US department bans ‘climate change’ – Politico
The US Department of Energy has updated its internal list of “words to avoid,” adding terms such as “climate change,” “green,” and “decarbonization,” Politico has reported.
The outlet cited an email sent to the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy just days after President Donald Trump denounced the concept of climate change during his United Nations General Assembly speech.
Rachel Overbey, acting director of external affairs, instructed staff to “continue to be conscientious about avoiding any terminology that you know to be misaligned with the Administration’s perspectives and priorities,” according to a Politico report on Friday.
Other terms officials were advised to leave out of internal and public communications reportedly include “emissions,” “energy transition,” “sustainability/sustainable,” “‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ energy,” “carbon/CO2 footprint,” and “tax breaks/tax credits/subsidies.” The outlet noted that use of these terms is not completely banned, but their avoidance is strongly recommended.
In his UN address last week, Trump called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” arguing that past predictions of catastrophic consequences from human activity were made “for bad reasons” and never materialized.
”If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail – and I’m really good at predicting things,” Trump said, crediting himself for withdrawing from what he called the “fake” 2015 Paris Climate Accord during his first term and again in the first days of his second administration.
