Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Climatic Research Unit email controversy" in English language version.
Dr Pachauri told BBC Radio 4's The Report programme that the claims were serious and he wants them investigated. "We will certainly go into the whole lot and then we will take a position on it," he said. "We certainly don't want to brush anything under the carpet. This is a serious issue and we will look into it in detail. [...] Saudi Arabia's lead climate negotiator has said the email row will have a "huge impact" on next week's UN climate summit in Copenhagen. [...] Mohammad Al-Sabban told BBC News that he expects it to derail the single biggest objective of the summit – to agree limitations on greenhouse gas emissions. [...] "It appears from the details of the scandal that there is no relationship whatsoever between human activities and climate change," he told BBC News."
In fact, nothing in the stolen material undermines the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that humans are to blame
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)The story presented here does not attempt to provide an in-depth account of the climategate affair. It is based on a limited number of textual sources (such as Montford 2010; Pearce 2010, blog content, commentary, reports from official inquiries, and a subset of released climate emails). These limitations in the data need to be noted. The paper raises the question of how to assess knowledge production in a highly politicized context. Sources were selected on accessibility criteria with a special emphasis on critical accounts. The aim of the paper is not to adjudicate who was right and who was wrong about the science, but to discuss norms of scientific practice in the light of two theoretical frameworksFootnote 5 cites "Wikipedia entry on 'Climatic Research Unit E-mail Controversy'". Pearce, Fred (2010). The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming. London: Guardian Books. ISBN 978-0-85265-229-9. OCLC 651155245.
Peabody Energy's assertion that Trenberth was implying that the 'science is too uncertain to determine whether GHG reductions will produce a measurable climate response,' is a gross mischaracterization of the meaning and significance of both the quote and Trenberth's position. Trenberth was not implying or questioning the validity of climate models used for attribution and projections. He was identifying a gap in the Earth-observing system, which if filled, would improve our understanding of short-term variations in climate.
In fact, nothing in the stolen material undermines the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that humans are to blame
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)In fact, nothing in the stolen material undermines the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that humans are to blame
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)In fact, nothing in the stolen material undermines the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that humans are to blame
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)The committee's report was not unanimous; Labour MP Graham Stringer voted against several of its recommendations including an amendment by Evan Harris declaring that Dr Jones' scientific reputation remained intact.
We regret that the ICO made a statement to the press that went beyond that which it could substantiate and that it took over a month for the ICO properly to put the record straight. We recommend that the ICO develop procedures to ensure that its public comments are checked and that mechanisms exist to swiftly correct any mis-statements or misinterpretations of such statements.
The story presented here does not attempt to provide an in-depth account of the climategate affair. It is based on a limited number of textual sources (such as Montford 2010; Pearce 2010, blog content, commentary, reports from official inquiries, and a subset of released climate emails). These limitations in the data need to be noted. The paper raises the question of how to assess knowledge production in a highly politicized context. Sources were selected on accessibility criteria with a special emphasis on critical accounts. The aim of the paper is not to adjudicate who was right and who was wrong about the science, but to discuss norms of scientific practice in the light of two theoretical frameworksFootnote 5 cites "Wikipedia entry on 'Climatic Research Unit E-mail Controversy'". Pearce, Fred (2010). The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming. London: Guardian Books. ISBN 978-0-85265-229-9. OCLC 651155245.
said Lord Lawson, Margaret Thatcher's former chancellor who has reinvented himself as a critic of climate change science. "They were talking about destroying various files in order to prevent data being revealed under the Freedom of Information Act and they were trying to prevent other dissenting scientists from having their articles published in learned journals. "It may be that there's an innocent explanation for all this... but there needs to be a fundamental independent inquiry to get at the truth."
Professor Phil Jones, the director of a research unit at the centre of a row over climate change data, has said he will stand down from the post while an independent review takes place.
An anonymous statement accompanying the emails said: "We feel that climate science is too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code, and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it."
In my case, one cherry-picked email quote has gone viral and at last check it was featured in over 107,000 items (in Google). Here is the quote: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't." It is amazing to see this particular quote lambasted so often. It stems from a paper I published this year bemoaning our inability to effectively monitor the energy flows associated with short-term climate variability. It is quite clear from the paper that I was not questioning the link between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and warming, or even suggesting that recent temperatures are unusual in the context of short-term natural variability. The paper on this is available here...
Submitted to the University 12 April 2010, with Addendum to report, 19 April 2010
Data storage availability in the 1980s meant that we were not able to keep the multiple sources for some sites, only the station series after adjustment for homogeneity issues. We, therefore, do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (i.e. quality controlled and homogenized) data.
The theft and use of the emails does reveal something interesting about the social context. It's a symptom of something entirely new in the history of science: Aside from crackpots who complain that a conspiracy is suppressing their personal discoveries, we've never before seen a set of people accuse an entire community of scientists of deliberate deception and other professional malfeasance. Even the tobacco companies never tried to slander legitimate cancer researchers. In blogs, talk radio and other new media, we are told that the warnings about future global warming issued by the national science academies, scientific societies, and governments of all the leading nations are not only mistaken, but based on a hoax, indeed a conspiracy that must involve thousands of respected researchers. Extraordinary and, frankly, weird.
For a few, however, the stolen files were confirmation that the climate establishment was trying to keep them out of the debate. These include the familiar kind of climate sceptics, those who think that the climate isn't changing or that it isn't a crisis. But they also include a handful of researchers who think climate change is happening, but–for various reasons–are sceptical that mainstream science fully understands the phenomenon.
In fact, nothing in the stolen material undermines the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that humans are to blame
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)An anonymous statement accompanying the emails said: "We feel that climate science is too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code, and documents. Hopefully it will give some insight into the science and the people behind it."
In my case, one cherry-picked email quote has gone viral and at last check it was featured in over 107,000 items (in Google). Here is the quote: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't." It is amazing to see this particular quote lambasted so often. It stems from a paper I published this year bemoaning our inability to effectively monitor the energy flows associated with short-term climate variability. It is quite clear from the paper that I was not questioning the link between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and warming, or even suggesting that recent temperatures are unusual in the context of short-term natural variability. The paper on this is available here...
Peabody Energy's assertion that Trenberth was implying that the 'science is too uncertain to determine whether GHG reductions will produce a measurable climate response,' is a gross mischaracterization of the meaning and significance of both the quote and Trenberth's position. Trenberth was not implying or questioning the validity of climate models used for attribution and projections. He was identifying a gap in the Earth-observing system, which if filled, would improve our understanding of short-term variations in climate.
The theft and use of the emails does reveal something interesting about the social context. It's a symptom of something entirely new in the history of science: Aside from crackpots who complain that a conspiracy is suppressing their personal discoveries, we've never before seen a set of people accuse an entire community of scientists of deliberate deception and other professional malfeasance. Even the tobacco companies never tried to slander legitimate cancer researchers. In blogs, talk radio and other new media, we are told that the warnings about future global warming issued by the national science academies, scientific societies, and governments of all the leading nations are not only mistaken, but based on a hoax, indeed a conspiracy that must involve thousands of respected researchers. Extraordinary and, frankly, weird.
For a few, however, the stolen files were confirmation that the climate establishment was trying to keep them out of the debate. These include the familiar kind of climate sceptics, those who think that the climate isn't changing or that it isn't a crisis. But they also include a handful of researchers who think climate change is happening, but–for various reasons–are sceptical that mainstream science fully understands the phenomenon.
The emails include discussions of apparent efforts to make sure that reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that monitors climate science, include their own views and exclude others. In addition, emails show that climate scientists declined to make their data available to scientists whose views they disagreed with.
said Lord Lawson, Margaret Thatcher's former chancellor who has reinvented himself as a critic of climate change science. "They were talking about destroying various files in order to prevent data being revealed under the Freedom of Information Act and they were trying to prevent other dissenting scientists from having their articles published in learned journals. "It may be that there's an innocent explanation for all this... but there needs to be a fundamental independent inquiry to get at the truth."
Professor Phil Jones, the director of a research unit at the centre of a row over climate change data, has said he will stand down from the post while an independent review takes place.
Submitted to the University 12 April 2010, with Addendum to report, 19 April 2010
Dr Pachauri told BBC Radio 4's The Report programme that the claims were serious and he wants them investigated. "We will certainly go into the whole lot and then we will take a position on it," he said. "We certainly don't want to brush anything under the carpet. This is a serious issue and we will look into it in detail. [...] Saudi Arabia's lead climate negotiator has said the email row will have a "huge impact" on next week's UN climate summit in Copenhagen. [...] Mohammad Al-Sabban told BBC News that he expects it to derail the single biggest objective of the summit – to agree limitations on greenhouse gas emissions. [...] "It appears from the details of the scandal that there is no relationship whatsoever between human activities and climate change," he told BBC News."
The story presented here does not attempt to provide an in-depth account of the climategate affair. It is based on a limited number of textual sources (such as Montford 2010; Pearce 2010, blog content, commentary, reports from official inquiries, and a subset of released climate emails). These limitations in the data need to be noted. The paper raises the question of how to assess knowledge production in a highly politicized context. Sources were selected on accessibility criteria with a special emphasis on critical accounts. The aim of the paper is not to adjudicate who was right and who was wrong about the science, but to discuss norms of scientific practice in the light of two theoretical frameworksFootnote 5 cites "Wikipedia entry on 'Climatic Research Unit E-mail Controversy'". Pearce, Fred (2010). The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming. London: Guardian Books. ISBN 978-0-85265-229-9. OCLC 651155245.
The committee's report was not unanimous; Labour MP Graham Stringer voted against several of its recommendations including an amendment by Evan Harris declaring that Dr Jones' scientific reputation remained intact.
We regret that the ICO made a statement to the press that went beyond that which it could substantiate and that it took over a month for the ICO properly to put the record straight. We recommend that the ICO develop procedures to ensure that its public comments are checked and that mechanisms exist to swiftly correct any mis-statements or misinterpretations of such statements.
Data storage availability in the 1980s meant that we were not able to keep the multiple sources for some sites, only the station series after adjustment for homogeneity issues. We, therefore, do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (i.e. quality controlled and homogenized) data.
The story presented here does not attempt to provide an in-depth account of the climategate affair. It is based on a limited number of textual sources (such as Montford 2010; Pearce 2010, blog content, commentary, reports from official inquiries, and a subset of released climate emails). These limitations in the data need to be noted. The paper raises the question of how to assess knowledge production in a highly politicized context. Sources were selected on accessibility criteria with a special emphasis on critical accounts. The aim of the paper is not to adjudicate who was right and who was wrong about the science, but to discuss norms of scientific practice in the light of two theoretical frameworksFootnote 5 cites "Wikipedia entry on 'Climatic Research Unit E-mail Controversy'". Pearce, Fred (2010). The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming. London: Guardian Books. ISBN 978-0-85265-229-9. OCLC 651155245.
The emails include discussions of apparent efforts to make sure that reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that monitors climate science, include their own views and exclude others. In addition, emails show that climate scientists declined to make their data available to scientists whose views they disagreed with.