Who is Nigel Lawson? And is he a climate change "expert"

onDec 3, 2009 @ 10:01 PST

The name Nigel Lawson has been popping up a lot lately on climate change issues. Especially around the recent CRU stolen email controversy.

Our research team has completed a full background briefing on Mr. Lawson. You can check out the entire backgrounder here: Who is Nigel Lawson?

Here’s some of the highlights:

Climate Change Expert?

According to a search of Google Scholar, Lawson has not published any work in the area of climate science.

Climate Contrarian Family

Climate skepticism runs deep in the Lawson family. His son Dominic Lawson is a journalist for the British newspaper The Independent. Dominic Lawson has used his columns to question the science behind climate change and criticize the IPCC. Ironically, Dominic Lawson is married to Rosa Monckton, the sister of the infamous climate denier Christopher Monckton.

The Global Warming Policy Foundation

In 2009, Nigel Lawson founded a climate change think tank, The Global Warming Policy Foundation. Although the organization presents itself as an independent and unbiased voice, it clearly has an agenda which is expressed loudly in its mission statement: “our main purpose is to bring reason, integrity and balance to a debate that has become seriously unbalanced, irrationally alarmist, and all too often depressingly intolerant.”

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.