Oliver Geden suggests that scientific advisers on climate should resist becoming “political entrepreneurs” by making their advice more palatable (Nature 521, 27–28; 2015). In fact, climate advisers need to be astute political entrepreneurs if they are to present the benefits of a policy change without exaggerating claims.
Political pragmatism is not for helping policy-makers to justify the status quo, but rather for presenting persuasive scientific evidence alongside other issues (D. C. Rose Nature Clim. Change 4, 1038; 2014). Entrepreneurial climate scientists can offer fresh solutions to policy-makers, point out the improvements their ideas would provide and explain how they would work in practice. These entrepreneurs take the concerns of other scientists and policy-makers into account, build professional networks, and use every opportunity to maximize political influence (M. Mintrom and P. Norman Policy Stud. J. 37, 649–667; 2009).
Optimizing science presentation does not mean compromising on technical rigour or integrity. Climate scientists can increase their understanding of how policy-makers use the evidence they provide, as Geden recommends, and so deploy it more effectively to argue for policy change.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rose, D. Climate advisers must be astute. Nature 522, 156 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/522156d
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/522156d