The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released a report asserting that climate change is not the most pressing threat to humanity and that aggressive emissions policies may do more harm than good, reports Washington's Daily Caller.
The bulk of environmental shipping regulation is based on the notion that global warming and climate change are existential threats to humanity.
The report, titled �� Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the US Climate,��was published as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to repeal a key climate regulation. It argues that global warming�� economic impact on the US is ��egligible��and that drastic mitigation efforts may be counterproductive.
Authored by five experts including former Obama official Steven Koonin and climatologist John Christy, the report claims that widely-used emissions scenarios exaggerate future trends. It also questions the link between human activity and extreme weather, stating that most such events show no significant long-term increase.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who commissioned the report, wrote in the foreword that ��lobal energy poverty��poses a greater threat than climate change. He criticised media coverage for distorting scientific findings and called for ��onest scrutiny and scientific transparency��in policymaking.
Meteorologist Chris Martz told the Daily Caller News Foundation that forcing unreliable green energy on the public could lower living standards. He cited the report�� findings that extreme weather events have not increased and that some have even declined.
The report supports the EPA�� proposed rollback of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and will be open to public comment. Mr Christy said the team welcomes feedback and intends to revise the document accordingly.
Gabriella Hoffman of the Independent Women�� Forum praised the report as a ��eminal��work, arguing that the science on CO2 is not settled and that its effects may be overstated. She noted CO2 comprises just 0.04 per cent of the atmosphere.