Time for change at discredited IPCC

London – This week sees continuing revelations about how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been less than thorough in checking the scientific basis for its dire warnings about the earth’s climate, or honest in how it reports such findings.

Among the scandals, for example, is one concerning a recent IPCC warning that the glaciers in the Himalayan Mountain range would disappear by 2035, even though it had been told by leading experts that such forecasts were absurd.

The Panel has, not surprisingly, countered these claims, which if left unchecked would undermine the credibility that enables it to pull the strings at the world’s top political tables. The core scientific argument, it insists, remains in tact and – as UK climate secretary Ed Miliband has written in The Observer newspaper – anyone questioning this should effectively get lost.

However, the problem here is not so much to do with the IPCC’s scientific efforts, but rather the way it and other climate change bodies are selectively (mis)using scientific information to confirm their apocalyptic warnings. These forecasts are then used by political leaders, such as Mr Miliband, as the basis for costly global economic, business, environmental and, increasingly, social policies.

To borrow some terminology from the financial community – another all-powerful but somewhat discredited sector – the climate change lobby has dangerously over-leveraged its position and far too much political and financial capital is being invested in its one-eyed approach to global environmental issues.

The time has come to curb the power of the climate bandwagon by providing seats at the IPCC for more respected scientists and engineers – including leading figures in the process engineering industries – that can offer fresh perspectives on how to minimise the impact of human and industrial activity on the environment and ensure the most efficient use of the earth’s resources.