Lomborg centre ‘politically-motivated think tank’: Flannery

Lomborg’s centre a ‘politically-motivated think tank’: Flannery

FEDERAL funding for Danish climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg to establish a new “consensus centre” at the University of Western Australia is an insult to Australia’s scientific community, the Climate Council’s Tim Flannery said today.

The Australian Government today announced they would contribute $4m for Lomborg to open the centre, despite deep cuts to the CSIRO and other scientific research organisations.

The Climate Commission was abolished by the Abbott Government in 2013 on the basis its $1.5 million annual operating costs were too expensive.

It relaunched as the Climate Council after thousands of Australians chipped in to the nation’s biggest crowd-funding campaign.

“It seems extraordinary that the Climate Commission, which was composed of Australia’s best climate scientists, economists and energy experts, was abolished on the basis of a lack of funding and yet here we are three years later and the money has become available to import a politically-motivated think tank to work in the same space,” he said.

“This is another reason why the work of the Climate Council is so important- to counter this continuing ideological attempt at deceiving the Australian public.”

Mr Flannery said Mr Lomborg’s views had no credibility in the scientific community.

“His message hasn’t varied at all in the last decade to reflect the declining cost of renewable energy and the success in reducing emissions, he still believes we shouldn't take any steps to mitigate climate change," he said.

“When someone is unwilling to adapt their view on the basis of new science or information, it's usually a sign those views are politically motivated.

“If we follow Mr Lomborg’s view of not doing anything about climate mitigation, we’d be heading for a 4 degree world and Australians do not want to live in that world. “

The Climate Council is an independent, crowd-funded organization providing quality information to climate change to the Australian public.

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