The final decision of the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty in the complaint against Bjørn Lomborg edit
The Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (UVVU) have decided not to resume the investigation of Bjørn Lomborg’s book The Sceptical Environmentalist.
The UVVU will, therefore, not perform a renewed investigation into whether Bjørn Lomborg, in the publication of the book, acted in a manner that can be considered scientifically dishonest. The UVVU has hereafter closed the case.
In its unanimous decision, the UVVU has emphasised the following:
A completely new and thorough investigation edit
A complete and thorough investigation of whether Bjørn Lomborg acted in a manner that can be considered scientifically dishonest (i.e. displayed intentional or gross negligence) by publishing the above-mentioned book would, in the opinion of the UVVU, require the appointment of one or more ad hoc committees and the participation of external experts to evaluate selected excerpts from the book.
Such an investigation would be expected to take between 6 and 12 months, perhaps even longer. Since the UVVU did not find, during its first investigation, that Bjørn Lomborg acted with deliberate or gross negligence – and thus dishonesty – the UVVU does not find it reasonable at the present time to perform such a comprehensive investigation.
Renewed assessment edit
As an alternatively, the UVVU could choose to conduct an assessment of whether Bjørn Lomborg has, in his book, behaved in a manner that can be considered scientifically dishonest based solely on the investigations and assessments which the UVVU has the capacity to carry out on its own.
It is the opinion of the UVVU that such renewed scrutiny would, in all likelihood, result in the same conclusion that the UVVU reached in its decision of 6 January 2003. The rules for the UVVU (Danish Executive Order no. 933 of 15. Dec. 1998, Section 2(2)) state that the UVVU must dismiss a case if, in advance, it is considered unlikely that a complainant will succeed. Thus, the UVVU does not have any legal basis for resuming investigations related to the complaint against Bjørn Lomborg.
Need for changes in the regulatory framework edit
The course of events surrounding the Lomborg case clearly show that there is a need for clarification of the UVVU regulatory framework. The UVVU made this clear to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in connection with the Ministry’s decision of 17 December 2003. At the same time, the UVVU has submitted a number of responses to the Ministry‘s criticism of the UVVU’s decision of 6 January 2003.
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6 January 2003: The UVVU reaches its decision in the complaint against Bjørn Lomborg’s book The Sceptical Environmentalist. The book was published by the Cambridge University Press in 2001. The main point of the UVVU’s decision of 6 January 2003 is that from an objective point of view, it was a question of scientific dishonesty on the part of Bjørn Lomborg, because, among other reasons, the book was based on a systematically biased choice of data.
Because of Bjørn Lomborg’s lack of scientific expertise in the themes treated in the book, however, the UVVU did not find that Bjørn Lomborg had shown intentional or gross negligence. Bjørn Lomborg was therefore acquitted of the accusations of having acted in a manner considered scientifically dishonest. But the UVVU stated, at the same time, that he had clearly acted contrary to good scientific practice.
13 February 2003: Bjørn Lomborg files a complaint with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation against the UVVU’s decision of 6 January 2003.
17 December 2003: The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation makes a decision in the case. The Ministry finds that the UVVU has made a number of procedural errors. The Ministry therefore remits the case to the UVVU. Furthermore, the Ministry’s decision states that it is up to the UVVU to determine whether it will re-examine the case. The Ministry explained at a later date that the decision of the Ministry must be taken to mean that the UVVU’s decision of 6 January 2003 is invalid.
12 March 2004: The UVVU makes is final decision in the complaint against Bjørn Lomborg’s book. The UVVU decides to close the case.
Further information:
Birgitte Ehrhardt
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Phone: 3544 6356