As IPCC stumbles, sceptics gain ground

Unhappy with the errors in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, a campaign by climate sceptics forced the United Nations on Thursday to announce an independent review of the panel’s work.

Updated on: Mar 12, 2010, 02:08:29 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Unhappy with the errors in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, a campaign by climate sceptics forced the United Nations on Thursday to announce an independent review of the panel’s work.

“I am offended that science is being perverted in the name of global warming — today’s environmental cause celebre,” Ralph B. Alexander, a PhD in physical from Oxford University and a climate sceptic, said.

Climate sceptics gained support since the climate-gate — a scandal accusing IPCC scientists at the University of East Anglia of using non-consensus data to claim the global temperature was increasing — broke out.

The IPCC has admitted only one mistake — that most Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 — while the British newspapers have reported three other instances.

Alexander admitted that the report contains “accurate and useful information” in places but its work has been hijacked by climate advocates.

IPCC chief R.K. Pachauri termed this campaign as “canard of lies” but the sceptics have gained support in the West.

Opinion polls in UK show that since November 2009, when the controversy started, more people believe climate change is not human-induced. In November 2009, 41 per cent people in UK believed that climate change was man-made but by February the number fell to 26 per cent, a BBC survey said.

David Atom, environment correspondent with The Guardian, admitted that climate scepticism has increased with “people on streets” now questioning validity of climate science.

The IPCC’s problems stem from its mission to simplify scientific data to make it suitable for policy makers. “It is very much an advocacy group that’s couched in a role of science,” Roger Pielke, a political scientist with University of Colorado, told a news website.

But, in India, climate scientists such as G.N. Goswami, director of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, are not disillusioned with the IPCC errors. “We have data to show that our weather is changing at a very fast pace and we need to act”.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.