Image above: Opening seesion of COP15 Copenhagen Climate summit. From Daily Mail article below.
Compiled by Brad Parsons on 13 December 2009 -
A series of emails from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, released on 20 November 2009. East Anglia Confirmed Emails from the Climate Research Unit - Searchable www.eastangliaemails.com
Scientists Phil Jones admits Earth was getting cooler in 2005 Climate Research Unit email.
http://www.eastangliaemails.com/emails.php?eid=544&filename=1120593115.txt
Copenhagen framework demands huge amounts of spending, but allows Enron-style accounting tricks so that carbon isn't actually reduced.
http://www.georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/12/copenhagen-framework-demands-huge.html
Credentialed journalist Phelim McAleer asks Prof Stephen Schneider from Stanford University about 'Climategate' emails. McAleer is interrupted twice by Prof Schneider's assistant and UN staff and then told to stop filming by an armed UN security guard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUtzMBfDrpI
Two longtime EPA enforcement attorneys who have publicly criticized a key component of the climate change legislation being considered by Congress.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/12/defying_gag_order_epa_attorneys_speak
Climategate Dominates Copenhagen (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1233839/Copenhagen-climate-summit-Long-way-to-convince-sceptics-admits-Ed-Miliband.html)
The 'climategate' emails that appear to show British researchers manipulating data on global warming may have been leaked to undermine the Copenhagen talks, the Government's chief scientist claimed yesterday.
Professor John Beddington said it was 'an extraordinary coincidence' that the emails - stolen from an University of East Anglia computer server - were published on the eve of the UN summit.
The release of these emails and the way in which it was released on a variety of websites does lead one to wonder whether there's been a sort of conspiracy,' he said.
His comments followed reports that Russia was behind the leaks. In one email, leading climate scientist Professor Phil Jones talked of using a 'trick' to hide inconvenient data.
Professor Beddington told the BBC: 'I think what is absolutely clear is that it is a relatively sophisticated hacking job, that this was not some sort of undergraduate prank.
'I couldn't judge whether it was Russian or any other country. I just don't have the information.'
However, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, told conference delegates that the row would overshadow the Copenhagen talks and belief in climate science.
'The level of confidence is certainly shaken. We believe this scandal is definitely going to affect the nature of what can be fostered (in Copenhagen).
'The size of (economic) sacrifices must be built on a secure foundation of information which we found now is not true,' a Saudi delegate said.
The e-mails, which were stolen from the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia last month, have been seized upon by sceptics as proof that experts are spinning data to prove the theory of rising temperatures.
The scientific community was aghast at the fallout, which fueled many people's doubts about the phenomenon and how much man is responsible.
It has dogged the run-up to the crunch talks in Copenhagen, which started this morning and will last a fortnight.
More than 190 countries are represented at the summit, which will address calls for bigger steps to slash emissions and avert 'catastrophic' environmental damage.
In Britain, a new poll has revealed the level of public doubt over the issue, with 39 per cent believing it is still not certain that global warming is caused by humans.
Another 7 percent do not believe it is happening at all, according to the ICM survey.
Fewer than one in four agreed it was 'the most serious problem posed by man' and one in six said it was 'not a very serious problem'.
Message: An exhibition about global warming outside the summit centre in Copenhagen
Risk: Indian activists perform a street drama during an environmental rally in the Danish capital Ed Miliband admitted today that the e-mail row had been detrimental to the battle to convince people that global warming is a threat and says there is a 'long way to go' to persuade the public.
'There are also people who want to cast doubt on the science therefore it's not surprising that some people are not convinced. Therefore, we have to redouble our efforts, the scientific community has to redouble its efforts to persuade people.
Lord Lawson, the chairman of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, yesterday said Mr Miliband should be 'ashamed' for trying to stifle debate on the issue.
But Mr Miliband hit back, accusing the peer of 'spreading doubt' and insisting the Government could not just to stick its head in the sand.
Stark: Sculptures depict skeletal humans knee-deep in water aims to illustrate the effects of global warming
Sceptical public: One activist blew up a large balloon to show the need for action to cut CO2 emissions The main aim of this week's summit in Copenhagen is to agree to cap global emissions by 2020, to be followed by a legally binding treaty within six months. [Ed note - i.e. a global tax regime.]
Negotiations are due to last a fortnight and will culminate in a meeting attended by dozens of world leaders including Gordon Brown and Barack Obama.
Protest: Climate activist Mohamad Shinaz is submerged in water in a 3m tube outside the summit building
Need for action: Energy Secretary Ed Miliband at a climate change protest in London this weekendChina, India and the U.S. have all put numbers on the table outlining what they may do, indicating there may be momentum towards concerted action.
But campaigners are still not sure there is enough will to accept the scale of the 'solution.'
In Britain, the run-up to the negotiations has been dogged by the leaking of e-mails from the CRU at East Anglia University, which is one of the world's top research bodies.
Critics claimed the leaks proved CRU had manipulated data in a bid to show an increased risk of global warming, which the researchers vehemently deny.
Mr Miliband admitted people could use the row to try and 'sabotage' the Copenhagen talks and that it had damaged the wider debate.
'My answer to it is maximum transparency - let's get the data out there, and that's what the Met Office are going to do.
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