20260922 Wie unabhängig sind die Experten?

22.09.2026 Wie unabhängig sind die Experten?

The Oil Companies' Climate Scientists

Experts from the oil and gas industry are found precisely where one would least expect them — on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This has now been revealed by an investigative report by 3sat NANO and an international team of journalists. They are primarily — but not exclusively — representatives of Arab states. This fact was not entirely unexpected, since all countries are allowed to send scientists to the IPCC.

Of course, without any real evidence, they can’t deny climate change there, but they can open up “side issues” or downplay the existing danger. These “distractions” include, for example, technological solutions such as Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS for short. Pilot projects in this area to date have proven less efficient than expected — often only 30 to 60 percent of the CO2 could be captured, according to the linked article.

The linked article found that in IPCC Working Group III — which is tasked with evaluating climate solutions such as CCS — “29 of the 223 authors had ties to the oil and gas industry, which stands to profit the most from and is the primary driver of this technology. Of these, 11 IPCC authors have ties to the Saudi energy sector, most of them to the Saudi oil company Aramco, the world’s largest CO2 emitter.” The IPCC sees no problem with these revelations: “The existence of a professional affiliation does not in itself constitute a conflict of interest.” So far, no expert has been expelled from the IPCC committee.