{
  "id": 11618144,
  "title": "‘Hot mess’ paper questioning CO2 and climate change gets retracted",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/hot-mess-paper-questioning-co2-and-climate-change-gets-retracted",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-02T17:27:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Retraction Watch",
    "slug": "retraction-watch",
    "url": "https://retractionwatch.com/2026/10/02/paper-questioning-co2-and-climate-change-retracted/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A controversial paper that questioned the connection between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change has been retracted due to \"significant concerns,\" including unsupported conclusions and inaccuracies in data interpretation. The article, published in August 2023 in the MDPI journal Atmosphere, was authored by Stuart Harris, a former geography professor at the University of Calgary. The retraction notice highlighted a range of errors, including incorrect identification of the primary location of carbon dioxide measurements and misinterpretation of global heat maps showing warming patterns. Critics, such as climate scientists Marcus Sarofim and John Kennedy, emphasized the paper's numerous flaws and questioned its place in peer-reviewed literature. Despite public and expert criticism, the paper garnered considerable attention, with 26,000 views and 869 social media mentions. MDPI launched an investigation after receiving concerns, but the journal ultimately decided the responses provided by Harris were insufficient to resolve the issues.",
  "summary": "A paper that called into question many central data linking carbon dioxide to the rapidly warming climate has been retracted for “significant concerns,” including “unsupported conclusions” and “inaccuracies” in the interpretation of the data. The paper, published in August 2023 in the MDPI journal Atmosphere, was written by Stuart Harris, a former geography professor at … Continue reading ‘Hot…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}