Department of Energy
& Climate Change
3 Whitehall Place,
London SW1A 2HD
www.decc.gov.uk
Mr John Simpson
09June 2009
[FOI #11264 email]
Our ref 09/0660
Dear Mr Simpson
RE: Freedom of Information Request –Meetings with ‘non believers’
Provision of information
Thank you for your clarification to your original request of 5 May 2009 on the above subject
which we received on 13 May 2009. Your request has been considered under the Freedom of
Information Act of 2000.
For convenience we reproduce below the clarification that you provided.
“Thank you very much for your reply to my Freedom of Information request and im sorry i was
not more clear before. The information i seek is limited to groups and organisations which hold
one or all of the following views..
1) - That do not think climate change / global warming is happening
2) - That do not think climate change / global warming is as
serious as the government / media suggests
3) - That do not think man is responsible for the change at all
4) - That thinks man is partly responsible but not the main cause
there for any change in policy is pointless
5) - That thinks climate change / global warming is a good thing
and should not be seen as a threat
6) - That thinks any attempt to limit or reduce global warming /
climate change is pointless because the world is doomed
7) - That thinks the governments current policy will damage the
economy too much or that any action on this matter is too costly
8) - That thinks the government should focus on responding to
climate change rather than preventing it.(For example investing
more in sea walls so a rise in sea levels isn't a threat to the
United Kingdom instead of trying to save the world)
Ive tried to cover all the info im looking for, basically those
groups / organisations which are non believers or that think its
too costly to do anything to prevent it from happening. If that is
not limited enough then please let me know and ill try to clarify
my request again thanks.”
Your original request specified that you were seeking a list of organisations that you regard as
climate change “non believers” that have sought meetings with the Department from the time it
was established. The Department of Energy & Climate Change was created on 3 October 2008,
hence this reply covers the period from that date to the present. A further point to note is that in
order to simplify the task of answering your request, this has been interpreted to mean those
organisations that have requested a meeting, or some kind of engagement, with the Department
specifically with the intention of challenging government policy relating directly to the eight
categories listed above. This is to distinguish from organisations, e.g. business organisations,
which, although possibly holding some of the views listed in the above categories, had
discussions with the Department on unrelated issues.
With the above points in mind, there is only one organisation that we are aware of that
requested a meeting or engagement with the Department that would seem to fit the above
criteria. Whilst this organisation would agree that human greenhouse gas emissions will cause
climate change, their view is that current government policy to reduce emissions will only
postpone “inevitable environmental disaster” a view which seems consistent with category 6 of
your list. This organisation, The FREdome Visionary Trust who appear to be based at Watford,
advocate an alternative solution to climate change, and they sent an invitation to the
Department‟s Secretary of State, Mr Ed Miliband, in October last year to be a keynote speaker
at an event that was to be held in Watford in March 2009. This event was to present a concept
that was claimed to be aimed at solving many of the world‟s environmental problems including
climate change. Mr Miliband declined the invitation. More information on FREdome can be
found at the websi
te www.FREdome.org .
In closing, it should be mentioned that the Department receives a great deal of correspondence
from so called anthropogenic (human caused) climate change „non believers‟ (usually from
individuals) particularly with respect to the first four of your listed categories, and this seems to
be their preferred mode of contact. The Department‟s policy regarding such correspondence is
always to respond as far as possible within about 20 days of receipt.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. I also attach an annex giving
contact details should you be unhappy with the services you have received.
Yours sincerely
Paul Munro
Climate and Energy: Science and Analysis
Email
[email address]
Annex
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request you may make
a complaint or appeal against our decision within 40 working days of the date of this letter.
Please write to the responding officer who wil then arrange with BERR‟s Information Rights Unit
an internal review of your case.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly
to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Please note that generally the Information
Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have first exhausted BERR‟s own complaints
procedure. Contact details for The Information Commissioner are on their website at
http://www.ico.gov.uk/ .
