Fritz Vahrenholt

Fritz Vahrenholt (born May 8, 1949 in Gelsenkirchen-Buer) is a German politician (SPD), industrialist and environmentalist.^[1]

Biography

Varenholt had studied Chemistry in Münster and started his professional career at the federal Umweltbundesamt (environmental protection agency) in Berlin and the Ministry for Environment of Hesse. From 1984 till 1990 he was in a leading role in Hamburg, first as Staatsrat for environment, 1990 to 1991 for the administral Senatskanzlei, and the Umweltsenator (senator for the environment) in Hamburg from 1991 to 1997.^[2]

In 1998 he entered the energy industry and until 2001 was on the Board of Deutsche Shell AG, a Shell subsidiary. In 2001 he moved to post of CEO of the wind turbine company REpower Systems AG and remained there until 2007. From February 2008 to June 2012 he was CEO of electric power company RWE subsidiary RWE Innogy and remains on the supervisory board. Varenholt has a doctorate in Chemistry. In 1999 he was made an Honorary Professor of chemistry at the University of Hamburg.^[1][2][3][4]

2012 Vahrenholt was elected chair of Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung, a German foundation for the preservation of wildlife in Germany.^[5]

Global Warming Skepticism

Vahrenholt is skeptical of human-induced global warming. In 2012 Vahrenholt together with geologist Sebastian Lüning published Die kalte Sonne: warum die Klimakatastrophe nicht stattfindet^[6] (The Cold Sun: Why the Climate Crisis Isn't Happening), a book asserting that climate change is driven by variations in solar activity. They predict the Earth is entering a cooling phase due to periodic solar cycles, and will cool by 0.2 to 0.3 degrees C by 2035.^[4] Other contributors are Nir Shaviv, Werner Weber, Henrik Svensmark and Nicola Scafetta. Numerous scientists, including the Council for Sustainable Development^[7][8] , criticised the book and considered its underlying assumptions to be either outdated or highly speculative.^{[9][10][11][12]}

References

1. Fritz Vahrenholt wechselt in den Aufsichtsrat, Wirtschaftsmagazin Ruhr, January 2012
2. "Fritz Vahrenholt". Koepfe der Wirtschaft. Wirtschafts Woche. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
3. "Curriculum Vitae: Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt". RWE. Retrieved February 17, 2012., also archived at Webcite.
4. "Breaking Global Warming Taboos: 'I Feel Duped on Climate Change'". Spiegel Online International. 2012-02-08. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
5. press release of Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung 2012
6. Vahrenholt, Fritz; Lüning, Sebastian (2012). Die kalte Sonne: warum die Klimakatastrophe nicht stattfindet. Hoffmann und Campe. ISBN 978-3-455-50250-3.
7. Bachmann, Günther; Töpfer, Klaus (March 15, 2012). "'Total falsche Antworten': Fritz Vahrenholt irrt: Der Klimawandel ist real". Die Zeit. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
8. "Pressemitteilung des Max-Planck-Instituts für Meteorologie zum Buch "Die kalte Sonne"; "Rein natürliche Schwankungen - wie etwa Änderungen der Sonnenaktivität - können hingegen nicht hauptsächlich für die globale Erwärmung in den letzten Jahrzehnten verantwortlich sein, auch wenn das kürzlich erschienene Buch von Vahrenholt und Lüning dies behauptet."". Max-Planck-Institut. Feb 6, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
9. Toralf Staud (August 10, 2012). "Klimawandel-Debatte: Forscher fühlen sich von Klimaskeptiker Vahrenholt instrumentalisiert". zeit.de. Retrieved April 2016. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
10. Michael Odenwald (July 30, 2012). "Umstrittenes Buch „Die kalte Sonne": Halbwahrheiten über die CO2-Lüge". Focus Online. Retrieved April 2016. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
11. Toralf Staud (June 11, 2013). "Erderwärmung: Skeptiker im Faktencheck". zeit.de. Retrieved April 2016. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
12. Sven Titz (15 August 2015). "Rezension Die kalte Sonne, Fritz Vahrenholt, Sebastian Lüning". spektrum.de. Retrieved April 15, 2016.