Editing Claude Allègre (section)

== Views on global warming ==
In an article in 2006 entitled "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" in ''[[L'Express (France)|L'Express]]'', a French weekly, Allègre cited evidence that Antarctica's gaining [[Antarctic ice sheet|ice]] and that [[Mount Kilimanjaro]]'s retreating snow caps, among other global-warming concerns, might be due to natural causes. He said that "[t]he cause of this climate change is unknown".<ref>[http://www.lexpress.fr/idees/tribunes/dossier/allegre/dossier.asp?ida=451670 Neiges du Kilimandjaro – La cause de la modification climatique reste inconnue. Donc, prudence] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422154505/http://www.lexpress.fr/idees/tribunes/dossier/allegre/dossier.asp?ida=451670 |date=22 April 2008 }}, L'Express, 2006</ref> This represented a change of mind, since Allègre wrote in 1987 that "By burning fossil fuels, man increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which, for example, has raised the global mean temperature by half a degree in the last century".<ref>C. Allègre : ''12 Clés pour la géologie'', Belin/France Culture, 1987. Original quote in French : ''En brûlant des combustibles fossiles, l'homme a augmenté le taux de gaz carbonique dans l'atmosphère, ce qui fait, par exemple, que depuis un siècle la température moyenne du globe a augmenté d'un demi-degré.''; also quoted in {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2006/10/03/rechauffement-climatique-tempete-contre-claude-allegre_819374_3244.htm Le Monde, October, 3 2006.]</ref>

Allègre accused those agreeing with the mainstream scientific view of [[global warming]] of being motivated by money, saying that "the ecology of helpless protesting has become a very lucrative business for some people!"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777 |title=US Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee |access-date=14 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114015820/http://www.epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=264777 |archive-date=14 November 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2009, when it was suggested that Claude Allègre might be offered a position as minister in [[President of France|President]] [[Nicolas Sarkozy]]'s government, TV presenter and environmental activist [[Nicolas Hulot]] stated:
:''"He doesn't think the same as the 2,500 scientists of the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|IPCC]], who are warning the world about a disaster; that's his right. But if he were to be recruited in government, it would become policy, and it would be a ''[[bras d'honneur]]'' to those scientists. [...] [It] would be a tragic signal, six months before the [[United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009|Copenhagen Conference]], and something incomprehensible coming from France, which has been a leading country for years in the fight against climate change!"''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-politique/2009-05-23/remaniement-pour-hulot-allegre-au-gouvernement-serait-un-signal-tragique/917/0/346008|title=Pour Nicolas Hulot, Claude Allègre au gouvernement 'serait un signal tragique|website=AFP|date=24 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529213553/http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-politique/2009-05-23/remaniement-pour-hulot-allegre-au-gouvernement-serait-un-signal-tragique/917/0/346008|archive-date=29 May 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In a 2010 petition, more than 500 French researchers asked Science Minister [[Valérie Pécresse]] to dismiss Allègre's book ''L'imposture climatique'', claiming the book was "full of factual mistakes, distortions of data, and plain lies".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sciences.blogs.liberation.fr/home/2010/03/claude-all%C3%A8gre-accus%C3%A9-de-falsification-par-h%C3%A5kan-grudd.html|title=Claude Allègre accusé de falsification par Håkan Grudd|website=sciences.blogs.liberation.fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2010/04/01/plus-de-400-climatologues-en-appellent-a-la-ministre_1327361_3244.html|title=Plus de 400 climatologues en appellent à la ministre|newspaper=Le Monde.fr|language=fr-FR|access-date=10 November 2016}}</ref> Allègre described the petition as "useless and stupid".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Scientists Ask Minister to Disavow Predecessor's Book|last=Enserink|first=Martin|journal=Science|doi=10.1126/science.328.5975.151|volume=328|issue=5975|page=151|date=9 April 2010|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.328.5975.151|location=Paris|pmid=20378780|access-date=10 October 2020|url-access=subscription}}</ref>