30 years later, deniers are still lying about Hansen’s amazing global warming prediction | Dana Nuccitelli

Koch paychecks seem to be strong motivators to lie

30 years ago, James Hansen testified to Congress about the dangers of human-caused climate change. In his testimony, Hansen showed the results of his 1988 study using a climate model to project future global warming under three possible scenarios, ranging from 'business as usual' heavy pollution in his Scenario A to 'draconian emissions cuts' in Scenario C, with a moderate Scenario B in between.

Changes in the human effects that influence Earth's global energy imbalance (a.k.a. 'anthropogenic radiative forcings') have in reality been closest to Hansen's Scenario B, but about 20-30% weaker thanks to the success of the Montreal Protocol in phasing out chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Hansen's climate model projected that under Scenario B, global surface air temperatures would warm about 0.84C between 1988 and 2017. But with a global energy imbalance 20-30% lower, it would have predicted a global surface warming closer to 0.6-0.7C by this year.