Sir, – Contrary to the assertion of Jim O’Brien (December 27th) both myself and Gavin Schmidt, the director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, have taken the time to review the piece by Ray Bates published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) that led to your article.
Prof Ray Bates’s original piece is not peer-reviewed, cites long-debunked arguments, is selective in its quotation of prior Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments, and uses experimental results shorn of the caveats on use the originators themselves urge. None of the criticisms therein stand up to scrutiny.
Compare and contrast, if you will, the IPCC process, with its carefully selected domain expert multi-author teams, three rounds of thorough open review, and a final sign-off by all governments in the world.
Your readers should be under no doubt that the evidence for climate change is unequivocal. Climate change is due to us, and our collective actions matter now. The IPCC special report on a 1.5 Celsius change published in October provides a stark warning of the choices before us. That report stands. The challenge before us is how we respond globally, nationally and regionally, at a community level and individually. – Yours, etc,
Prof PETER THORNE
IPCC Coordinating Lead
Author,
Director,
Irish Climate Analysis
and Research Units,
Maynooth University.