Patrick Moore

Patrick Albert Moore was born on June 15, 1947, and holds a B.Sc. in Forest Biology and a Ph.D. in Ecology (technically awarded through UBC's Faculty of Forestry) from the University of British Columbia. He was an early and prominent member of Greenpeace Canada from 1971, serving as president of Greenpeace Canada from 1977 to 1986 and as a director of Greenpeace International. He left the organization in 1986.

After departing Greenpeace, Moore transitioned into a career as a paid consultant for industries including nuclear energy, timber, aquaculture, mining, and chemicals — industries that Greenpeace had frequently campaigned against. In 2008, Greenpeace formally issued a statement saying Moore 'exploits long gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes.'

Moore's public profile surged with his repeated testimony before the U.S. Senate and other bodies, where he claimed there was 'no scientific proof' of human-caused climate change. He argues that CO2 is a 'building block of life' and that current levels are historically low, framing any increase as categorically beneficial — a position that ignores the pace of change and its cascading systemic effects on climate systems, ocean chemistry, and ecosystems.

He is a director at the CO2 Coalition and a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute, both organizations with documented ties to fossil fuel funding. His repeated and prominent self-description as a 'Greenpeace co-founder' is his primary credential for public authority on environmental matters, and its falsity has been documented by multiple independent fact-checkers and by Greenpeace itself.

The scientific community broadly regards Moore's climate claims as contradicting the established consensus. His case is notable because his genuine PhD in ecology gives his statements a surface credibility that masks how far outside the scientific mainstream his conclusions have traveled, driven in large part by his financial relationships with the very industries whose emissions are at issue.

“Human-caused CO2 emissions are beneficial and there is no proof they cause dangerous warming.”

The IPCC and virtually every major scientific body on Earth have concluded with high confidence that human CO2 emissions are the dominant driver of observed warming since the mid-20th century. Moore's denial of this consensus misrepresents the evidence and relies on cherry-picked correlations with solar activity that have been evaluated and rejected by climate scientists.

“Patrick Moore co-founded Greenpeace.”

Greenpeace was founded in 1970 by Phil Cotes, Irving Stowe, and Jim Bohlen. Moore joined as a crew member on a voyage in 1971 and later became president of Greenpeace Canada, but was not a founder. Greenpeace has issued public statements explicitly rejecting his co-founder claim.

“Global warming would be beneficial for life on Earth.”

Scientific consensus documents extensive documented harms from climate change including sea level rise, ocean acidification, increased extreme weather frequency, habitat destruction, and threats to food and water security. Moore's framing ignores these well-documented effects.