The IPCC SR15 climate change report is based on faulty premises that will lead to poor public policy, says Friends of Science Society, issuing a new rebuttal report. The SR15 mid-range 2030 proposals on carbon taxes of $880 per tonne CO2 would prevent an $8 per tonne CO2 benefit of emissions, giving a net loss of $888 per tonne CO2, wasted funds that could be better applied to adaptation and to real world issues citizens care about.

The Canadian Friends of Science Society has issued a new report entitled “Faulty Premises = Poor Public Policy on Climate,” rebutting the catastrophic climate claims, the misguided, ineffective solutions, and ludicrous carbon tax proposals in the IPCC SR15 climate change report issued Oct. 8, 2018. Link: ipcc.ch/report/sr15/

“Faulty Premises…” report deconstructs the IPCC climate claims by referencing expert commentaries, some by past IPCC expert reviewers, showing that climate science is filled with uncertainties. The view is that it is futile to try to use carbon dioxide reduction as a climate change thermostat. Adaptation is a preferable path.

Past IPCC expert reviewer and former WMO regional expert, Dr. Madhav Khandekar prepared a report for the Alberta government in 2000, exploring the “Uncertainties in Greenhouse Gas Induced Climate Change.” Interviewed this spring in Calgary, where he was one of the guest speakers for Friends of Science Society’s annual event, Dr. Khandekar stated that in his view, “…these uncertainties on greenhouse gas induced climate change remain and there are many more.”

“Faulty Premises…” also refers to a work by the late Prof. Philip Lloyd of South Africa, who was a Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Carbon Capture and Storage (2004) and a Reviewer for the Third and Fourth IPCC Assessment Reports. His work is a detailed critique of IPCC sources, methods and conclusions.

Friends of Science Society published an economic review of the carbon tax proposals of the IPCC SR15, The reduction of CO2 emissions to meet the IPCC proposed target of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial temperatures would cost about $880/tonne CO2 (carbon dioxide) in mitigation expenditures (the median of the estimated range of costs) in 2030. The reduction of CO2 emissions would cause a further loss of of $8/tonne CO2 by the loss of the benefits of CO2 fertilization and the net benefits of warming, meaning a net loss of $888 per tonne of CO2 reduction.

The IPCC SR15 is reckless in recommending rapid decarbonization, and setting an impossible 12-year deadline, says Friends of Science. Society would collapse into anarchy within days without fossil fuels. Wind and solar cannot support even basic society, as outlined by Prof. Michael J. Kelly of Cambridge University as early as 2010.

“Faulty Premises…” explores the many commercial conflicts of interests that are pushing for global cap and trade, vested interests in renewables, and global carbon law – rejecting all of these as a danger to democracy and not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution.

The report quotes Roger Pielke, Jr. “Take away the speculative technology embedded across scenarios and models and the entire policy architecture of the Paris Agreement and its parent, the UNFCCC, falls to pieces…. Carbon dioxide removal at massive scale is science fiction…” from his insightful commentary in the August 2018 edition of Issues in Science and Technology.

This article was originally published to the PR web by the Canadian Friends of Science Society