7 July 2010 | News | Climate Justice and Energy
We are to blame
New report backs scientists who warn about dangers of climate crisis
Download: MP3 (2.1 Mb)
The British scientists accused of manipulating data and eliminating information to back their theory that climate change is caused by human activity, have carried out a rigorous and honest work, says an investigative commission that analyzed the case for six months.
The panel, chaired by Scottish expert Muir Russel, confirmed the professional merit of the scientists of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit in England. However, it considered that the experts were not open enough, and that they had a defensive attitude when it came to respond the legitimate requests for information made under the freedom of information act.
The scandal unfolded in November of last year when someone hacked the information system of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit and accessed emails from the past 13 years, which were later published online.
The skeptics, who deny that climate change is a man-made crisis, argued that the emails revealed that the British scientists were distorting data and concealing information to claim that human activity causes global warming.
Some alleged that the emails put to question the warnings on the climate crisis made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The research team led by Muir Russell was the third one to define that there is neither evidence of scientific malpractice, nor of an attempt to distort the facts to back the point of view that man-made carbon dioxide emissions have caused climate change.
In April, a report carried out by another renowned British expert, Ronald Oxburgh, commissioned by the University of East Anglia, approved the methods of the Climatic Research Unit. Reuters reported that Oxburgh said “We saw no evidence of deliberate scientific malpractice. Instead, we found a small group of dedicated, yet slightly disorganized researchers”.
In May, a commission of the British Parliament acquitted the scientists, though it criticized their handling of the request for data made under the freedom of information act.
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s Executive Director Andy Atkins said:
“By confirming the integrity of the climate scientists this report shows we cannot afford to ignore expert warnings on the risks of climate change.” “The vast majority of climate scientists agree that man-made climate change is happening”.
Atkins said that reducing our growing dependency on fossil fuels by investing in green power and slashing energy waste will also boost the economy by strengthening our energy security and create new jobs and business opportunities.
He concluded “It’s time to see through the dangerous smokescreen of climate skepticism and get on with the urgent task of building a clean, safe and low-carbon future.”
