Claude Allègre, former Minister of National Education, geochemist and figure of climate skepticism in France, died on Saturday January 4, at the age of 87. Several political leaders paid tribute to his memory, including Prime Minister François Bayrou, who https://twitter.com/bayrou/status/1875595470279733387 and « esprit original »and « fighting man »and glorified the romantic figure of « alone against everyone ». Nicolas Sarkozy, supported by Claude Allègre during the 2012 presidential election, welcomed « a committed, courageous and reforming political leader, who put his creativity and remarkable intelligence at the service of France and the French ». « I am proud to have been his friend »he concluded on his X account.
These tributes, however, obscure a central facet of his legacy: his commitment to the dissemination of climate skepticism, which has had a lasting impact on public debate in France. A leading figure in the protest, Claude Allègre opposed a unanimous scientific community on the reality of climate change and its anthropogenic origin. Through his public positions, he has propagated rhetoric that has hampered efforts to raise awareness and take action on the climate emergency. He was not « alone against everyone »but against everyone's interest.
Arguments widely refuted
From the 2000s onwards, in his writings and statements – widely reported in the media – he sought to discredit the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming, considering it an imaginary danger invented by lobbies and qualifying the report of the IPCC « false alarm ». His book The Climate Deception (2010), in which he accused climatologists of serving a « mafia and totalitarian system »had a major impact: it offered rhetoric and arguments to those who refused to see the climate emergency, thus giving their inertia a pseudo-scientific veneer.
Riddled with factual errors and manipulated data, it has been widely refuted by climate specialists. The Academy of Sciences was even forced to publish an official report which categorically rejected Claude Allègre's theses. Adopted unanimously, this document concludes that global warming is indeed of anthropogenic origin. A few months earlier, 600 scientists led by Valérie Masson-Delmotte denounced, in an open letter addressed to their supervisors, the geochemist's systematic attacks against climatologists and their ethics. That didn't stop him from persisting.
Like other controversial figures, from Didier Raoult to Daniel Husson – who tops the list of book sales at Fnac, and whose climate-sceptical arguments today find a worried but disoriented public – Allègre exploited the will have to «only genius» to undermine the credibility of scientific consensus, to the detriment of the common good.
The idea of «alone against everyone» finds its roots in figures like Galileo or Einstein. But this vision is a romantic distortion of the history of science. While isolated individuals can create revolutionary breakthroughs, science advances collectively, through validation, refutation, collaboration and improvement of ideas. Ultimately, it is always the strength of scientific consensus, built on solid evidence, that triumphs.
Merchants of Doubt
Claude Allègre was not a modern Galileo, but a man who actively fought this collective process. His critiques of climate scientists were not contributions to the scientific debate. They were more about media spectacle and disinformation, a phenomenon that we still observe today with authors like Daniel Husson, whose editorial success fuels unfounded doubts.
The «alone against everyone» is not limited to distorting the perception of science: it has concrete consequences. By attributing disproportionate credit to isolated and contested voices, we weaken confidence in scientific institutions and reinforce inaction in the face of collective emergencies. This dynamic has had a profound impact on the fight against climate change in France. Claude Allègre fueled distrust and public confusion: by describing climate scientists as alarmists and minimizing human responsibilities, he helped to legitimize political inaction.
Even today, this distrust persists. According to the Ademe barometer and various studies, 30 to 40% of French people would be climate skeptics. A constantly increasing figure. This persistent skepticism is one of Allègre's legacies.
Omission et minimisation
By paying tribute to this man without mentioning this essential part of his record, François Bayrou and part of the political class are doing more than forgetting: they are promoting, indirectly, an intellectual position which has contributed to weakening the collective response to the one of the greatest challenges of our century. This tribute also illustrates, implicitly, a political tendency to put responsibilities into perspective. François Bayrou regularly minimizes what France can accomplish in the face of this global crisis, particularly compared to China's emissions. [1]forgetting France's historical responsibility: if we add up the cumulative emissions since XVIIIᵉ century, France is one of the top 10 countries with the highest emissions.
This is not to deny the other aspects of the career of Claude Allègre, who had received several prestigious scientific prizes for his contributions to geological science, including the gold medal of CNRS in 1994. But these successes cannot erase its responsibility for mistrust and climate inaction in France. Ignoring this aspect, or worse, considering one's climate skepticism as proof of independence of mind, is a political and moral fault.
Eighteen days after going to the municipal council of Pau, the city of which he is mayor, aboard a Dassault Falcon 7X jet, turning his back on a crisis meeting devoted to Mayotte, just swept away by the cyclone Chido, François Bayrou could have abstained. In its press release, the Élysée, for its part, noted the climate skeptic positions of Claude Allègre.
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