Annonce
News in english 4. dec. 2009 KL. 10.22

Parliamentary Speaker: Climate debate derailed?

The Speaker of the Danish Parliament has issued a damning criticism of the climate debate, saying politicians gullibly turn theories into facts.

send

Send artikel

Til:

(E-mail, adskil flere med komma)

Fra (E-mail): Besked:
print

As the world prepares to converge on Copenhagen for the COP15 Climate Summit, Denmark’s Speaker of Parliament has expressed serious doubts as to the way in which the climate debate has developed.

“The problem is that lots of people go around saying that the climate change we see is a result of human activity. That is a very dangerous claim,” Parliamentary Speaker and former Finance Minister Thor Pedersen (Lib) tells DR.

“Unfortunately I seem to experience that scientists say: ‘We have a theory’ – then that crosses the road to the politicians who say: ‘We know’. Who can be bothered to hear a scientist who says ‘I have a theory’ when politicians go around saying ‘I know’” Thor Pedersen says.

Speaker  Thor Pedersen (Lib) "Scientists say: ‘We have a theory’ – then that crosses the road to the politicians who say: ‘We know’"

No temperature rise
Thor Pedersen adds that the temperature has not risen in the past decade.

“I’m not saying that in the decade that the temperature has fallen or stagnated is enough to evaluate developments. But one should only say what one knows,” the Speaker adds.

“You should say that although we believed in our models, that the temperature would rise from 1998 to 2008, we have to admit that it has not risen. We cannot explain why it has not risen, but we believe we still have a problem. I’m just asking that people say what they actually know,” Pedersen tells DR.

Pedersen says that a major challenge is how to ensure energy and food to cater for the major population growth the world will be experiencing, and that the COP15 Climate Summit could result in an agreement that reduces the pressure on the Earth.

“We should all shake hands and agree to do everything possible to create good living conditions. That has nothing to do with the climate debate, in which we try to determine the globe’s temperature. It is common sense,” Thor Pedersen says in his interview with DR.

Edited by Julian Isherwood

Annonce

SKOLE OG UDDANNELSE – Fokus på skolernes fremtid

Læs Politiken hver TIRSDAG BESTIL I DAG

- Få nyhederne gratis i din indbakke hver morgen.

Annoncer
Internationalt
3. feb. KL. 23.00 opdateret KL. 23.12
Optur. Det er blevet sjovere at være aktiehandler på Wall Street. Takket være gode amerikanske jobtal er aktiekurserne tilbage på niveauet fra før finanskrisen i 2008. - Foto: Richard Drew/AP

Wall Street er tilbage på niveauet før finanskrisen

Aktiehandlen sender igen positive tegn til verden. Gode jobtal er forklaringen.

Danmark
3. feb. KL. 23.39
Støtten. Det kan være nødvendigt at vøre på overførselsindkomst - men krisen gør det samtidig upopulært. - Foto: FRANDSEN FINN (arkiv)

Folk på overførselsindkomst er den nye syndebuk

Det er blevet skamfuldt at få hjælp fra det offentlige. Svage har taget debat om krævementalitet på sig.

Det nye Egypten
3. feb. KL. 19.01 opdateret KL. 21.28
Optøjer. Mens demonstranter er i slagsmål med politiet, er en regeringsbygning brudt i brand i Kairo, oplyser tv. - Foto: MUHAMMED MUHEISEN/AP

Regeringsbygning står i flammer i Kairo

Mens demonstranter er i slagsmål med politiet, er en regeringsbygning brudt i brand i Kairo, oplyser tv.

Annoncer
Annoncer

BANGLADESH IS DROWNING


Bangla Desh is a country hard hit by the whims of a changing climate. See the narrated series of pictures taken by Politiken’s photographer Jonathan Bjerg Møller.


Chapter 1: Nature’s laboratory
Chapter 2: Cyclone Aila’s victims
Chapter 3: The island without men
Chapter 4: The slum a lawyer owns
Chapter 5: The town that disappeared
Chapter 6: The story of Bangla Desh


Read more

About this site


You are currently viewing the English section of Politiken.dk. The section provides the main stories of the day from Monday to Friday and is edited by Julian Isherwood.

Politiken is one of Denmark’s largest newspapers and has been published since 1884. The newspaper is owned by the Politiken Foundation and is part of the JP/Politikens Hus publishing group. Politiken is independent of all political parties and organisations.