He was professor and head of the School of Earth Sciences at James Cook University in Australia from 1981 to 1998,[1][2] and was prominent in promoting anthropogenic climate change denial.

[19][20] He was on the research committee of the Institute of Public Affairs, an Australian free-market think tank which promotes climate change denial,[3] and connected with its subsidiary think-tanks.

[4] In April 2006, he argued against climate change being "man-made" by asserting that the global average temperature "had stopped" for the eight years since 1998, while the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased.

[21] Chris Mooney refers to this article as an early example of statistically misleading use of the short period from the exceptionally strong El Niño year of 1998 which had set a temperature record.

[27] In 2007, Wendy Frew, an environmental reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald, stated Carter "appears to have little standing in the Australian climate science community.

[35][36] In 2012, documents acquired from The Heartland Institute think tank revealed that Carter was paid a monthly fee of US$1,667 "as part of a program to pay 'high-profile individuals who regularly and publicly counter the alarmist [anthropogenic global warming] message'.