Top Scientists Will Review UN Climate Work in Wake of Controversy

A council of the world’s top scientists will review the research and management practices of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate to Change (IPCC) to try to prevent the types of errors that have shaken public confidence in the group in recent months. UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon said the InterAcademy Council — a consortium of the world’s top scientific bodies, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences — will name scientists to take a closer look at the IPCC’s work following revelations of mistakes in its 2007 report, including an unsubstantiated claim that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035. In the furor that followed, critics have used the mistakes to discredit the entire report and climate science in general. The international group of scientists will not dissect the entire IPCC report, said Robert Dijkgraaf, the InterAcademy co-chairman and president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science. Instead, he said, it will help IPCC leaders install better quality control procedures for the future and recommend stricter citation standards before its next report, which is due in 2014. “We are ready to take on the important task of assuring nations around the world that they will receive sound climate advice,” Dijkgraaf said.