Opinion paper Special Issues

An old climate war

  • Received: 17 June 2022 Revised: 23 August 2022 Accepted: 23 August 2022 Published: 29 August 2022
  • During the 1990s a 'war' was fought over climate change between the author and some (not all) of his senior colleagues at the World Energy Council. There were two strands to his work: serious energy analysis and consideration of possible futures; and potential climate change. In the latter role he came up against stringent and often ill-informed criticism of his work and actions. Ill-informed because the critics did not appear to be aware of the serious and widely supported (within the WEC) published works of the WEC; and were frequently incorrect in what they claimed the author had said or written, or wrongly attributed to him actions by others outside the WEC. The record of relevant WEC publications, and the attacks made by those seeking to deny climate change or obfuscate debate on the related issues from the American Petroleum Institute, Global Climate Coalition, and US Climate Council, are related here. Everything here is based upon written records (unpublished as well as published) in the author's possession and his recollections.

    Citation: Michael Jefferson. An old climate war[J]. AIMS Energy, 2022, 10(5): 972-986. doi: 10.3934/energy.2022044

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  • During the 1990s a 'war' was fought over climate change between the author and some (not all) of his senior colleagues at the World Energy Council. There were two strands to his work: serious energy analysis and consideration of possible futures; and potential climate change. In the latter role he came up against stringent and often ill-informed criticism of his work and actions. Ill-informed because the critics did not appear to be aware of the serious and widely supported (within the WEC) published works of the WEC; and were frequently incorrect in what they claimed the author had said or written, or wrongly attributed to him actions by others outside the WEC. The record of relevant WEC publications, and the attacks made by those seeking to deny climate change or obfuscate debate on the related issues from the American Petroleum Institute, Global Climate Coalition, and US Climate Council, are related here. Everything here is based upon written records (unpublished as well as published) in the author's possession and his recollections.



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