Editing Matt Ridley (section)

===Climate change===
{{expand section|date=November 2020}}<!-- what actually is Ridley's view? it is not summarized in the section at all. Only says he wrote something that was criticized by Sachs; and of the spat, but not the content of his views; 2nd para connects the criticism to coal, but no clarity on the Ridley position -->
In 2014, the ''Wall Street Journal'' [[op-ed]] written by Ridley, "Whatever Happened to Global Warming?" suggesting that climate scientists' explanations were implausible, was challenged by [[Jeffrey Sachs]] of [[Columbia University]]'s Earth Institute. Sachs termed "absurd" Ridley's characterization of a paper in ''Science'' magazine by the two scientists Xianyao Chen and [[Ka-Kit Tung]]. Sachs challenged Ridley's contentions, and claimed that the "paper's conclusions are the very opposite of Ridley's".<ref>Sachs, Jeffrey, [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/the-wall-street-journal-p_b_5776558.html "The Wall Street Journal Parade of Climate Lies"], ''Huffington Post'', 09/06/2014. Sachs' article links to Ridley's [https://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/matt-ridley-whatever-happened-to-global-warming-1409872855-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNTEwNDUyWj "Whatever Happened to Global Warming?" (subscription required)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021033328/http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/matt-ridley-whatever-happened-to-global-warming-1409872855-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNTEwNDUyWj |date=21 October 2014 }}, ''The Wall Street Journal'', 4 September 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-07.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mattridley.co.uk/blog/whatever-happened-to-global-warming.aspx |title=Whatever happened to global warming? |last=Ridley |first=Matt |work=Matt Ridley Online |date=2014-09-07 |access-date=2014-09-14}}</ref> Ridley replied that 'it is ludicrous, nasty and false to accuse me of lying or "totally misrepresenting the science." I have asked Mr. Sachs to withdraw the charges more than once now on Twitter. He has refused to do so ....'<ref>[https://online.wsj.com/articles/matt-ridley-replies-to-his-climate-change-critics-1410271012 "Jeffrey Sachs blows a gasket, and our contributor cleans up the intellectual mess"], ''online.wsj.com'', 9 September 2014. Ridley quotes a tweet by Sachs: "Ridley climate ignorance in WSJ today is part of compulsive lying of Murdoch media gang. Ridley totally misrepresents the science," at [http://www.mattridley.co.uk/blog/whatever-happened-to-global-warming.aspx Ridley's weblog]</ref>

[[Friends of the Earth]] has connected Ridley's [[opposition to climate science]] to his ties to the [[coal industry]]. He is the owner of land in the north-east of England on which the [[Shotton Surface Mine|Shotton Surface]] [[coal mine]] operates, and receives payments for the mine. In 2016 he was accused of [[lobbying]] for the coal industry, based on an email he had authored to the UK government's energy minister describing a Texas-based company which planned to sequester carbon into materials useful for industrial chemical manufacturing. The complaint was summarily dismissed by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/15/matt-ridley-accused-of-lobbying-uk-government-on-behalf-of-coal-industry Matt Ridley accused of lobbying UK government on behalf of coal industry]. ''The Guardian'', 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.</ref>