© Lord Monckton of Brenchley
The Honorable Joe Barton and the Honorable Fred Upton
17 May 2009
Gentlemen,
Following my recent testimony before the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House, you kindly directed a question to me via the Committee Clerks -
"Is there any dispute that, as you say, "How much warming will a given proportionate increase of CO2 concentration cause?" is the central question of the climate debate?
a) "If so, what is it?
b) "If not, why hasn't the scientific community participating in the IPCC caught the matter?"
I apologise that my reply is a little late. I have taken some time consulting scientific experts. No discourtesy either to you personally or to the Committee was intended.
The "climate sensitivity" question, as it is called, is indeed the central question, on which all else depends.
The answer to your principal question is that there is no dispute at all about whether the question "How much warming will a given proportionate increase of CO2 concentration cause?" is the central question of the climate debate. The "climate sensitivity" question, as it is called, is indeed the central question, on which all else depends. If climate sensitivity is high, as the IPCC maintains it is, then much "global warming" can be expected, whereupon the questions that fall to be answered are how much damage (if any) the warming predicted by the IPCC may cause, and whether or to what extent it lies within our power to mitigate or adapt to the predicted warming and any consequent damage, and whether the costs of mitigation might outweigh the costs of the damage the warming may cause, and whether or to what extent it would be cheaper to adapt to any "global warming" that might occur, as and if necessary.
