Net Zero, Liberty and the Academy

Papers
Written By Michael Kelly

In this paper, Andrew Montford, Director of Net Zero Watch, and Michael Kelly, Emeritus Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the University fo Cambridge, argue that universities, learned academies and the IPCC have abandoned their traditional commitment to open inquiry and disinterested truth-seeking in favour of climate activism.

The authors contend that dissent on climate science and Net Zero has been marginalised through peer-review gatekeeping, reputational attacks and institutional pressure, creating a culture in which debate is stifled and policy assumptions go unchallenged.

They argue that this intellectual closure has contributed to the adoption of the UK’s Net Zero 2050 target without serious engineering, economic or scientific scrutiny. The result, they claim, is a policy agenda that is economically ruinous, technically unrealistic and corrosive of academic freedom.

Michael Kelly

Michael Kelly is the Emeritus Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the University of Cambridge. He was a Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department for Communities and Local Government. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and is a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Next

Net Zero, Advertisers and the Threat to Free Speech