More “truthiness” from the Fraser Institute (climate change edition)

Thanks to DeSmogBlog for posting a leaked copy of a new Fraser Institute report denying climate change.Their release follows; click the link to get to the desmog page which has links to more info and the actual leaked report.

I think it is worth reiterating that the Fraser, like its US counterparts, has been very successful in sowing confusion over climate change, until quite recently that is. Their efforts, and heavy lobbying on the part of big business, explain why Canada has not done more to slow down or reduce its CO2 emissions. It is pretty disingenuous for the Harper Tories to attack the Dion Liberals for not doing enough, when they were a willing part of the chorus telling the government not to do anything.

DeSmog Leaks Advance Copy of Think Tank’s IPCC Attack

31 Jan 07

Fraser Institute “Analysis” of IPCC Report Out of Date, Oil-Soaked and Incorrect

A Canadian think tank’s “independent” analysis of the upcoming IPCC report is based on out-of-date information and is specifically misleading about the nature of the scientific summary that it presumes to criticize, DeSmogBlog.com President James Hoggan said Wednesday. The Fraser Institute had planned to release their report Feb.5, at a press conference in the United Kingdom.

The Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank that has recently received annual grants from oil-giant ExxonMobil, promised an independent summary of the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Institute claimed that the IPCC’s own summary is a political document “neither written by nor reviewed by the scientific community,” while the Fraser Institute version was “prepared by qualified experts in fields related to climate science.”

In fact, the IPCC summary was written and reviewed by some of the most senior climate scientists in the world, without political or bureaucratic input . And the Fraser Institute’s “scientific” staff – which is led by an economist – includes a group of junior or retired scientists, most of whom have direct connections to energy industry lobby groups (see attached briefing note).

Dr. Andrew Weaver, the Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis and a lead IPCC author, called the Independent Summary “highly ideological.” While the Fraser Institute summary says, “There is no compelling evidence that dangerous or unprecedented changes are underway,” Weaver counters: “The IPCC report presents 1,600 pages of compelling evidence, that’s the whole point.”

Weaver also criticized the Fraser Institute’s contention that climate change may not be happening or that if it is happening, it may be “a good or bad thing.”

Finally, Weaver pointed out that the whole Fraser Institute analysis is based on a document that is almost a year out of date. “I was most surprised that this analysis was written based on our second draft” (released in Spring 2006), said Weaver. “We incorporated changes in response to well over 1,000 reviewrs’ comments before preparing a final draft last fall.”