Their hold on the public seems to be waning.
There also seems to be a renewed optimism that we can deal with the crisis.
Anti-climate change lobbying spend by the five largest publicly-owned fossil fuel companies.
Deniers suggest climate change is just part of the natural cycle.
Or that climate models are unreliable and too sensitive to carbon dioxide.
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All these arguments are falseand there is a clear consensus among scientistsabout the causes of climate change.
Model reconstruction of global temperature since 1970.
So climate change deniers are switching to new tactics.
In other words, climate change is now about the cost, not science.
Economists, however, suggest we could fix climate change now byspending 1 percent of world GDP.
But if we dont act now, by 2050 it could cost over 20 percent of world GDP.
This amounts to 6 percent of world GDP.
Humanitarian denial
Climate change deniers also argue that climate change is good for us.
They suggest longer, warmer summers in the temperate zone will make farming more productive.
For example, the 2010 Moscow heatwavekilled 11,000 people, devastated theRussian wheat harvestand increased global food prices.
Geographical zones of the world.
This is indeed true and theland biosphere has been absorbing about a quarterof our carbon dioxide pollution every year.
Anotherquarter of our emissions is absorbed by the oceans.
But losing massive areas of natural vegetation through deforestation and changes in land usecompletely nullifies this minor fertilization effect.
This is deeply misleading.
Society, not climate, kills them.
This argument is also factually incorrect.
In the US, for example, heat-related deaths arefour times higher than cold-related ones.
US weather fatalities for 2018 alongside the ten- and 30-year average.
Africa produces just under 5 percent.
Per capita annual carbon dioxide emissions and cumulative country emissions.
Data from the Global Carbon Project.
But many of the solutions to climate change are win-win and will improve the lives of normal people.
Developing a green economy provideseconomic benefits and creates jobs.
Deniers argue that climate change is not as bad as scientists make out.
We will be much richer in the future and better able to fix climate change.
This article is republished fromThe ConversationbyMark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science,UCLunder a Creative Commons license.
