Global Warming Policy Forum Launched

Press Release

London, 1 September 2014

Five years after its inauguration in 2009, the Global Warming Policy Foundation is pleased to announce that today sees the launch of its new campaigning arm, the Global Warming Policy Forum. 

The new organisation will be able to conduct campaigns and activities which do not fall squarely within the Foundation’s remit as an educational charity.

This arrangement reflects those used by other organisations with dual structures, such as Amnesty International UK and Greenpeace UK.The Global Warming Policy Foundation’s news and opinion pieces will henceforth be covered by the new website of the Global Warming Policy Forum, as will the CCNet newsletter, founded and edited by Dr Benny Peiser since 1997.The Foundation will continue to advance its charitable objects by commissioning and publishing reports and papers and by organising lectures and debates on key matters relating to climate science and policy.“While the Foundation will continue to publish our reports and videos, the Forum will campaign in a way that will make our work even more effective,” said Dr Peiser, the Director of both arms of the GWPF.Lord Lawson, the chairman of both GWPF arms said: “This reorganisation will enable us to build on the progress of the past five years and make substantial further progress over the next five – years which may well be decisive in the evolution of climate change policy.”The new organisation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.In recent years, the GWPF’s influence has grown rapidly, among both UK and international policy makers and the news media and is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading think tanks on global warming policy issues.Key campaigning issuesFor balanced science & policy researchClimate science and climate policies are faced by rising doubt and criticism. There is growing concern about the integrity of climate scientists and the maltreatment of sceptical researchers. The Forum will be campaigning for more balanced and more transparent assessments of climate science and policy research.For open & sceptical scienceClimate alarmism suffers from a manifest lack of scientific scrutiny. Instead of carefully assessing the quality and reliability of climate data, many climate scientists cherry-pick numbers and interpretations that seem to confirm their alarmist conviction. Reliable and trustworthy science requires a sober and detached consideration of all relevant evidence. The Forum will campaign for an open scientific debate which allows for all reasonable arguments and criticism to be voiced and published.Against bias and alarmThe coverage of climate change in the news media has been stromgly biased in favour of alarm. For far too long, scientific organisations and the mainstream media have failed to give appropriate space to authoritative critics of climate alarmism. The Forum will campaign for more objective media reporting.

For economic scrutiny & realism:

European and other governments have burdened their countries with unilateral and hugely expensive climate and green energy targets. As a direct result, energy prices and fuel poverty are rising in many countries, making them poorer and less competitive. Rejecting economically damaging climate and energy policies, the Forum will be campaigning for cost-effective alternatives that will help to make our societies more resilient and more competitive.

Against green unilateralismThe international deadlock on a new UN climate treaty shows that unilateral climate policies have failed. The Forum will be campaigning for the development of alternative approaches that are politically realistic and economically feasible.FundingThe Global Warming Policy Forum will be funded by private donations. In order to make clear their complete independence, neither the Foundation nor the Forum accept gifts from either energy companies or anyone with a significant interest in an energy company.The Global Warming Policy Forum TeamBoard MembersLord Lawson (Chairman)Nigel Lawson (Conservative member of the House of Lords) was Secretary of State for Energy (1981-83) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1983-89). He is author of An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming, 2008.Edward Atkin CBEEdward Atkin founded and created Avent in 1994, the world’s No 1 in Baby Feeding hardware. He is a multiple Queen’s Award winner for Technology as well as Exports. Mr Atkin helped create what is now the Reuters Institute for Journalism at Oxford University and owns a R&D centre in Cambridge dealing advanced transport technologies.Neil RecordEducated at Oxford and London Universities, Neil Record started his career as an Economist at the Bank of England. He is the chairman and founder of Record plc (1983). Mr Record is a Visiting Fellow and Investment Committee member of Nuffield College (Oxford), a Trustee of the Institute of Economic Affairs (London) and a Governor of Magdalen College School (Oxford).DirectorDr Benny PeiserScience EditorDr David WhitehouseSenior ResearcherDaniel Mahoney