I don't know about your industry but the abiding memory i have from before the financial crisis of 2009 was of economists fanning the property bubble with the mantra ' the fundamental are sound' and how the worst scanario would be a "soft landing"
When people wave around the conclusions of scientific papers as proof that some political action is required which is going to impact the lives of millions of people, you need to seriously take the papers with a grain of salt.
I don't really know any way to get around it. Any time you're studying the impact of human collective activity the stakes are far too high to trust that anyone is taking a disinterested view of reality.
If you'd like to read about it, the best contemporaneous piece I've read on it is "All the Devils Are Here" - https://www.amazon.com/All-Devils-Are-Here-Financial/dp/1591...