Died Saturday January 4 at the age of 87, Claude Allègre, former Minister of National Education, was also known for his climate skepticism. In particular, he contested the link between the increase in CO2 and global warming.
Minister of Education under Lionel Jospin from 1997 to 2000, Claude Allègre, 87, died on Saturday January 4. Outside of his duties at Rue de Grenelle, this trained geochemist was also known for his controversial positions on climate change.
Claude Allègre was a major defender of climate skeptic theses in the first decade of the 2000s. In 2010, he notably published a book entitled “The climatic imposture”, which aroused exasperation among the scientific community.
In this work, the former minister violently questioned the work of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate mandated by the UN, the IPCC, and denounced the global mobilization around what he considered to be “an unfounded myth “.
In particular, he contested the conclusions of international climatologists on the links between CO2 and climate change. “I currently believe that, at current levels, the major influence of CO2 on the climate has not been demonstrated and that it is even doubtful,” wrote the former minister, arguing that the impact of clouds or solar activity were more determining.
Considering themselves “attacked”, more than 600 scientists sent a letter to Valérie Pécresse, Minister of Research at the time, and to several major scientific institutes. They denounced the “approximations” of Claude Allègre’s book, revealing data or assertions “sometimes false, sometimes inaccurate, or which call for comments because they make a truncated presentation of reality”.
“Not the major subject”
Valérie Pécresse then asked the Academy of Sciences to decide, to put an end to the controversy. The organization thus published a report in which it refuted Claude Allègre’s theses and reaffirmed that the increase in CO2, linked to human activities, is the main cause of warming.
“Several independent indicators show an increase in global warming from 1975 to 2003. This increase is mainly due to the increase in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere,” wrote the Academy of Sciences. The increase in CO2 and, to a lesser degree, other greenhouse gases, is undoubtedly due to human activity.
Believing that the text insisted on “uncertainties” in terms of climate predictions, Claude Allègre described it as a “compromise” and agreed to sign it, insisting however on the fact that his position had not “evolved”.
Shortly after, in 2011, the former Minister of National Education launched the “Ecology of the Future” Foundation which said it aimed to promote “scientific and technological innovation” in order to develop a “positive ecology , restorative”… but without addressing the issue of global warming. In an interview with AFP, Claude Allègre declared at the time: “this is not the major subject”.