“We need to restore some common sense around climate change and energy.”The report was authored by four scientists and one economist who are familiar contrarians in the climate science world. Three of the report’s authors were recently hired at the Energy Department, The New York Times reported earlier this month, prompting alarm among mainstream scientists who have long followed their work. Each author has a long history of producing work that challenges mainstream consensus on climate science. Their work is often promoted by interests seeking to discredit scientific findings or downplay climate action. “I’m a bit surprised that the government put out something like this as an official publication,” Zeke Hausfather, the climate research lead at tech company Stripe and a research scientist at the climate nonprofit Berkeley Earth, told WIRED in an email.