Is Gore full of hot air?

Within insurance climate change has slowly become a truism with the ABI and many insurers falling over themselves to show their commitment to eradicating this problem. But there are sceptics of this school expressing conflicting information that should exist in any democracy.

It is interesting therefore to read former US Vice President Al Gore claim a huge public misinformation campaign has been funded by some of the world's largest carbon polluters aiming to dispute the political consensus on global warming.

In a speech in Singapore Gore claimed: “There has been an organised campaign, financed to the tune of about $10m a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community. In actuality, there is very little disagreement.” In fact this is not true.

The agreement is among self serving politicians who are unwilling to face the possibility that climate change is nothing but hot air. It is a deliberate political device to switch what is a political agreement and say it is a solid scientific certainty.

Trying to win the high moral ground, Gore compared this misinformation “campaign” to that of the millions of dollars spent by US tobacco companies years ago on creating the appearance of uncertainty and debate within the scientific community on the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes.

Although the release of a February report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of the world's top climate scientists, could only warn that the cause of global warming is "very likely" man-made. Hardly certainty.

Gore went on to say that said Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, was one of the major fuel companies involved in attempting to mislead the public about global warming.

But this is the same line as last year when British and American science advocacy groups accused ExxonMobil of funding groups that undermine the scientific consensus on climate change. The company said the scientists' reports were just attempts to smear ExxonMobil's name and confuse the debate.

Gore said as awareness of the urgent need to address climate change grows, the world is fast approaching a tipping point that, when crossed, will see an acceleration in efforts to fight the problem, and urged businesses to recognise that reducing carbon emissions is in their long-term interest.

This is true. But we should listen to all arguments, not just those politicians with an agenda to push.