The Neglected Sun: Why the Sun Precludes Climate Catastrophe

The effect of the sun’s activity on climate change has been either scarcely known or overlooked. In this momentous book – first published in German as Die kalte Sonne in 2012 – Professor Fritz Vahrenholt and Dr. Sebastian Lüning demonstrate that the critical cause of global temperature change has been, and continues to be, the sun’s activity. Vahrenholt and Lüning reveal that four concurrent solar cycles master Earth’s temperature – a climate reality upon which man’s carbon emissions bear little significance. The sun’s present cooling phase, precisely monitored in this work, renders impossible the catastrophic prospects put forward by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the alarmist agenda dominant in contemporary Western politics.

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Prof. Vahrenholt holds a doctorate in chemistry and started his professional career at the  Federal Environmental Agency in Berlin (responsible for the chemical industry)  before joining the Hessian Ministry of the Environment. From 1984 until 1990 he served as state secretary for environment, and from 1991 until 1997 he served as minister for energy and environment in the state of Hamburg.

In 1998 Prof. Vahrenholt entered the energy industry and was until 2001 a member of the board of directors of Deutsche Shell, responsible for the renewable energy sector. In 2001 he was founding  CEO of Germany’s third largest wind turbine manufacturer, REpower (now Senvion). From 2008 to 2012 he was CEO of RWE Innogy, the subsidiary for renewables of the electric power company RWE. In 2012 he was elected chairman of the board of Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung, a German foundation for the preservation of wildlife in Germany.

In 1999 Prof. Vahrenholt was appointed as honorary professor of the department of chemistry at the University of Hamburg. Additionally he is member of the Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaft (Germany Academy of Science) (Berlin) and a member of the Senate of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (München). In 2014 he joined the academy advisory council of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (London).

From 2001 until 2007 Prof. Vahrenholt was a member of the sustainability advisory board to chancellors Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel.

He is author of several environmental books, including the bestseller Seveso ist überall(“Seveso is everywhere”), published in 1978. It was one of the most influential books for the green environmental movement in Germany and triggered a debate that led to a fundamental reorientation of the chemical industry towards sustainable development.

Our society needs to accept maverick thinkers.
Hamburger Abendblatt

The argument of Vahrenholt and Lüning makes sense.
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt

A new fracas has erupted in the climate crusade. … The Neglected Sun has stormed the bestseller lists.
Bild der Wissenschaft

This book is a must for those who cherish the value of scientific research.
Getabstract, 2012

Vahrenholt’s high profile assures there’s going to be a debate.
Jochen Marotzke, Director, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology