Climate researchers mostly have tenure. They cannot be fired for going against majority opinion. And in most countries except the US, they do not rely on outsid

Climate researchers mostly have tenure. They cannot be fired for going against majority opinion. And in most countries except the US, they do not rely on outside funding to any significant degree. So participating in a giant fraud would actually be the most dangerous option for them, financially. Instead, they could expose it and, if convincing, would at the very least make a lot of money on book deals and the lecture circuit. Maybe even a Nobel. Alternatively, they could switch their focus. With a solid foundation in physics, dynamic systems, etc. there are any number of topics they could easily work on.