Greenwire: The United Nations will commission an independent group of top scientists to review its climate science panel in the wake of accusations of sloppy work, a U.N. climate spokesman said today.
The announcement comes following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s admission that it made a mistake in one of its 2007 findings that predicted Himalayan glaciers could vanish by 2035. The figure should have been 2350. The error has fueled climate change skepticism.
The independent group will look at the way the IPCC operates and will recommend changes. Part of the review will investigate the IPCC’s use of information from outside peer-reviewed academic journals, since a report from campaign group World Wildlife Fund is blamed for introducing the false statement that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 into the IPCC report. Details of the review will be announced next week.
“Yesterday, it was clear from the member states roughly how they would like this panel to be — fully independent and not appointed by the IPCC, but appointed by an independent group of scientists themselves,” said U.N. Environment Programme spokesman Nick Nuttall. The group will likely complete its review and produce a report by August, he said (David Adam, London Guardian, Feb. 26).
Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal analysis has found that the IPCC sometimes faces institutional bias toward oversimplification because of the panel’s tricky mission of boiling sophisticated science into accessible advice for lawmakers (Ball/Johnson, Wall Street Journal [subscription required], Feb. 26). – DFM