U.N. to Set Up Blue Ribbon Panel to Review IPCC Climate Findings

The United Nations has selected the InterAcademy Council to review the work of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to determine if the results were flawed, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The study, due to be unveiled in August, is a reality check on a report that led to a Nobel Peace Prize, but has most recently led to controversy when the analysis was deemed faulty.

Robbert H. Dijkgraaf, co-chair of the InterAcademy Council, told the Journal that a particularly delicate task will be to pick who participates in the review. Wrote the newspaper: "The council needs people who have knowledge of climate science but aren't too close to the IPCC." Dijkgraaf was quoted as saying: "Clearly you cannot be the reviewer and the reviewed at the same time." But people involved in previous IPCC reports could serve on the review committee, he said.

Yesterday, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., called for the resignation of IPPC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri, on the basis of his role in overseeing the work. The Washington Post today reported that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: "Let me be clear: The threat posed by climate change is real. Nothing that has been alleged or revealed in the media recently alters the fundamental scientific consensus on climate change, nor does it diminish the unique importance of the IPCC work." Sen. James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., said: "This is only half the battle. A legitimate inquiry must look back and examine the science in the assessment reports, and not just the mistakes that have been uncovered thus far."

The New York Times described Dijkgraaf as a Dutch physicist and mathematician. It said the study would be financed by the United Nations but will operate wholly independently. He was quoted by the Times as saying: "Our job is to ensure quality of IPCC reports in the future. We enter this process with no preconceived conclusions."