U.N. to Investigate Climate E-Mail Controversy

The apparently deliberately timed release of leaked e-mails stolen from climate scientists at the University of East Anglia has created problems for the global warming cause just as world leaders are preparing to convene at the Copenhagen climate change summit, and now the United Nations is launching its own investigation into the incident. –KA

AP via Google News:

E-mails stolen from the climate unit at the University of East Anglia appeared to show some of world’s leading scientists discussing ways to shield data from public scrutiny and suppress others’ work. Those who deny the influence of man-made climate change have seized on the correspondence to argue that scientists have been conspiring to hide evidence about global warming.

In an interview with the BBC, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, said the issue raised by the e-mails was serious and said “we will look into it in detail.”

“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.”

The University of East Anglia has defended the integrity of the science published by the climate unit and its researchers, but on Thursday said it would investigate whether some of the data had been fudged. Phil Jones, the director of the unit, stepped down earlier in the week pending the result of the investigation.

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