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Iceberg seen out the window of NASA's DC-8 research Aircraft above the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica. (Photo:NASA/Jane Peterson)
The UN’s climate science body needs “fundamental” reforms, including a shorter term for its chairperson, an international review has concluded. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has faced mounting pressure over errors in its last major assessment of climate science in 2007. The review commends the IPCC on the way it carried out previous assessments. But the report recommends changes to the way the body is run and the way science is presented. Katy Clark reports. (flickr image: NASA)Download MP3
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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. “Fundamental change” and “stronger leadership” are needed to improve the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That’s according to a group of leading scientists. They presented those recommendations today to the climate change panel. The UN had commissioned the study after the IPCC was hit with a wave of criticism for mistakes in its most recent climate assessment. The World’s Katy Clark has more on today’s recommendations.
KATY CLARK: The man who headed up the review was Princeton University Professor Harold Shapiro. In unveiling the findings today in New York, Shapiro offered a healthy dose of praise for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC.
HAROLD SHAPIRO: Overall in our judgment, IPCC’s assessment process has been a success, and served society well. The assessments have put IPCC on the world stage, raised public awareness of climate change, and driven policy-makers to consider options for responding to climate change.
CLARK: Shapiro said these were among the reasons the IPCC was awarded a share of the Nobel Prize in 2007. That’s the year the panel issued its controversial report. Still, in order to ensure the group’s continued success, Shapiro said fundamental changes must be made. Those changes include limiting the terms of the IPCC chairman, and creating an executive committee. Shapiro said stronger enforcement of existing IPCC review procedure is also needed to minimize the number of errors appearing in future reports.
SHAPIRO: At the same time we made some recommendations for streamlining the review process to somewhat ease the burden on authors, given the sheer number of reviews. There were 90,000 review comments on the last draft assessment for example.
CLARK: The reviewers referred to some errors earlier this year which involved the time-scale of the possible melting of the Himalayan glaciers. When the international review was announced this past March, the chairman of the IPCC, R.K. Pachauri, said he was eager to see what the panel found. Today he said he was pleased with the results.
R.K. PACHAURI: Our credibility had been challenged, and we realized from the outset that only an exhaustive, impartial and independent review would be acceptable. We were prepared to accept whatever results were forthcoming.
CLARK: Pachauri didn’t say whether that would include him tending his resignation. Rather, he said he’d abide by any decision the IPCC made. Joseph Romm runs the blog, ClimateProgress.org for The Center for American Progress. He praised the review’s findings. But Romm worries the reviewers may have missed an opportunity.
JOSEPH ROMM: In last three years since the IPCC report was issued, the science has become considerably more dire about how fast climate is changing and what the dangers are if we don’t take action soon. So my concern is that this report will by focusing on frankly an out of date report from a few years ago will not advance the message to the public that we urgently need to take action now.
CLARK: That said, Romm is hopeful that once it’s made the proposed changes, the IPCC will gain renewed credibility and eliminate lingering skepticism about climate change. For The World, this is Katy Clark.
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