World Weather Attribution was founded in 2014 to conduct research linking extreme weather events to climate change. [emphasis, links added]
This research is then fed into mainstream media outlets, giving them what the group calls “the larger global warming context” when reporting on natural disasters.
The organization found a friend in Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who announced a $10 million donation to WWA in 2022 and two other organizations “to expand effective communication on the links between climate change and extreme weather.”
Bezos Earth Foundation says the money It will provide WWA with a way to “reach their most important audiences through a trusted messenger.”
Bezos's newspaper is one such messenger, this washington postciting WWA research in more than 70 stories over the past three yearsone washington free beacon Review found.
It does so uncritically, Release the organization's non-peer-reviewed findings showing climate change is to blame for recent natural disasters, including Hurricane Milton.
However, nonpartisan experts in the field are less sure about the WWA's approach, calling the organization's slick research rushed, partisan and “incomplete.”
Bezos’ funding for the group, and washington postPositive coverage of its research has raised questions about the newspaper's declaration of independence from its billionaire owner.
this postal'Reports citing WWA do not acknowledge that Bezos, who purchased the paper in 2013, a year before the organization was founded, also funds WWA.
“The motivation was entirely political,” Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said of the climate group.
“I'm not sure what the scientific community thinks about this, but my guess is It got this far because of its political clout and media attention, which means you don't want to be on the wrong side.
Maue was particularly critical of WWA's methodology, which involves determining the chances of recent extreme weather events, comparing them to the chances of similar events that occurred decades ago, and attributing the differences to climate change.
Moai said this can lead to flashy findings that are not necessarily accurate, and he believes WWA valued speed over accuracy, resulting in “incomplete” research.
“The headlines they were able to publish were that climate change made Hurricane Helene worse, and then relied on the scientific literacy of the corporate media to produce headlines that became increasingly bizarre. Make claims that are clearly not supported by science“, he told free beacon.
“Let's say something that was 1 percent likely to happen every year is now 10 percent,” Maue said in an interview, noting the subjective nature of WWA's approach. “So it's an increase of 1,000%. But actually, you're operating in the extreme tail of the distribution, and then you can talk about percentage changes, which, you know, are hysterically large.
WWA research cited in postal These include studies blaming climate change for September's catastrophic global floods, August's heat wave that hit the United States, and February's drought in South America's Amazon basin and Hurricane Milton.
For example, WWA concluded in research published Friday that hurricane rainfall has increased by 20 to 30 percent due to man-made climate change.
The study was published less than 48 hours after the storm made landfall in Florida — speed is a hallmark of the group's research, allowing it to publish jaw-dropping conclusions at a time when weather events remain top of mind for news consumers. .
“Research from the World Weather Attribution Network — A team of scientists analyzes how climate change is causing extreme weather events — Wet storms like Milton are twice as likely to occur due to global warming, found“, the Washington Post report on Milton noted. “Driven by record-breaking temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane's wind speeds are 10 percent faster than in a world unaltered by greenhouse gas emissions. “
Meanwhile, WWA chief scientist and founder Friederike Otto has publicly acknowledged that her team exists in part to create evidence that can then be admissible in climate lawsuitsincluding high-stakes cases alleging oil companies are financially responsible for weather events.
These studies are used to “pressure policymakers” and also Aiming to stimulate “companies like major fossil fuel companies to change their business models and take more action” Otto explained.
The group also stated Part of its mission is to build support for mitigation policies, including shutting down fossil fuels.
In a report on global flooding in September, postal To quote WWA researcher Joyce Kimutai Weather events “will continue to worsen until we replace fossil fuels with cleaner, renewable energy.”
Reading break at Free Beacon
