Lamar Smith calls U.N.’s climate change report ‘fear mongering’

House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) isn’t buying a recent United Nations’ report that warns failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will result in “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts” to the environment.  

On Sunday, Smith called the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s findings “more political than scientific” and called for a stop to fear mongering and a focus on honest dialogue about real options.

The U.N. report stated that failing to reduce emissions could result in food shortages, flooding in major cities and island nations, and mass extinction of plants and animals. It calls for nations to restrict greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the end of the century to avoid irreversible damage.

“Science has spoken,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a release. “There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.”

Smith found more than ambiguity in the message. He found deceit.

“It also appears that the U.N. is once more attempting to provide cover for costly new regulations and energy rationing,” Smith said. “Yet the EPA has admitted that electricity regulations will have no discernible impact on the global temperature. America cannot afford to drive its economy over a cliff with the hopes that the rest of the world will make the same mistake.”