The comments by Peter Cook have led to a leading New Zealand climate scientist condemning him for echoing ‘‘climate change denialist tropes’’, while a Dunedin MP has likened him to a conspiracy theorist.
The criticism comes as Santana Minerals seeks fast-track approval for its proposed opencast goldmine in Central Otago.
Since being appointed as the company’s non-executive chairman in October 2023, Mr Cook has repeatedly expressed scepticism about man-made climate change through the online professional networking platform LinkedIn.
This included calling carbon dioxide ‘‘the gas of life’’ and arguing human-induced climate change ‘‘if it actually has had any material impact is unproved’’.
‘‘The elevation of climate risk to the point of moral panic is an unfortunate implication of the new social media age where anybody (like me) can have a say, but moral panic needs to be balanced by scientific fact as promoted by the brilliant Newtonian physicists.
‘‘Keep the social warriors and ‘Tik Tok’ actors of modernity out of it,’’ he wrote.
Mr Cook also said human-generated carbon dioxide was ‘‘probably real’’, but its impact was overstated.
Carbon dioxide was ‘‘the gas of life’’ and ‘‘the disingenuous demonisation of it is the issue’’, he said.
Victoria University professor of climate science James Renwick said comments such as Mr Cook’s had been rebutted repeatedly and shown to be ‘‘completely false’’.
‘‘These are standard climate change denialist tropes - carbon dioxide is the gas of life and, yes, there’s an effect but it’s tiny, et cetera.
‘‘It’s all well known and all rubbish,’’ Prof Renwick said.
Mr Cook was a business leader and held a position of responsibility to shareholders.
His comments were, at the very least, misleading, the climate scientist said.
‘‘You would expect a person in such a position would have a good grasp of the facts, of what’s going on in the world, on the relevant science around those things.’’
Mr Cook and Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring did not respond to specific questions from the Otago Daily Times, including whether they believed in man-made climate change.
Mr Cook responded with a one-line statement saying: ‘‘Turning a regulatory process into a personal argument doesn’t help people understand the project.’’
Taieri Green MP Scott Willis said Mr Cook’s comments were ‘‘astonishing’’ and ‘‘so offensive’’.
‘‘I think Mr Cook is clearly a cooker.
‘‘If any company wants to be taken seriously, they’ve got to get rid of the conspiracy theorists and the people who are unable to talk sensibly and respectfully with the community.
‘‘If they employ people like this, they show that they have no care and no respect for the community.’’
The comments also showed a lack of respect for science, Mr Willis said.
‘‘If he thinks that climate change is a conspiracy or a manifestation of the social media landscape, what does he say to those families who have lost family members from extreme weather events that have been made more extreme by the climate impacts?,’’ Mr Willis said.
Santana Minerals’ website lists Mr Cook as a former executive chairman of Westgold Resources Ltd and joint founder of Metals X Ltd.
It said he had more than 35 years’ experience in exploration, project development, operations and corporate management of resources companies.
