---
title: "The Skeptical Environmentalist"
chunk: 5/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skeptical_Environmentalist"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:18:21.336470+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation review and response ===
On 13 February 2003, Lomborg filed a complaint against the DCSD's decision with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MSTI), which oversees the group. On 17 December, the Ministry released a report identifying a number of procedural errors had made, although did not refute any criticisms of the book. It criticised the DCSD for not identifying specific areas of error and for not providing an opportunity for Lomborg to respond before the report's publication.
The Ministry then remitted the case to the DCSD, and instructed the DCSD to decide whether to reinvestigate. On 12 March 2004, the Committee formally decided not to act further on the complaints, reasoning that renewed scrutiny would, in all likelihood, result in the same conclusion.

== Legacy ==
Jim Giles wrote a 2003 retrospective on the book in Nature, saying it was "packed with facts and figures, yet it was the emotional response that it inspired that will be best remembered," and argued that it would have little long-lasting influence. Giles suggested the intense critical reaction from scientists and environmental groups was driven by fears that the book's talking points would be adopted by the Bush administration, but their criticisms conversely boosted sales and Lomborg's profile. Cambridge University Press said sales of the book quadrupled in the month following negative reviews in Scientific American. Jeffrey Harvey, who had debated Lomborg several times by 2003, admitted that the tone of attacks on Lomborg could have been counterproductive. In 2005, an article by a group of non-climatologist scientists published in the Journal of Information Ethics, claimed that most criticism against the book was unjustified, and that the scientific community had misused their authority to suppress the author. The claim that the accusations against Lomborg were unjustified was challenged in the next issue of the journal by Kåre Fog who asserts that, "despite the ministry's decision, most of the accusations against Lomborg were valid." He also rejected the Galileo hypothesis, "that Lomborg is a brave young man confronting old-fashioned opposition."
Another article published in the Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences in 2010, recounted the controversy surrounding the book and criticised the author and publisher, saying "the question remains why a book that contains so many flaws by someone without any scientific credentials has received so much public attention." The article also pointed to contradiction of the principles of environmental economics in the book. They concluded that "the book is anyway sure to go down in history as an unreliable source of information and argumentation, being one of the most severely criticized texts issued ever by a prestigious academic publisher".
Despite the controversy, The Skeptical Environmentalist established Lomborg as a public figure and prominent critic of the scientific consensus on climate change. He was named one of the Time 100 most influential people in 2004, and established the Copenhagen Consensus to institutionalize his views. He was also appointed director of the Environmental Assessment Institute in Denmark. By 2004, some polluting industries bodies had already quoted Lomborg or invited him to speak to further their agendas. The Skeptical Environmentalist was followed by Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming, which was published in 2007.

== See also ==
Global warming controversy
Media coverage of climate change
Environmental skepticism
Anti-environmentalism
State of Fear
The Population Bomb
Climate change denial
Howard Friel, critic of Lomborg

== References ==

=== Bibliography ===
Lomborg, Bjørn (2001). The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521010683.
van den Bergh, Jeroen (2010). An assessment of Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist and the ensuing debate,[1] Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences 7(1).

== Further reading ==
Lomborg, Bjørn (2001). The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-01068-9.
Stephen Schneider; John P. Holdren; John Bongaarts; Thomas Lovejoy (January 2002). "Misleading Math about the Earth". Scientific American. 286 (1): 61. Bibcode:2002SciAm.286a..61S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0102-61 (inactive 12 July 2025).{{cite journal}}:  CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
Ed Regis (1997), The Doomslayer (archived 2009-12-16) (Julian Simon article in Wired.

== External links ==
A sample of the book (PDF)
Lomborg's responses to his critics at Bjørn Lomborg's Website
HAN selection of complaints made by Lomborg critics, an article collection by Heidelberg Appeal Nederland, supporting Lomborg.
Kyoto Economics by William Shepherd
New York Law School Law Professor and a Senior Law Student review of the reviews to determine whether Lomborg is still credible as an expert witness and whether his testimony is appropriate to his expertise based on the criticisms of Scientific American, Nature and Science.
The Lomborg Deception: Setting the Record Straight About Global Warming by Howard Friel (Yale University Press, 2010)

=== Reviews ===
John Gillot: "The Skeptical Environmentalist" Spiked-Science Online, 10 September 2001.
"Doomsday postponed" The Economist, 6 September 2001.
"Greener Than You Think" Archived 2018-08-24 at the Wayback Machine, by Denis Dutton in The Washington Post, 21 October 2001.
Review of The Skeptical Environmentalist by the Union of Concerned Scientists with reviews from Peter Gleick, Jerry D. Mahlman and E.O. Wilson.
"Nine things journalists should know about The Skeptical Environmentalist", World Resources Institute.
"The Skeptical Environmentalist: A Case Study in the Manufacture of News", Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, 23 January 2003.
"Something Is Rotten in the State of Denmark" Archived 2002-01-23 at the Wayback Machine, Grist Magazine, 12 December 2001.
Misleading Math about the Earth: Science defends itself against The Skeptical Environmentalist Scientific American January 2002
Chris Lavers: "You've never had it so good", The Guardian 1 September 2001.