Lindzen and Happer Response to CWG Report
Richard Lindzen
Professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Emeritus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
William Happer
Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Princeton University
Hon. Christopher Wright
Secretary Department of Energy
Docket No. DOE-HQ-2025-0207
Re: Scientific Comment on Climate Working Group, “A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate” (“CWG Report”)(July 23, 2025)
We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the CWG Report. We are career physicists with a special expertise in radiation physics, which describes how carbon dioxide and other GHGs affect heat flow in Earth’s atmosphere. Our CVs are attached.
In our scientific opinion, the CWG Report by five distinguished scientists is extremely important. Congratulations!
It is particularly important because it applies what is rarely applied in climate science and is little known to most people: the scientific method, which is validating theoretical predictions with observations, and rejecting theories that do not work.
In contrast, climate science in our experience does not apply the scientific method but applies methods like consensus, 97% of scientists’ opinions, uses models that do not work, cherry-picked, fabricated, and falsified data, omits contradictory science and data, and government opinion. Accordingly, this means there is no scientific knowledge underlining the theory that carbon dioxide, other GHGs and the use of fossil fuels cause catastrophic warming and extreme weather, nor underlining the Endangerment Finding and related regulations.
Thus we suggest there is an extraordinary opportunity for the final CWG Report to elevate the climate science debate to a much higher scientific level by explaining what many do not know and what is virtually never part of climate science debates: what is, and is not, science.
We have written on the subject before and thought that the rest of this paper may help.
Finally, it is also our opinion that the Nation is confronted with policies that will destroy western economies, impoverish the working middle class, condemn billions of the world’s poorest to continued poverty and increased starvation, leave our children despairing over the alleged absence of a future, and will enrich the enemies of the West who are enjoying the spectacle of our suicide march.[1] The CWG Report will greatly help getting these disastrous policies reversed.
[1] Richard Lindzen, Manufacturing Consensus on Climate Change, The American Mind (Nov. 21, 2024).
See the complete statement from Richard Lindzen and William Happer here:
Lindzen Happer DOE Climate Report comment 2025 09 02