Watchdog hits John Kerry with science ethics complaint over climate change deaths claim
- June 20, 2023
EXCLUSIVE: A government watchdog group filed an ethics complaint against Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry on Tuesday morning, alleging he spread misinformation about climate change.
In its complaint, Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) alleged that Kerry violated federal scientific integrity policy — which requires officials to communicate scientific information accurately based on the best available evidence — when he said in May that greenhouse gas emissions kill 15 million people per year worldwide. PPT requested a federal investigation into Kerry’s comments.
“Despite the enormity of Mr. Kerry’s claim, he did not cite any scientific evidence for its basis,” the PPT complaint stated. “Nor is there any apparent scientific research that supports a claim that there are currently 15 million people dying yearly due to greenhouse gas emissions — or any other single cause of death that is tracked. Such a blatant misstatement of scientific information to the public is, by its nature, a threat to public trust and good governance,” it continued. “It is made far worse when such misinformation is used to publicly support sweeping policy changes like trying to reach net-zero emissions in agriculture, which would have untold effects upon the economy and lives of the American people writ large.”
“The Biden Administration vowed to bring about a renewal of norms, a restoration of trust in government, and commitments to scientific integrity and relying on science over politics in its decision making,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain told Fox News Digital. “Yet its most powerful officials are too often its worst enemies when it comes to fulfilling these promises. John Kerry’s recent claim of 15 million annual deaths from greenhouse gas emissions appears to be a hysterical pronouncement of the most dangerous type.”