Scafetta has argued, "At least 60% of the warming of the Earth observed since 1970 appears to be induced by natural cycles which are present in the solar system," instead claiming that climate is modulated by astronomical oscillations. Scafetta's climate model is based primarily on a comparison of periodic changes of
global surface temperature and the Sun's periodic movement around
barycenter of the Solar System, as well as solar, lunar, and planetary cycles. In 2009, Scafetta faced criticism for failing to disclose the computer code required to reproduce his research. Scafetta responded by saying that the code in question had been submitted to a scientific journal and that if "the journal takes its time to publish it, it is not our fault." In 2020, Scafetta proposed a 60-year cycle in the amount of interplanetary dust entering Earth's atmosphere, modulated by variations in the orbit of Jupiter's eccentricity, as causing variations in the relative abundance of cloud cover and thus being a driver of climate change by affecting variations in albedo. In 2022, Scafetta wrote a paper claiming that equilibrium climate sensitivity was significantly lower than what Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (phase 6) (CMIP6) predict. ==Selected publications==