Probe clears scientists over climate e-mail leaks
Source: Agencies |
July 8, 2010, Thursday
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AN independent report into the leak of hundreds of e-mails from one of the world's leading climate research centers yesterday largely vindicated the scientists involved, saying they acted honestly and that their research was reliable.
But the panel of inquiry, led by former United Kingdom civil servant Muir Russell, did chide scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit for failing to share their data with critics.
"We find that their rigor and honesty as scientists are not in doubt," Russell said. "But we do find that there has been a consistent pattern of failing to display the proper degree of openness."
Russell's inquiry is the third major investigation into the theft and dissemination of more than 1,000 e-mails taken from a back-up server at the university.
They caused a sensation when they were published online in November: They captured researchers speaking in scathing terms about their critics, discussing ways to stonewall skeptics of man-made climate change, and talking about how to freeze opponents out of peer-reviewed journals.
The ensuing scandal energized skeptics and destabilized the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen. The research center's chief, Phil Jones, quit while Russell, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow in Scotland, was brought in to investigate.
Russell's carefully worded report said there was no evidence Jones had destroyed evidence that he knew critics were seeking under the Freedom of Information Act. But it did say he had pushed colleagues to delete e-mails that he thought might provide ammunition to skeptics.
But the panel of inquiry, led by former United Kingdom civil servant Muir Russell, did chide scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit for failing to share their data with critics.
"We find that their rigor and honesty as scientists are not in doubt," Russell said. "But we do find that there has been a consistent pattern of failing to display the proper degree of openness."
Russell's inquiry is the third major investigation into the theft and dissemination of more than 1,000 e-mails taken from a back-up server at the university.
They caused a sensation when they were published online in November: They captured researchers speaking in scathing terms about their critics, discussing ways to stonewall skeptics of man-made climate change, and talking about how to freeze opponents out of peer-reviewed journals.
The ensuing scandal energized skeptics and destabilized the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen. The research center's chief, Phil Jones, quit while Russell, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow in Scotland, was brought in to investigate.
Russell's carefully worded report said there was no evidence Jones had destroyed evidence that he knew critics were seeking under the Freedom of Information Act. But it did say he had pushed colleagues to delete e-mails that he thought might provide ammunition to skeptics.
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