“New York Times” has reported Philip Cooney, former lobbyist of the oil industry, had played down warnings of what global warming will do to the planet.

The New York Times cited U.S. government documents that detailed climate change studies and noted the documents were edited by Cooney to cast doubt over scientific reports.

According to the New York Times, Cooney, a White House environment adviser, repeatedly changed formulations in the reports. Cooney has no formal scientific education, writes the newspaper.

Cooney reportedly added the words “significant” and “drastic” to the word “insecurities”. An example cited Cooney as having inserted the word “extremely” to the following sentence: “Tracing back the reasons of biological and ecological changes to the climate change or variability is extremely difficult”.

Before joining the White House in 2001, Cooney worked as lobbyist for the oil industry and campaigned against emission limitations for greenhouse gases.

Officially, the Bush-Administration states, there is no proven link between global warming and green house gases. Four years ago the USA had resigned from the international Kyoto Protocol that seeks to minimise gas emissions that lead to global warming.