Though 97 percent of leading scientists agree that climate change is a very real threat that needs to be addressed immediately, certain factions refuse to accept mounting data on Earth’s rising surface temperatures. In fact, some groups have gone as far as to fabricate information – including the so-called Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). The climate science denying group recently admitted to providing false data in an interview with the BBC.

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On August 13, 2017, the climate science denying think tank admitted to sharing “erroneous” temperature data to support Lord Lawson’s false claims he made to the BBC that global temperatures are not rising. The interview was immediately criticized by both the media and scientists, reports DeSmog. This is because Lawson was wrong to claim that the average global temperatures have “slightly declined” since 2007. In reality, the global surface temperature over this period has increased. 2014, 2015 and 2016 are now the three hottest years on record.

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Screenshot of GWPF tweets taken on August 14, 2017.

Three days after the interview, the climate change denial group tweeted that it was “happy to correct the record.” It has since removed the tweet, as requested by climate scientists Ed Hawkins.

Thanks for acknowledging this Benny. Are you could to delete the original tweet so that this erroneous claim doesn't spread further? — Ed Hawkins (@ed_hawkins) August 13, 2017

Indeed. My bias, my mistake. — GWPF (@thegwpfcom) August 13, 2017

The tweets reveal that the graph was originally produced by US meteorologist Ryan Maue, who is an adjunct scholar of the libertarian group the Cato Institute. Weather forecaster and climate science denier Joe Bastardi later published the graph. Both Bastardi and Male work for the private weather consulting firm WeatherBell Analytics, which is funded by climate change deniers such as the Koch brothers.

After admitting to fabricating data, the GWPF immediately tweeted that the rest of Lawson’s claims to the BBC were true — despite many being demonstrably false. Additionally, the group went right back to proclaiming that climate change is a hoax. While the situation is frustrating, at least in this instance it has been verified that global temperatures are, in fact, increasing.

Via Desmog

Images via Pixabay