BBC - Richard Black's Earth Watch on the forthcoming review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Will it be more widely trusted? It's possible to divide published opinions on the issue into three broad categories: those who are only concerned with getting the message across that man-made climate change is an over-riding threat requiring urgent action, those who are concerned about the issue but are more concerned by what they see as lack of rigour and transparency within the IPCC, and those who are convinced that global warming is a fraud anyway and the IPCC one of the lead swindlers.... ...how independent the scientists on the Inter-Academy Council's review panel will be from the scientists who contributed work to the IPCC in the first place. There's also the wider...

UN to review errors made by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Times Online The United Nations is to announce an independent review of errors made by its climate change advisory body in an attempt to restore its credibility. That must be a use of the word "independent" that I'm not familiar with as its stated aim is to provide a PR...

Another error in the influential reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports has been identified. This one concerns the rate of expansion of sea ice around Antarctica... was brought to the IPCC Chapter 4 authors’ attention by several IPCC commenters. And not corrected. Three times the IPCC was warned that the obviously, blatantly idiotic global warming wildfire claims in the 3000 page AR4 report were actually idiotic. Three times the warnings were ignored. That is two reports just this morning showing how the final IPCC report ignores inconvenient...

Climate scientists have delivered a powerful riposte to their sceptical critics with a study that strengthens the case for saying global warming is largely the result of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. The researchers found that no other possible natural phenomenon, such as volcanic eruptions or variations in the activity of the Sun, could explain the significant warming of the planet over the past half century as recorded on every continent including Antarctica. It is only when the warming effect of emitting millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from human activity is considered that it is possible to explain why global average temperatures have risen so significantly since the middle of the 20th century. The study updates a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental...

If opinion polls are right, fewer people "believe" in climate change now than a few months ago, prior to the leak of emails from the University of East Anglia and the emergence of embarrassing errors in one of the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The science of global warming, it seems, has taken a severe hit in terms of the public's credulity.So says The Independent leader. It then goes on:Yet as the latest scientific research makes clear, the evidence is, if anything, stronger than it ever was about the role of humans in the observable increase in global temperatures seen over the past half-century. For scientists it is not a question of "belief", it is a question of observable fact and reasonable inference based on a wealth of scientific data. The latest study...

Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings. The study, published in 2009 in Nature Geoscience, one of the top journals in its field, confirmed the conclusions of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It used data over the last 22,000 years to predict that sea level would rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century. At the time, Mark Siddall, from the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Bristol, said the study “strengthens the confidence with which one may interpret the IPCC results“. The IPCC said that sea level would probably rise by 18cm-59cm by 2100, though stressed this was based on incomplete information...

The resignation of Philip Campbell, editor-in-chief of Nature, from the Muir Russell/CRU inquiry – after he had been outed for offering favourable comments about the researchers' actions – has elicited interesting comments from Channel 4 News:The revelation, it says, is evidence of the well-organised and highly-motivated campaign by climate change sceptics that has already used the emails leaked from University of East Anglia to make allegations about the validity of climate change science.The report continues: "They have also been swift to attack errors in the influential United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) report on the science of climate change, published in 2007."Now let's see. The IPCC report was published in 2007 ... and it is now 2010. That's...

"The global-warming thrill ride looks to be coming to an end, undone by the same politically motivated serial exaggeration and moral preening that discredited previous apocalypses. On the heels of the East Anglia University "Climategate" scandal have come a series of embarrassing retractions from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regarding some of the most loudly trumpeted signs and wonders of global warming, such as the ludicrous claim that Himalayan glaciers would disappear within 30 years, that nearly half of the Amazon jungle was at imminent risk of destruction from a warming planet, and that there was a clear linkage between climate change and weather-related economic losses. The sources for these claims turned out to be environmental advocacy groups — not...

Scotland Yard commander Ali Dizaei, who falsely arrested a man, has been sentenced to four years in jail for misconduct and attempting to pervert course of justice. We hear the original emergency 999 calls and crime correspondent Vikram Dodd explains why this isn't the first time Dizaei has been in trouble with the law.Scientists have found that spring in the UK is arriving 11 days earlier than usual. Dr Stephen Thackeray tells us how this fits in to climate change.Environment correspondent David Adam reveals more infighting between climate scientists. This centres on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and false claims made about melting glaciers.A bus driver in Scotland had that sinking feeling after a new amphibious coach is grounded because of a fault with floatation system....

Experts who worked on the IPCC report say the error by social and biological scientists has unfairly maligned their workClimate scientists who worked on the UN panel on global warming have hit out at "sloppy" colleagues from other disciplines who introduced a mistake about melting glaciers into the landmark 2007 report.The experts, who worked on the section of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that considered the physical science of global warming, say the error by "social and biological scientists" has unfairly maligned their work. Some said that Rajendra Pachauri, the panel's chair, should resign, though others supported him.The IPCC report combined the output from three independent working groups, which separately considered the science, impacts and human...

6 February 2010 – The great weight of science still supports the findings in a landmark 2007 report from a United Nations-backed panel of experts that global warming is man-made, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said today following recent attacks from climate change sceptics over a mistake in the assessment.  Defending the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) against criticism for a mistake made in its 2007 report over the rate at which the Himalayan glaciers would melt, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said that the panel has drawn upon the expertise of thousands of the best scientific minds for some 22 years. More:......

In trying to avert dangerous climate change, governments are aiming for something extraordinary. They want to transform the global economy because of a hypothesis for which the evidence is mostly inaccessible to the layman. It is the biggest pre-emption in history, and it relies on collective trust in science. That is why recent controversies around misreported evidence and exclusion of dissent at the University of East Anglia and the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change are so important. The worst allegations relate to the suppression of information – deleting emails, ignoring inconvenient data – in order to make aspects of the case for climate change tidier. The cover-up is the most toxic part in any scandal. The broad outline of the scientific case is unchanged, but...

In 2002, the world’s governments made a commitment to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Although it is hard to measure how much biodiversity we have, we do know these targets have not been met. Our ecological footprint - what we take out of the planet - is now 1.3 times the biological capacity of the Earth. In the words of Professor Bob Watson, Defra’s chief scientific adviser and former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we are in danger of approaching “a point of no return”. So the action we take in the next couple of decades will determine whether the stable environment on which human civilisation has depended since the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago will continue. To do this, we need to widen the nature of...

In all the coverage lately given to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its embattled chairman, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, one rather important part of the story has largely been missed, writes Christopher Booker in his column.This is the way in which, in its obsession with climate change, different branches of the UK Government have in recent years been pouring hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money into a bewildering array of "climate-related" projects, often throwing a veil of mystery over how much is being paid, to whom and why.My "favourite", if that is the right word, is £10,000 spent by DFID on a "workshop on women as 'sacred custodians' of the Earth", to "explore the spiritual, religious and philosophical views concerning women and ecology and the policy...

Via ¡No Pasarán!, this:The Dutch environment minister, Jaqueline Cramer, on Wednesday demanded a thorough investigation into the 2007 report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after a Dutch magazine uncovered it incorrectly states 55 percent of the country lies below sea level. The Dutch national bureau for environmental analysis has taken responsibility for the incorrect figure cited by the IPCC. Only 26 percent of the Netherlands is really below sea level. Now, anyone can make a simple blooper like this, even if it's the sort of howler you would expect any Dutch schoolboy to spot. No, my question is this: did anyone in the Dutch government actually read the fucking report before signing the Netherlands up to slashing their carbon emissions?More to the point, have...

No apology from IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri for glacier fallacy - The Guardian In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said it would be hypocritical to apologise for the false claim that Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035, because he was not personally responsible for that part of the report. .. He said reports of further errors in the IPCC report linked to grey literature were spurious and the result of a "factory" of people "only there to create pinpricks and get attention". ...His salary from the research institute that employs him is fixed in the range of 190,000 rupees (£2,600) a month, he said, while he receives only travel expenses for chairing the IPCC. The average monthly income for...

Rajendra Pachauri fails to get British support over 'unsubstantiated' climate report claims | Environment | guardian.co.uk Rajendra Pachauri, who has faced criticism as chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change following allegations of inaccurate statements in panel reports, suffered a fresh blow last night when he failed to get the backing of the British government. A senior government official reiterated Pachauri's position but stopped short of expressing confidence in him. "The position is that he is the chair and he has indicated that mistakes were made," the climate change official said. "There is no vacancy at this stage, so there is no issue at this stage." That arch "at this stage" and what is left unsaid... for the first time I think he may have to...

"The science of climate change is now well established. This is the result of painstaking work of over two decades carried out by thousands of scientists drawn from across the globe to assess every aspect of climate change for the benefit of humanity. The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was produced in the year 2007, and highlighted, on the basis of careful observations extending over a long period of time, that 'warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level.'"An authored piece by R K Pachauri in The Hindu today. Given recent events, it assumes an almost comic...

Ed Miliband declares war on climate change sceptics The climate secretary, Ed Miliband, last night warned of the danger of a public backlash against the science of global warming in the face of continuing claims that experts have manipulated data. In an exclusive interview with the Observer, Miliband spoke out for the first time about last month's revelations that climate scientists had withheld and covered up information and the apology made by the influential UN climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which admitted it had exaggerated claims about the melting of Himalayan glaciers. The perceived failure of global talks on combating climate change in Copenhagen last month has also been blamed for undermining public support. But in the government's first...

Climate chief was told of false glacier claims before Copenhagen - Times Online The chairman of the leading climate change watchdog was informed that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were false before the Copenhagen summit, The Times has learnt. Rajendra Pachauri was told that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment that the glaciers would disappear by 2035 was wrong, but he waited two months to correct it Dr Pacharui has also been accused of using the error to win grants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Carelessness happens at times: TERI fellow - Global Warming - Environment - Home - The Times of India The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) fellow and climate negotiator Prodipto Ghosh hits back: "If you don't trust scientists, who else will you...

Scientists in stolen e-mail scandal hid climate data - Times Online The university at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails broke the law by refusing to hand over its raw data for public scrutiny. The University of East Anglia breached the Freedom of Information Act by refusing to comply with requests for data concerning claims by its scientists that man-made emissions were causing global warming.... Professor Jones asked a colleague to delete e-mails relating to the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He also told a colleague that he had persuaded the university authorities to ignore information requests under the act from people linked to a website run by climate sceptics. ....The university said: “The way freedom of information...

"Your credibility is impeccable ... Let's hope you fight back and win and clear your name in all these...in this widespread attack from one side against you." (via Liberty New Central, who has one or two things to say about the interviewer, Prannoy Roy.)Meanwhile, Geoffrey Lean resumes his "one-sided attack" in The Daily Telegraph, stating:It is time for the embattled Rajendra Pachauri to resign as Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), He is steadfastly refusing to go, but his position is becoming more and more untenable by the day, and the official climate science body will continue to leach credibility while he remains in charge.Charles Clover takes a similar line in The Sunday Times:If we are to have the best possible predictions about climate change, urgent...

The decline in the world’s biodiversity is approaching a point of no return, warns Hilary Benn. In this week’s Green Room, the UK’s environment secretary urges the international community to seize the chance to act before it is too late.   Much greater concerted effort is needed to stop the plunder of our ecosystems In 2002, the world’s governments made a commitment to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Although it is hard to measure how much biodiversity we have, we do know these targets have not been met. Our ecological footprint - what we take out of the planet - is now 1.3 times the biological capacity of the Earth. In the words of Professor Bob Watson, Defra’s chief scientific adviser and former chairman of the...

Rich and (self-)important personages everywhere insist that it is right and proper for us yokels to doff our caps in their direction at every opportunity. And when some have the temerity to speak out against them, these (self-)important personages seem to have a bit of a strop. And so it is for the tremendous work being done by Richard North at the EU Referendum blog concerning the Chairman of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and his various ways of profiting from the panel's pronouncements and decisions. Dr North would also appear to have upset Dr Pachauri's backers, beneficiaries and former employers, Tata Sons Ltd (or one of their subsidiaries). Spread the word. We...

We noted earlier that the New York Inner City Press had quizzed UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-moon on Dr Pachauri's financial affairs. This was at a packed press conference on the Copenhagen Accord in the UN building, where hundreds of reporters were present. And at least one other picked up the Pachauri story, writing this:The lack of transparency has been an on-going critique throughout the climate negotiations. On Sunday, the Telegraph reported that the head of the UN's climate change panel, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, has made a fortune from his links with 'carbon trading' companies. His worldwide portfolio, which includes banks, oil and energy companies and investment funds heavily involved in "carbon trading" and "sustainable technologies," is estimated soon to be worth trillions of U.S. dollars a...

The New York Inner City Press, which specialises in "Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations" has been on the Pachauri case today.At a UN press conference on the Copenhagen Accord, the newspaper asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "about the scandal erupting around the undisclosed business interests of the chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Rajendra Pachauri, from the Tata Group through Deutsche Bank to Credit Suisse ... ". Mr. Ban, we are told, entirely dodged the question, paradoxically using it as an opportunity to praise business. Pachauri's conflicts of interest are extensive and emblematic of the UN's lack of transparency and safeguards, the paper notes. So, notwithstanding the non-responsive answer, the paper...

President Obama is due to arrive at the UN climate change summit and inject momentum into getting a deal. It comes amid a freshly leaked document and after his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, announced a $100bn climate fund. Rajendra Pachauri, who heads the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), tells us how damaging a 1.5C rise would be for some places on the planet. Congressman Earl Blumenauer from Oregon says Obama and Clinton make a great team and remains optimistic about a deal in Copenhagen. Former executive director of Friends of the Earth Tony Juniper says we've been here before and the issues are no different than they were 17 years ago. We also speak to Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke who tells us what he makes of the talks so far. Also in today's programme,...

Global sea levels could rise by up to 9m in the next few hundred years, even if the world manages to stabilise average temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial levels, according to a new study. In this scenario, hundreds of millions of people around the world would be affected as low low-lying coastal areas became inundated. New Orleans would be lost to the sea, much of southern Florida and Bangladesh and most of the Netherlands. The 2C figure is significant because this is level of warming that is likely to be adopted as the threshold to be avoided by the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen – although small islands states and developing nations have argued that 1.5C would be a more appropriate target. Nine metres of sea level rise is higher than anything predicted so far because the...

Sea levels may rise three times faster than the official predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the global average sea level may increase by as much as 1.9 metres (6ft 3in) by 2100, scientists said yesterday. The new assessment comes just one week after another international scientific body concluded that the IPCC had been too conservative in estimating a maximum of 59 centimetres of sea level rise this century as a result of global warming....

Unable to address the substantive issues – its hacks being quite incapable of research or analysis – the media have launched into reams of speculation about the "Climategate" leaks, all based on the single fact that, at the second or third attempt, the "whistleblower" uploaded the data onto a Russian server (webpage header grab above).The Mail on Sunday, without spending any effort telling its readers what the issue is about, devotes a two-page spread to the most amazing tosh, built on entirely unsupported speculation. It is a classic of its kind.Not to be outdone, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6946281.ece">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6946281.ece" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The Times follows in its wake, with: "UN officials...