Can't Say Climate Change: Carbon Conference

The document details how NOAA officials, including lab director Dr. David Hofmann, attempted to restrict the use of terms like "climate change" and "Kyoto" in presentations and papers at the Seventh International Carbon Dioxide Conference. Evidence from FOIA requests and interviews suggests that funding agencies stipulated topics be limited to "carbon dioxide measurements and modeling, rather than climate change and climate modeling." Dr. Pieter Tans reported that material concerning climate change, including laboratory website content, required White House pre-approval, and that the conference website was ordered to remove links connecting CO2 increase to climate change. Dr. Tans noted that such restrictions damage the credibility of government scientists and create an atmosphere of intimidation for some researchers.

• NOAA officials attempted to censor specific terminology and topics at the Seventh International Carbon Dioxide Conference, specifically instructing scientists that the words "climate change" could not appear in presentation titles and barring the use of the word "Kyoto" in papers or presentations.
• Funding agencies for the conference, including the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL), mandated that discussions be restricted to carbon dioxide measurements and modeling, explicitly excluding climate change and climate modeling.
• Administrative restrictions extended to digital communications, with orders to remove website links connecting CO2 increases to climate change and a requirement that any climate change-related material, including lab website content, be pre-approved by the White House.
• Dr. Pieter Tans asserts that these restrictions undermine the professional credibility of government scientists and that some researchers feel intimidated by such interference.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2005). Can't Say Climate Change: Carbon Conference. https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/cant-say-climate-change-carbon-conference

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Can't Say Climate Change: Carbon Conference. 2005. https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/cant-say-climate-change-carbon-conference.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Can't Say Climate Change: Carbon Conference |date=15 July 2005 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/cant-say-climate-change-carbon-conference |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2005cant, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Can't Say Climate Change: Carbon Conference}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2005}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/cant-say-climate-change-carbon-conference}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }