The Climate Money Machine

Asked why there would be a need to censor, alter, and cherry-pick data to support the global warming narrative, Mr. Lindzen said “Because it’s a hoax.”

Mr. Clauser said of the climate consensus, “We are totally awash in pseudoscience.”

Mr. Happer said, “There is this huge fraction of the population that has been brainwashed into thinking this is an existential threat to the planet. I don’t blame the people; they don’t have the background to know they are being deceived, but they are being deceived.”

The World Bank announced in September 2022 that it paid out a record $31.7 billion that fiscal year to help countries address climate change, a 19 percent increase from the $26.6 billion it paid out over the previous fiscal year. And according to Reuters, the United States is projected to spend about $500 billion to fight climate change over the next decade, including $362 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, $98 billion from the Infrastructure Act, and $54 billion from the CHIPS law.

“What would happen to sustainable energy, the worthless windmills and solar panels, if suddenly there were no climate change emergency?” Mr. Happer said. “They’re really not very good technology, and they’re doing a lot more harm than good, but nevertheless people are making lots of money.”

Many investors, most notably BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, have cited government regulations and subsidies as a key reason why investments in “green” energies would be profitable.

Research grants to study climate change are offered by many government agencies, including the EPA, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as by nonprofits, including Bloomberg Philanthropies and the MacArthur Foundation, which have paid out $458 million since 2014.

“Going back to ’88 to ’90, funding went up by a factor of 15,” Mr. Lindzen said. “You created a whole new community.

“This was a small field in 1990; not a single member of the faculty at MIT called themselves a climate scientist. By 1996, everyone was a climate scientist, and that included impacts. If you’re studying cockroaches and you put in your grant, ‘cockroaches and climate,’ you are a climate scientist.”

Asked to respond to the professors’ comments, an EPA spokesperson said: “The Agency will review all comments we received as we work to finalize the proposed standards.”