Professor Guus Berkhout
guus.berkhout@clintelgroup.org
13 November 2019
Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, President European Commission
Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, President-elect European Commission
Dr. Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President European Commission
Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels
Your Excellencies,
There is no Climate Emergency
A global network of more than 700 knowledgeable and experienced scientists and professionals have the honor to submit to Your Excellencies the attached European Climate Declaration, for which the signatories to this letter are the national ambassadors.
The general-circulation models of climate – on which international policy is at present founded – are unfit for their purpose. Therefore, it is unwise to advocate spending trillions of dollars on the basis of speculative results from such immature models.
Current climate policies not only dangerously undermine the European economic system, but they also put lives at risk in countries where access to reliable and affordable energy is made very difficult.
On November 20 we will visit Brussels to inform the European politicians and news media in a press briefing. In this meeting we should like to present to Your Excellencies the European Climate Declaration with the list of scientists and professionals. Please let us know whether you will be personally present to receive the Declaration.
We also invite you to organize with us a constructive high-level meeting between world-class European scientists on both sides of the climate debate early in 2020. The meeting will give effect to the sound and ancient principle that both sides should be fully and fairly heard. Audiatur et altera pars!
Please let us know your thoughts about such a joint meeting.
Yours sincerely, ambassadors of the European Climate Declaration,
Nobel Laureate Professor Ivar Giaever Norway
Professor Guus Berkhout The Netherlands
Professor Reynald Du Berger French speaking Canada
John Droz jr USA
Terry Dunleavy New Zealand
Viv Forbes Australia
Professor Jeffrey Foss English speaking Canada
Jens Morton Hansen Denmark
Morten Jødal Norway
Rob Lemeire Dutch speaking Belgium
Professor Richard Lindzen USA
Dr. Henri A. Masson French speaking Belgium
Professor Ingemar Nordin Sweden
Jim O’Brien Republic of Ireland
Professor Ian Plimer Australia
Professor Alberto Prestininzi Italy
Professor Benoît Rittaud France
Dr. Thiago Maia South America
Professor Fritz Vahrenholt German
The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley United Kingdom
European Climate Declaration
There is no climate emergency
A global network of 700 scientists and professionals [1] has prepared this urgent message. Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific. Scientists should openly address uncertainties and exaggerations in their predictions of global warming, while politicians should dispassionately count the real costs as well as the imagined benefits of their policy measures.
Natural as well as anthropogenic factors cause warming
The geological archive reveals that Earth’s climate has varied as long as the planet has existed, with natural cold and warm phases. The Little Ice Age ended as recently as 1850. Therefore, it is no surprise that we now are experiencing a period of warming.
Warming is far slower than predicted
The world has warmed at less than half the rate predicted by IPCC on the basis of modeled anthropogenic forcing and radiative imbalance. It tells us that we are far from understanding climate change.
Climate policy relies on inadequate models
Climate models have many shortcomings and are not remotely plausible as EU policy tools. They blow up the effect of greenhouse gases such as CO2. In addition, they ignore the fact that enriching the atmosphere with CO2 is beneficial.
CO2 is plant food, the basis of all life on Earth
CO2 is not a pollutant. It is essential to all life on Earth. Photosynthesis is a blessing. More CO2 is beneficial for nature, greening the Earth: additional CO2 in the air has promoted growth in global plant biomass. It is also good for agriculture, increasing the yields of crops worldwide.
Global warming has not increased natural disasters
There is no statistical evidence that global warming is intensifying hurricanes, floods, droughts and suchlike natural disasters, or making them more frequent. However, there is ample evidence that CO2-mitigation measures are as damaging as they are costly.
EU climate policy must respect scientific and economic realities
There is no climate emergency. Therefore, there is no cause for panic and alarm. We strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy proposed for 2050. If better approaches emerge, and they certainly will, we have ample time to reflect and adapt. The aim of European policy should be to provide reliable and affordable energy at all times.
Our advice to the European leaders is that science should strive for a significantly better understanding of the climate system, while politics should focus on minimizing potential climate damage by prioritizing adaptation strategies based on proven and affordable technologies.
[1] Meanwhile, this group of experts functions as a Climate Intelligence Council