Sir, – Gareth Keeley (November 21st) attempts to use Deirdre De Burca’s recent criticism of the Government’s procrastination on its climate change legislation commitments to showcase his own sceptical views on climate change. In these, he rehashes now discredited arguments and misrepresents the scientific objectivity he purports to profess. The reality is that there is no significant body of opinion in respected atmospheric science which denies the role of human interference in the climate system. Eight hundred of the world’s top climate scientists are currently synthesising the scientific literature on this topic in preparation for the Fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report.
Ever since the first of these in 1990, the role played by anthropogenic greenhouse gas loading of the atmosphere has been increasingly stressed by the IPCC. Most recently this authoritative body has stated that “Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic GHG concentrations”.
Such a conclusion has been signed off on by 194 governments around the world, including the Irish Government, which has signed off on every line of every assessment report issued by the IPCC since 1990. Only last week the IPCC finalised part of a Special Report on Extremes which found that changes in some weather and climate extremes were now being driven by human activities. Such conclusions are arrived at through a transparent process of exhaustive peer review. Its 220 authors carefully considered 18,784 comments submitted by both climate scientists and government representatives in reaching a raft of key conclusions on the role of anthropogenic influences on climate extremes.
In the use of such phrases as “climate-change alarmists”, “global warming is an issue for the contented middle classes” and the “climate change lobby” Gareth Keeley uses the lexicon of the sceptics and denialists.
This is not indicative of a scientist who has examined the evidence objectively, but rather the emotive response typical of a now discredited and disgruntled group. There is no “climate change lobby”, merely widespread concern that time is running out for all nations to act decisively.
Ms De Burca is correct in her observations that Ireland’s procrastination is to be deplored. It is regrettable that Ireland will not be able to go to the Durban conference next week as a progressive small country punching above its weight. Rather it will go as one of the highest per capita greenhouse gas polluters in the world, committed to using large amounts of taxpayers’ money to buy emission quotas abroad to meet its international obligations rather than tackle the problem head on at home. – Yours, etc,