UK Panel Largely Vindicates Climate Scientists Over E-Mail Controversy

British investigators say there is no evidence that climate scientists involved in the so-called “Climategate” controversy manipulated data or undermined the peer review process. While the House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee criticized scientists at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit for a “blunt refusal to share data,” it concluded that the reputation of the unit and its director, Phil Jones, “remains intact.” The panel conducted the investigation after more than 1,000 emails between Jones and his colleagues were leaked online in December, stoking a furor over climate research and undermining public confidence in the science of global warming in the days leading up to international climate talks in Copenhagen. Some critics said the e-mails revealed evidence of a conspiracy to silence dissenting views in the climate debate. But Phil Willis, chairman of the House of Commons committee, told reporters that the controversy would ultimately help the case for global warming because it will force climate scientists to be more open with their data. “The winner in the end will be climate science itself,” he said. Two other investigations of the controversy are ongoing.