2 or anything else.”¹⁷

December 2008

An executive from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy sponsored a debate about global warming between Lawrence Solomon and Dr. Jay Gulledge of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.¹⁸

See Professor Gulledge’s “Post Debate Follow up.”¹⁹

April 1, 2008

Solomon published The Deniers: The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud which was based on a series of articles he wrote for the National Post.²⁰

DeSmog noted that “The problem, then and still, is that nobody in Solomon’s overheated text actually denies that humans are causing climate change.”²¹

Affiliations

The National Post — Columnist.²²
The Frontier Center for Public Policy (FCPP) — Speaker at FCPP-sponsored events.
Energy Probe Research Foundation* — Managing director and co-founder.²³
Energy Probe Institute — Executive director.
Urban Renaissance Institute — Executive director and regular contributor.²⁴
Consumer Policy Institute — Regularly featured Solomon’s articles.²⁵

* The Energy Probe Research Foundation is made up of several divisions²⁶ including Energy Probe, Probe International, Environment Probe, Consumer Policy Institute, Environmental Bureau of Investigation, Urban Renaissance Institute, and the Margaret Laurence Fund.

Publications

According to a search of Google Scholar, Lawrence Solomon does not appear to have published any articles in peer-reviewed journals on any subject.

Sample Publications:

“The Deniers.” National Post article series.
Many of Solomon’s economic policy articles from the National Post have been republished by the Consumer Policy Institute.
Climate Realists republished many of Solomon’s National Post articles that questioned man-made global warming.

View a list of Lawrence Solomon’s sample publications below:

Books:

The Deniers: The world-renowned scientists who stood up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud. (Richard Vigilante Books, 2008).
The Conserver Solution (Doubleday, 1978).
Energy shock: After the oil runs out (Doubleday, 1980).
Breaking up Ontario Hydro’s Monopoly (Energy Probe, 1982).
Power at What Cost (Doubleday, 1984).
In the Name of Progress (with Patricia Adams) (Earthscan, 1992).

@LSolomonTweets on Twitter

Other Resources

“Lawrence Solomon,” Sourcewatch.
“Lawrence Solomon,” Wikipedia.
“The Deniers,” Wikipedia.

Resources

1
“Our People,” Energy Probe Research Foundation. Archived October 15, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/f8Wgj
2
“admin,” Energy Probe. Archived July 26, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/8MMfg
3
“Speakers Bureau,” Energy Probe Research Foundation. Archived October 11, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/zGxSe
4
“Our People,” Energy Probe Research Foundation. Archived October 15, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/f8Wgj
5
Lawrence Solomon. “Climate change by Jupiter,” National Post, November 10, 2007. No longer available online. Archived .pdf on file at Desmog via Newspapers.com.
6
Lawrence Solomon. “Look to Mars for the truth on global warming,” The National Post,
7
. No longer available online. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog via Newspapers.com.
8
Lawrence Solomon. “End the Chill,” National Post. April 17, 2007 (online). Article no longer available online. Archived .pdf from the February 09, 2007 edition of the National Post on file at DeSmog, saved via NewsPapers.com.
9
“Lawrence Solomon: Are High CO2 Levels Once Again Saving the Amazon Rainforest?” Financial Post. May 9, 2011.
10
“Lawrence Solomon: Tornados could be an omen of global cooling,” Financial Post, May 3, 2011. Archived October 16, 2025.
11
Lawrence Solomon. “Our spotless sun,” National Post. May 31, 2008. No longer available online. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog via Newspapers.com.
12
“Conversations from the Frontier,” Frontier Center for Public Policy, July 4, 2008. Archived July 7, 2010. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
13
“Speakers,” The 2009 International Conference on Climate Change, February 17, 2009. Archived February 18, 2009.
14
“Conversations from the Frontier,” Frontier Center for Public Policy, July 4, 2008. Archived July 7, 2010. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
15
“Lawrence Solomon on Climate Change & IPCC,” YouTube Video. Uploaded by SaskCTF, June 28, 2008.
16
Lawrence Solomon. “In praise of CO2,” Financial Post, June 7, 2008. Archived June 11, 2008.
17
“Feedback,” New Scientist, Issue 2663 (July 2, 2008). Archived December 16, 2009.
18
“The Deniers,” National Chamber Foundation. Accessed February, 2012.
19
Jay Gulledge. “Resources for Understanding Issues Raised in The Deniers by Lawrence Solomon” (PDF), Retrieved February 17, 2012 from the National Chamber Foundation. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
20
“The Deniers,” FP Comment, December 13, 2007. Archived January 4, 2013.
21
Richard Littlemore. “Lawrence Solomon’s ‘Deniers’ – A Carefully Calculated Lie is Still a Lie,” DeSmog, November 30, 2008.
22
“Lawrence Solomon,” The Heartland Institute. Archived October 17, 2025. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/6RtXS
23
“Speakers Bureau,” Energy Probe Research Foundation. Archived October 11, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/zGxSe
24
“Lawrence Solomon – Executive Director,” Urban Renaissance Institute. Archived May 23, 2013. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ku1Yk
25
“Economic Policy,” Consumer Policy Institute. Archived August 15, 2014. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ASS44
26
“Our Foundation’s Background,” Energy Probe Research Foundation. Archived November 7, 2011. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/vWxCR

DeSmog

DeSmog