U.N. and U.K. Climate Science Reviews Proceed

In the wake of controversies surrounding the IPCC’s published conclusions as well as some of its authors’ scientific processes, the U.N. has arranged for a review of IPCC’s procedures and management.

The InterAcademy Council, an independent body representing scientific organizations worldwide, will review the IPCC, with results to be delivered by August.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he has not yet seen any “credible evidence that challenges the main conclusions of [IPCC’s] report.”

The IPCC has expressed “regret” over inaccuracies in its 2007 report on global climate change, in particular an unsubstantiated claim that the Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035. Its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, has said the independent review is needed to restore public confidence in IPCC’s work and findings.

Meanwhile, British lawmakers investigating the leaked emails of the head of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) concluded that they found nothing that would challenge the “scientific consensus” that global warming is both taking place and that it is a direct result of human activities.

They did, however, criticize the university’s mishandling of requests for climate change data under British freedom-of-information rules when it deliberately tried to prevent climate change skeptics from accessing data. Two more investigations of the university are underway, into allegations of malpractice as well as into the CRU’s scientific publications.

Phil Willis, chairman of the House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee, noted that because governments worldwide would be spending substantial amounts of money on climate change measures, "The quality of the science therefore has to be irreproachable."

Return to April 2010 Western Energy News

To sponsor Western Energy News, please contact WEI at 503 231-1994.