The Lavoisier Group is an Australian organisation formed by politicians and dominated by retired industrial businesspeople and engineers. Theage.com.au. Nov. 27, 2004. Retrieved Jan. 1, 2014. It does not accept the science of global warming and works to influence attitudes of policy makers and politicians. The organisation downplays the risk of the
effects of global warming
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea lev ...
, rejects the scientific conclusion that human activity causes it, and opposes policies designed to curtail it. Some members regard climate change as a "scam."
The group was named after French scientist
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), CNRS (
Phlogiston theory
The phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burni ...
of
combustion
Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combus ...
.
Creation
The Lavoisier Group was created in response to submissions by the Australian Greenhouse Office to Cabinet to implement a carbon trading scheme. Its founders claimed that there had been "very little ongoing public debate about these proposals... are of the view that the science behind global warming policy is far less certain than its protagonists claim, and we also believe that the economic damage which Australia would suffer, if a
carbon tax
A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...
of the magnitude canvassed in AGO documents were imposed, would be far, far greater than is currently appreciated in Canberra"
Following an inaugural conference in May 1999,Hamilton, Clive. "Green conspiracy theory; An anti-greenhouse group has been taking its message to the extreme, conducting a systematic campaign to muddy the waters on climate science." ''Canberra Times'' (Australia). Jan. 10, 2002. the group was founded in April 2000 by former Finance Minister Peter Walsh,Flannery, Tim Fridtjof. ''The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth''. Atlantic Monthly Press. 2006. p. 244"> p. 244 .Ian Webber, Ray Evans, Harold Clough (current Director of
), Robert Foster and Bruce Kean, with an opening address by supporter Hugh Morgan.The Lavoisier Group: 'Opening Address' by Hugh Morgan /ref> Secretary Ray Evans describes the 90-odd Lavoisier members as a "dad's army" of mostly retired engineers and scientists from the mining, manufacturing and construction industries, such as
Garth Paltridge
Garth William Paltridge (born 24 April 1940, Brisbane, Queensland) is a retired Australian atmospheric physicist. He is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and emeritus professor and honorary research fellow at the Institut ...
dollars
Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...
, and the annual budget is 10,000 dollars.
Aims
The Lavoisier Group lists its aims as:
# To promote vigorous debate within Australia on greenhouse science and greenhouse policy;
# To ensure that the full extent of the economic consequences, for Australia, of the regime of carbon withdrawal prescribed by the yet-to-be-ratified Kyoto Protocol, are fully understood by the Australian community;
# to explore the implications which treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol have for Australia's sovereignty, and for the GATT/WTO rules which protect Australia (and other WTO members) from the use of trade sanctions as an instrument of extraterritorial power.
Views
Walsh has blamed politics for the current consensus on global warming. The group claims that many scientists choose to endorse prevailing theories of global warming to protect their research funding by the government, a view that is held by French climatologist and author Marcel Leroux, and was the subject of the book ''Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media'' by Patrick Michaels. A supporter, former minister
Tony Staley
Anthony Allan Staley (born 15 May 1939) is an Australian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he held the Victorian seat of Chisholm from 1970 to 1980 and served as Minister for the Capital Territory (1976–1977) and Minister for Post ...
Author Clive Hamilton, in his book ''Scorcher'', says that one can find the following arguments in the various papers promoted by the Lavoisier Group:
*There is no evidence of global warming.
*If there is evidence of global warming, then it is not due to human activity.
*If global warming is occurring and it is due to human activity, then it is not going to be damaging.
*If global warming is occurring and it is due to human activity, and it is going to be damaging, then the costs of avoiding it are too high, so we should do nothing.
The group's top members have denied receiving compensation from industry, unlike some global warming skeptics in the United States, who have admitted to receiving compensation by fossil fuel companies.