IPCC Breaks Its Own Rules, Pushes For Policy Action

ipcc multi-day meeting

Another day, another ‘new’ climate report. This one is something about oceans and ice. There’s nothing new in this report (see commentary from Roger Pielke herehere and here) so what’s the point?

The answer is, of course, that the constant stream of climate reports is an attempt to keep the climate scare at the top of the news.

So it’s amusing that the IPCC failed on this occasion, thanks to the big news stories of Bumbling Boris being forced to come back to Parliament, and the attempt to impeach Donald Trump.

Even the BBC, which would normally be expected to make an IPCC report the top news story, only had a short half-hearted piece way down the order on the Ten O’clock News, with David Shukman going to Hull to worry about sea-level rise.

But what I noticed with today’s report was this, from the IPCC’s co-chair, Valerie Masson-Delmotte:

The full final paragraph of the approved SPM is as follows:

This assessment of the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate reveals the benefits of ambitious mitigation and effective adaptation for sustainable development and, conversely, the escalating costs and risks of delayed action. The potential to chart Climate Resilient Development Pathways varies within and among ocean, high mountain and polar land regions. Realising this potential depends on transformative change. This highlights the urgency of prioritising timely, ambitious, coordinated and enduring action. (very high confidence)

This struck me as odd, since, as any fool knows, the IPCC reports are supposed to be policy-neutral.

The two-page document on the Principles Governing IPCC Work states that:

IPCC reports should be neutral with respect to policy.

So either the IPCC is unaware of its own guiding principles, or it has quietly decided to abandon them. I’ve asked Masson-Delmotte and the official IPCC twitter account what’s going on here.

Needless to say, they haven’t replied.

Another piece of breaking news that is embarrassing for ocean alarmists is that a notorious “It’s worse than we thought” paper in Nature has been retracted today. Congratulations to Nic Lewis who repeatedly pointed out errors in the paper.

Read more at CliScep


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Comments (2)

  • Avatar

    Robert Beatty

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    It is hard to estimate how much damage the IPCC has done to world economics, and by extension to the social wealth of all populations. We have witnessed a general failure of leadership at top, middle, and lower levels of government, as well at the corporate level. Only now are we starting to see significant push back in the US, Great Britain, Australia, and maybe Canada. Perhaps our infatuation with the boogie boogie men at the UN is nearly over.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    tom0mason

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    “This highlights the urgency of prioritising timely, ambitious, coordinated and enduring action. (very high confidence)” Therefore the time is right all freedom loving Westernized nations to abandon the UN and form their own ‘Commonwealth for Democracy, Freedom, and Peaceful Trading’.

    Reply

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