{"id":339568,"date":"2024-08-14T15:27:48","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T13:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339568"},"modified":"2024-08-14T15:27:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T13:27:51","slug":"roger-pielke-jr-details-the-top-five-climate-science-scandals-study-claiming-no-climate-crisis-retracted-for-not-for-being-wrongbut-instead-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339568","title":{"rendered":"Roger Pielke Jr. details \u2018The Top Five Climate Science Scandals\u2019: Study claiming no \u2018climate crisis\u2019 retracted \u2018for not for being wrong\u2026but instead for expressing views that are politically unhelpful\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Climate Depot<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Marc Morano<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/rogerpielkejr.substack.com\/p\/the-top-five-climate-science-scandals<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Roger Pielke Jr.:<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I define a scandal as a situation of objectively flawed science \u2014 in substance and\/or procedure \u2014 that the community has been unable to make right, but should. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alimonti Retraction for an Unpopular View<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The science community has shown a willingness to retract a climate science paper \u2014 in this case not for being wrong in any substantive way, but instead for expressing views that are politically unhelpful. In 2022, a group of Italian scientists published a paper that summarized the IPCC\u2019s conclusions on extreme weather trends, consistent with what you\u2019ve been reading here at THB. The paper broke no new ground but was a useful review to have in the literature. Even so, several activist journalists and scientists demanded that it be retracted \u2014 and, remarkably, the Springer Nature<\/em> journal that published the paper obliged. I heard from a whistleblower who shared all of the sordid details, where you can read about here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Interns Made a \u201cDataset\u201d and We Used it for Research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have recently documented how the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)<\/em> \u2014 supposedly one of the top science journals \u2014 published a paper using a \u201cdataset\u201d cobbled together by some interns for marketing a now-defunct insurance company. There is actually no such dataset out in the real world \u2014 it is a fiction. The paper is the only normalization study purporting to identify a signal of human-caused climate change in disaster losses and thus has been highlighted by both the IPCC and U.S. National Climate Assessment. That context makes its correction or retraction politically problematic. When I informed PNAS about the fake dataset they refused to look at it and stood behind the paper. Read about the backstory<\/a> and how PNAS stonewalled<\/a> any reconsideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
It is not just RCP8.5. We love fantastical coal futures in all scenarios. Source:\u00a0<\/em>Ritchie and Dowlatabadi 2017<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The top of the table won\u2019t be a surprise to longtime readers of THB. Extreme emissions scenarios that map out implausible and even apocalyptic futures are a favorite in climate research and assessment. This space continues to be dominated by a scenario called RCP8.5 \u2014 which has coal consumption increasing more than 10x by 2100 (see figure above and all credit to my colleague Justin Ritchie). However, as the community comes to accept the ridiculousness of RCP8.5, efforts are being made to replace it with another extreme scenario \u2014 Right now that appears to be SSP3-7.0 which also foresees a massive increase in coal (~6x) and a world of about 13 billion people in 2100, far more than projected by the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. A Major Error in the IPCC<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    This accurate finding became its inaccurate opposite by the time it reached the IPCC Synthesis Report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The IPCC is a massive effort, and if it did not exist we\u2019d have to invent it. It is not surprising that a few mistakes can creep into the assessment. What matters is what happens when mistakes are made. I identified a major error in the IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report involving confusion over hurricane intensities \u2014 It was a simple error having to do with technical terminology that was misunderstood (hurricane fixes, <\/em>i.e., measurements \u2014 <\/em>became reinterpreted as hurricanes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For the complete list of the top 5, see Dr. Pielke Jr.\u2019s full article at:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    https:\/\/rogerpielkejr.substack.com\/p\/the-top-five-climate-science-scandals<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The science community has shown a willingness to retract a climate science paper \u2014 in this case not for being wrong in any substantive way, but instead for expressing views that are politically unhelpful. In 2022, a group of Italian scientists published a paper that summarized the IPCC\u2019s conclusions on extreme weather trends, consistent with what you\u2019ve been reading here at THB. The paper broke no new ground but was a useful review to have in the literature. Even so, several activist journalists and scientists demanded that it be retracted \u2014 and, remarkably, the Springer Nature journal that published the paper obliged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":339577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691830151,691830154,691830153,691830150,691830152],"class_list":{"0":"post-339568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-climate-science-scandals","10":"tag-dataset","11":"tag-disaster-projections","12":"tag-ipcc-ar6-synthesis-report","13":"tag-misinformation-on-disasters","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0Screenshot-2024-08-14-152601.png?fit=1741%2C1014&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1qkU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":276941,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276941","url_meta":{"origin":339568,"position":0},"title":"Media Ignores Story of Unjustified Retraction of a Climate Skeptical Paper Due to Bullying","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While many media outlets ran stories this week about a scientific paper suggesting that Penguin chicks in Antarctica are dying by the thousands (despite evidence suggesting\u00a0they aren\u2019t), the mainstream media ignored another story that shows an ugly episode of bullying of a science journal by prominent climate scientists who demanded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0Climategate10years_scr.webp?fit=1200%2C967&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0Climategate10years_scr.webp?fit=1200%2C967&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0Climategate10years_scr.webp?fit=1200%2C967&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0Climategate10years_scr.webp?fit=1200%2C967&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0Climategate10years_scr.webp?fit=1200%2C967&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":275863,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=275863","url_meta":{"origin":339568,"position":1},"title":"Shock Retraction of Climate Science Paper Showing No Climate Emergency Draws Comparisons with Climategate Scandal","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Shocking details of corruption and suppression in the world of peer-reviewed climate science have come to light with a recent leak of emails. They show how a determined group of activist scientists and journalists combined to secure the retraction of a paper that said a climate emergency was not supported\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Censorship\"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=censorship"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Models-v-reality-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Models-v-reality-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Models-v-reality-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Models-v-reality-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0Models-v-reality-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C933&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":278967,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=278967","url_meta":{"origin":339568,"position":2},"title":"The Wolf and the Lamb \u2014 Alimonti et al. 2022","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"16\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Those offended, the ClimateGate gang, appearing in this round of scandal are\u00a0Greg Holland\u00a0 ;\u00a0Lisa Alexander\u00a0;\u00a0Steve Sherwood\u00a0;\u00a0Michael Mann\u00a0;\u00a0Friederike Otto\u00a0;\u00a0Stefan Rahmstorf, took their tears of outrage to the climate-collusion mass media and cried:\u00a0 \u201cHow dare they disagree with\u00a0us!\u201d","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-479.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-479.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-479.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-479.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/image-479.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":346207,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=346207","url_meta":{"origin":339568,"position":3},"title":"Climate Activists Frustrated by IPCC\u2019s Refusal to Link Extreme Weather With Carbon Emissions","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last June, the state-reliant BBC reported that human-caused climate change had made U.S. and Mexico heatwaves \u201c35 times more likely\u201d. Nothing out of the ordinary here in mainstream media with everyone from climate comedy turn \u2018Jim\u2019 Dale to UN chief Antonio \u2018Boiling\u2019 Guterres making these types of bizarre attributions.","rel":"","context":"In \"Attribution studies\"","block_context":{"text":"Attribution studies","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=attribution-studies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0PVHTHRCMLVH73EK45U6M6IVDKE.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0PVHTHRCMLVH73EK45U6M6IVDKE.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0PVHTHRCMLVH73EK45U6M6IVDKE.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0PVHTHRCMLVH73EK45U6M6IVDKE.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0PVHTHRCMLVH73EK45U6M6IVDKE.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":396125,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=396125","url_meta":{"origin":339568,"position":4},"title":"\u2018Orwellian\u2019 firing at the American Journal of Economics and Sociology for publishing a climate skeptic paper","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/08\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it is official,\u00a0Marty Rowland PhD\u00a0has been fired from his position as Special Issue Editor at the\u00a0American Journal of Economics and Sociology\u00a0(AJES). 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The paper has been cited 23\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American Journal of Economics and Sociology\u00a0(AJES)\"","block_context":{"text":"American Journal of Economics and Sociology\u00a0(AJES)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=american-journal-of-economics-and-sociology-ajes"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNJcQK1-p1qP8O8PyZbG51Pxd_SxJ-dGH_sy1dMM5cT11swdOoupTvKkvFkDlO_xOMcqEfTbLUpR8eE7tzU1twBYnhy4hshw_ROpL-tptdDzrvWAH_xQzMZS0L7q5H1vR5eygYDzic21WiTb2MLolHL0Lg7Mg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNJcQK1-p1qP8O8PyZbG51Pxd_SxJ-dGH_sy1dMM5cT11swdOoupTvKkvFkDlO_xOMcqEfTbLUpR8eE7tzU1twBYnhy4hshw_ROpL-tptdDzrvWAH_xQzMZS0L7q5H1vR5eygYDzic21WiTb2MLolHL0Lg7Mg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNJcQK1-p1qP8O8PyZbG51Pxd_SxJ-dGH_sy1dMM5cT11swdOoupTvKkvFkDlO_xOMcqEfTbLUpR8eE7tzU1twBYnhy4hshw_ROpL-tptdDzrvWAH_xQzMZS0L7q5H1vR5eygYDzic21WiTb2MLolHL0Lg7Mg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNJcQK1-p1qP8O8PyZbG51Pxd_SxJ-dGH_sy1dMM5cT11swdOoupTvKkvFkDlO_xOMcqEfTbLUpR8eE7tzU1twBYnhy4hshw_ROpL-tptdDzrvWAH_xQzMZS0L7q5H1vR5eygYDzic21WiTb2MLolHL0Lg7Mg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQNJcQK1-p1qP8O8PyZbG51Pxd_SxJ-dGH_sy1dMM5cT11swdOoupTvKkvFkDlO_xOMcqEfTbLUpR8eE7tzU1twBYnhy4hshw_ROpL-tptdDzrvWAH_xQzMZS0L7q5H1vR5eygYDzic21WiTb2MLolHL0Lg7Mg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":397644,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=397644","url_meta":{"origin":339568,"position":5},"title":"IPCC Likely to Start Blaming Humans For Weather as Friederike Otto Takes Key Role","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/08\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s all change at the IPCC, with the appointment of Attribution Queen Friederike Otto and a troop of fellow attributionists to take charge of writing a new chapter on extreme weather for its forthcoming seventh climate science assessment report. With the foxes now in charge of the chicken coop, political\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Computer models\"","block_context":{"text":"Computer models","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=computer-models"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0bd81687c-89bd-45f5-8122-5d1ae450c7f3-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0bd81687c-89bd-45f5-8122-5d1ae450c7f3-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0bd81687c-89bd-45f5-8122-5d1ae450c7f3-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0bd81687c-89bd-45f5-8122-5d1ae450c7f3-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0bd81687c-89bd-45f5-8122-5d1ae450c7f3-scaled-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=339568"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":339579,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339568\/revisions\/339579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/339577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=339568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=339568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=339568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}