Pachauri Defends UN Climate Science After Leaked E-Mail Flap

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Rajendra Pachauri, the top United Nations climate-change scientist, said the panel he heads is “transparent and objective,” dismissing allegations by global- warming skeptics that UN data were manipulated.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in 2007 that global warming is “unequivocal” and rising human greenhouse-gas emissions were “very likely” the main cause.

E-mails stolen from computer servers of the University of East Anglia in England and posted worldwide on blogs show climate researchers discussed keeping some scientific papers out of the IPCC’s report, which has formed the basis for two years of UN-led climate-treaty talks among 192 nations.

The university has said the e-mails were taken out of context and that allegations about manipulation are unfounded.

Speaking today during the opening session of the global summit in Copenhagen that aims to devise a deal to fight climate change, Pachauri said he had confidence in his panel’s work.

The IPCC’s report is “based on measurements made by many independent institutions worldwide that demonstrate significant changes on land, in the atmosphere, the oceans and in the ice- covered areas of the earth,” he said. The study was subject to “extensive and repeated review by experts as well as governments,” with 2,500 expert reviewers, Pachauri said.

Skeptics of man’s contribution to global warming, including former Senate Environment and Public Works Committee staff member Marc Morano, have cited the e-mails as evidence of a conspiracy to manipulate findings about climate change. U.S. Senator James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, has called for hearings to determine if taxpayer-funded research was altered.

In one of the e-mails, Phil Jones, professor of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, talks about working to keep some scientific papers out of consideration for inclusion in the IPCC report, “even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is.” Jones has since stepped down from his role pending the outcome of an investigation.

“The internal consistency from the multiple lines of evidence strongly supports the work of the scientific community, including those individuals singled out in these e-mail exchanges,” Pachauri, 69, said.

The IPCC assessment process “is designed to ensure consideration of all relevant scientific information from established journals with robust peer-review processes,” Pachauri said. “There is full opportunity for experts in the field to draw attention to any piece of published literature.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in Copenhagen via amorales2@bloomberg.netKim Chipman in Copenhagen at KChipman@bloomberg.net