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Governments asked Ban Ki-moon and IPCC for external review

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Chair Rajendra Pachauri have asked the InterAcademy Council (IAC), a group of the world’s leading science academies, to review the scientific procedures of the Geneva-based IPCC. IPCC was created in 1986 but came into the limelight in 2007 when it won the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with former US Vice-president Al Gore for work on climate change. The group has come under pressure since the news surfaced in recent months that its 2007 report on climate change contained scientific errors which were not caught in the approvals and editing process.

The two men asked for the review after IPCC member governments requested it.

In a statement issued as part of a press conference in New York to announce the review, the IPCC and the Ban’s office stated that:

“The review will examine every aspect of how the IPCC’s reports are prepared, including the use of non-peer reviewed literature and the reflection of diverse viewpoints. The review will also examine institutional aspects, including management functions as well as the panel’s procedures for communicating its findings with the public.”

The review will be led by IAC co-chairs Robbert Dijkgraaf, president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, and Lu Yongxiang, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and will follow IAC procedures for expert studies. The experts who take part do so on a pro bono basis and are not paid for their work.

IPCC’s next (fifth) major assessment of global climate change is due to be published in 2013-2014 and the review’s mandate is to “help guide the processes and procedures of the IPCC’s fifth report and future assessments of climate science,” the IAC notes.

Terms of reference for the independent review of the IPCC’s work, 10 March 2010 (pdf)