Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

So today's bullshit anti-science, anti-reality "news" that is getting all the usual climate deniers worked up, is from an organisation called CLINTEL, who claim that "There Is No Climate Emergency" - a line they've been pushing since at least 2019.

This #THREAD is mainly taken from respected source of climate change information, @DeSmog, which has many awards, including one from The Canadian Public Relations Society for demonstrating "The highest ethical & professional standards while performing outstanding work".

The Climate Intelligence Foundation #CLINTEL is a Netherlands-based climate science denial group founded in 2019 by retired professor of geophysics Guus Berkhout, a Dutch engineer who has worked for the oil and gas industry, & journalist Marcel Crok.

In 2019, plans of CLINTEL & Berkhout were leaked showing they were organizing a campaign against net zero being made into law, featuring a number of academics & industry figures with ties to climate change sceptics groups, as well as members from fossil fuel companies.

In late September 2019 the group produced an open letter, remarkably similar to the latest one, which misleadingly stated that "there is no climate emergency", & repeated a number of claims that are inconsistent with the scientific evidence on climate.

A fact check by climate scientists for Climate Feedback @ClimateFdbk gave the letter a scientific credibility of "very low", & tagged it as "Biased, Cherry-picking, Inaccurate, Misleading".

Analysis found that out of the 500 signatories, 10 self-identified as climate scientists.

According to Dutch broadcaster Pointer (KRO_NCRV), the around 800 “scientists, scholars, & professionals” that supported CLINTEL in 2020 have “conducted little to no climate research.”

#DeSmog analysis found that the list of signatories in CLINTEL's irresponsible 2020 'World Climate Declaration' included a commercial fisherman, a retired chemist, a cardiologist, & an air-conditioning engineer, alongside a number of retired geologists.

web.archive.org/web/2020040615…

CLINTEL has close ties to Dutch nationalist Party Forum voor Democratie, & its leader Thierry Baudet, who has quoted statements by CLINTEL in the country’s Parliament & like many Tory MPs has pushed the antisemitic conspiracy theory of 'cultural Marxism'.

pointer.kro-ncrv.nl/klimaattwijfel…

Various members of CLINTEL’s ambassadors, & its extended list of signatories, have connections to the Koch-funded libertarian free-market ATLAS network groups with a history of climate science denial, including the Heartland Institute & the Cato Institute.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1560037184790487042?s=20&t=38Xp_SkkOgK8YQRgKOySJw

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CLINTEL published an open letter titled “Fight virus not carbon,” where it a profoundly irresponsible, misleading & utterly absurd claim by describing climate change as a “non-problem.”

web.archive.org/web/2020040615…

CLINTEL’s “World Climate Declaration,” states that “there is no climate emergency” & lists six main points, all of which are familiar climate science denier tropes that have been widely & regularly debunked by real climate scientists.

skepticalscience.com/argument.php

In 2020, CLINTEL was (& may still be) largely funded by real estate millionaire Niek Sandmann, who has invested half a million euros in the organisation, & Trump-supporting "Christian" real estate entrepreneur, Cor Verkade.

Guus Berkhout founded the (geo-imaging technology for the oil & gas industry) Delphi Consortium, in 1982 - over 30 fossil fuel organisations were committed to paying €30-€55,000/year to have access to Delphi’s research, including Shell, BP & Chevron.

ftm.nl/artikelen/clin…

In 2014, Berkhout started another research project called the Center for Global Socio-Economic Change (CFGSEC), with €1.2M of funding coming from the Delphi Consortium. With a network he built from this project, Berkhout founded the dangerously irresponsible group, CLINTEL.

In July this year, David Horgan, chairman of a fossil fuel company, Petrel Resources, was on RTÉ Radio One with Brendan O’Connor, having already been on both NewsTalk & TodayFM to deny the climate emergency & taunt the “treehuggers” calling for action.

irishexaminer.com/opinion/commen…

Horgan is a signatory to CLINTEL. Despite being able to witness climate breakdown in real time, our media continues to platform well-connected climate deniers with a vested financial interest in spreading anti Net Zero #propaganda. Some are in the UK Govt.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1553652665086869512?s=20&t=QqK5oV7kFFSbbW4ICdpTAg