The Heartland Institute has opposed the Paris Climate Agreement from the start. We led a delegation of scientists and policy experts to Paris in December 2015 to hold an event during COP-21 called the “Day of Examining the Data.” After the 2016 election, Heartland pushed for President Trump to pull the United States out of that accord. (It was part of Heartland’s Action Plan for President Trump.) And on June 1, 2017, we achieved success!
Below is more information – videos, news, commentary, podcasts, etc. – produced by Heartland over several years that explains the case for pulling America out of the Paris Climate Agreement. If you have any questions about this page, or wish to speak to a Heartland climate expert, contact Director of Communications Jim Lakely at jlakely@heartland.org or 312/377-4000.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty was ratified by the US Senate in 1992, yet most Americans are unaware of America’s commitments under this treaty … or that we had entered into the treaty. The new book by Donn Dears, Clexit, For a Brighter Future, establishes why the United States should withdraw from the UNFCCC treaty – which could happen faster and easier than a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Clexit, short for climate exit, establishes the futility of attempting to cut CO2 emissions. It provides the technical reasons for why it’s impossible to meet the objectives set out by the United Nations, and others, to cut worldwide CO2 emissions 50%, and cut US CO2 emissions 80% by 2050.
Hysteria over climate change is now threatening to deny billions of people around the world access to the energy they need to maintain and improve their standard of living. Governments are engaging in efforts, promoted by the United Nations, to impose regulations on energy usage so as to cut CO2 emissions.Clexit For a Brighter Future explains why efforts to cut CO2 emissions are not only harmful, but fruitless.
The United States can reassert its leadership by withdrawing from the UNFCCC treaty. It can then lead the world in economic development by encouraging the use of fossil fuels that provide cheap and reliable energy.
One of the most important battles in the history of the global warming debate was fought November 30 - December 12, 2015 at a United Nations climate conference in Paris known as COP-21, or the twenty-first "Conference of the Parties." The UN attempted to impose binding carbon dioxide restrictions on the United States and transfer billions of dollars of climate "reparations" from the United States to corrupt third-world dictatorships like the Maldives and Zimbabwe. They failed, coming to terms on an agreement with zero legal standing and no binding obligations.
The Heartland Institute worked with other leading think tanks and advocacy groups — such as the Cooler Heads Coalition, Heritage Foundation, CFACT, Competitive Enterprise Institute, NIPCC and allied groups in Europe. Our voice was heard, and it ensured that energy consumers and taxpayers were represented on the ground in Paris — and that sound science and economics was part of the global discussion.
What We Did in Paris
Heartland led a delegation of scientists and policy experts to Paris to hold a "counter-conference" during COP-21 called the Day of Examining the Data on Monday, December 7, 2015 (see videos above) to demonstrate there is strong and informed opposition to Obama’s plans, and to expose the agendas and true costs of the agreement that was negotiated there. The overarching message: Humans are not causing a climate crisis, and the United Nations' "solutions" to this non-existent problem will do much harm and almost no good.
What Was at Stake in Paris, and Beyond
If the United States were to agree to binding restrictions on our carbon dioxide emissions and payment of reparations to corrupt third-world regimes, the economic consequences would be devastating. Your taxes and energy costs would go up dramatically — by thousands of dollars every year. Job losses would be measured in the millions, and many of those are good-paying jobs in manufacturing that the country, still struggling to emerge from the Great Recession, can ill-afford to lose. And for what? The agreement reached in Paris will have virtually no impact on the world’s climate.
President Barack Obama led the charge in this assault on the American economy. And though the Paris Agreement is not binding, Obama has stated he will nonetheless attempt to impose UN-enforced restrictions on U.S. carbon dioxide emissions as a legacy achievement for the conclusion of his presidency.
Obama may or may not succeed in that effort, but his failure at leaving Paris with a genuine victory means the global warming movement has failed to once again to achieve its top objective: a globally binding global warming treaty to replace the now-expired Kyoto Protocol. Whoever succeeds Obama is likely to undo much of the policy and regulations he has implemented via executive authority. That is why COP-21 was so important, and why Heartland, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), and the Cooler Heads Coalition needed to be there.
Though France banned the largest organized protests in the wake of the terrorist attack of November 13, COP-21 was still a raucous affair. Developing countries are refusing to embrace caps on their exploding greenhouse gas emissions, and they insist developed countries give them hundreds of billions of dollars a year with few or no strings attached. International aid groups are still fighting to prevent the diversion of aid from more urgent needs to emission reduction schemes that would have little impact on climate. Real science and economics are being kicked to the curb.
Schedule for the ‘Day of Examining the Data’
Monday, December 7, 2015 Hotel California 16 Rue de Berri, 75008 Paris
09:00: Press Conference Members of the "Cooler Heads Coalition" from the United States, Canada, and Europe
10:00 - 11:30 PANEL 1: The Latest Science and the Errors of the UN’s IPCC James Taylor, USA (Moderator) Robert M. Carter, Ph.D., Australia Willie Soon, Ph.D., USA S. Fred Singer, Ph.D., USA Christopher Essex, Ph.D., Canada
11:45 - 12:45 Keynote luncheon speech Speakers: U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), via video; Patrick Moore, Ph.D., Canada; James Taylor, USA
13:00 - 14:30 PANEL 2: Sensible Energy Policy for the Poor vs. UN Energy Policies Tom Harris, Canada (Moderator) Patrick Moore, Ph.D., Canada Nick Loris, USA Wolfgang Müller, Germany Christopher Monckton, United Kingdom
14:30 - 14:45 Closing Remarks James Taylor, USA
18:30: WORLD PREMIERE of the film "Climate Hustle," presented by CFACT Cinema du Pantheon, 13 Rue Victor Cousin, 75005 Paris
The Cooler Heads Coalition
The following organizations joined Heartland in its efforts to bring climate truth to Paris for COP-21.
Video News Coverage of Heartland at COP-21
'Climate Home' Main Story Segment: Meet the 'Climate Realists'
'Climate Home' Interview with James Taylor
'Climate Home' Interview with Marc Morano
'Climate Home' Interview with Willie Soon
'Climate Home' Interview with Myron Ebell
'Climate Home' Interview with Christopher Monckton
Climate Realists Are Winning the Global Warming Debate
Settling the Global Warming Debate in 90 seconds
Video from Allies
CFACT: Climate Hustle, Trailer #1
CFACT: Climate Hustle, Trailer #2
CEI: Obama’s Plan to Avoid Senate Review of the Paris Climate Change Agreement
CEI: The Paris Climate Treaty: What Can the House Do?
Heritage Foundation: A Preview of the Paris Climate Change Conference
Additional Sources Who Can Provide the Non-Alarmist View of Global Warming and Perspective on COP-21
Heartland works closely with some of the world's most esteemed climate scientists and policy scholars who have examined the data supporting the hypothesis of anthroprogenic global warming ... and find it wanting. They can speak chapter-and-verse on the science, and also provide easy-to-understand commentary for a general audience.
The experts below did not join Heartland's contingent to Paris, but are making themselves available to the media for comment about the issues that will be debated at COP-21.
Email Heartland's director of communications, Jim Lakely at jlakely@heartland.org to get connected. [NOTE: This list is constantly being updated.]
More Climate Resources from The Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute has an extensive collection of research and commentary on climate change available online on several websites:
Climate Change Reconsidered Climate Change Reconsidered is the title of a series of scientific reports produced by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) and published by The Heartland Institute. NIPCC is an international panel of nongovernment scientists and scholars who have come together to present a comprehensive, authoritative, and realistic assessment of the science and economics of global warming. Because it is not a government agency, and because its members are not predisposed to believe climate change is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, NIPCC is able to offer an independent “second opinion” of the evidence reviewed – or not reviewed – by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the issue of global warming.
Heartland's Archive of Climate Conferences The Heartland Institute has organized and hosted nine International Conferences on Climate Change since 2008, events that attracted extensive international attention to the debate taking place in the scientific community over the causes, extent, and consequences of climate change. Videos from all the speakers can be viewed on this site.
PolicyBot PolicyBot is a free online database and search engine that provides fast and easy access to the best research and commentary from the nation’s free-market think tanks and advocacy groups. It contains full texts, brief summaries, and source citations for more than 30,000 reports, articles, policy briefs, podcasts, and videos. Search the database for “climate change” or more narrow topics in the global warming debate and discover hundreds of articles.
Heartland's Vatican Environment Workshop The Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Roman Catholic Church held a workshop on global warming on April 28, 2015 at the Vatican. The Heartland Institute arrived in Rome to warn Pope Francis that he was only getting half (the alarmist) side of the issue. Global warming is not a crisis, and the United Nations' "solutions" will only make the poor more miserable and keep them in poverty longer.
Join The Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute is “the world’s most prominent think tank promoting skepticism about man-made climate change” [The Economist, May 26, 2012]. Heartland is a 32-year-old national think tank based in Chicago. We address a wide range of topics (not just global warming) from a free-market perspective. Our work is supported by more than 5,000 donors. Interested in becoming a contributor? Visit the homepage of our website or go to our donor page.