Climate Emergency is Not Based on Science, ‘Climate Guru’ Tells Congress
Michael Shellenberger, a Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment” and Green Book Award winner, was at the U.S. Congress today to testify for the seventh time in two years that climate alarmism is not based on science and there is no climate emergency that warrants destroying our energy security and prosperity. The bestselling author, who has been called an “environmental guru“, “climate guru”, “North America’s leading public intellectual on clean energy” and “high priest” of the pro-human environmental movement, made oral remarks which are reproduced in full below. References can be found in his full testimony, which draws on what he has published on his Substack over the last 18 months.
Good morning Chairwoman Maloney, Environment Subcommittee Chairman Khanna, and Ranking Member Comer, and members of the Committee. I am grateful to you for inviting my testimony.
I share this committee’s concern with climate change and misinformation. It is for that reason that I have, for more than 20 years, conducted energy analysis, worked as a journalist, and advocated for renewables, coal-to-natural gas switching, and nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions.
At the same time, I am deeply troubled by the way concern over climate change is being used to repress domestic energy production. The U.S. is failing to produce sufficient quantities of natural gas and oil for ourselves and our allies. The result is the worst energy crisis in 50 years, continuing inflation, and harm to workers and consumers in the U.S. and the Western world. Energy shortages are already resulting in rising social disorder and the toppling of governments, and they are about to get much worse.
We should do more to address climate change but in a framework that prioritises energy abundance, reliability, and security. Climate change is real and we should seek to reduce carbon emissions. But it’s also the case that U.S. carbon emissions declined 22% between 2005 and 2020, global emissions were flat over the last decade, and weather-related disasters have declined since the beginning of this century. There is no scientific scenario for mass death from climate change. A far more immediate and dangerous threat is insufficient energy supplies due to U.S. Government policies and actions aimed at reducing oil and gas production.
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his full testimony, which draws on what he has published on his Substack over the last 18 months.
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