Did “Climategate” Undermine any of the Findings of Climate Change Science?


In November 2009, more than 1, 000 emails belonging to the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom were disclosed without authorization by an unknown party. The contents of a relatively small number of the email messages became the basis for the controversy commonly known as “Climategate.” The scientists involved were cleared of any scientific misconduct by six independent investigations in the U.K. and the United States.

From these investigations, we learned that there is no evidence of scientific misconduct by any of the scientists, and more importantly, nothing emerged from the investigations that alters our understanding of the science. Although a small percentage of the emails were impolite and some expressed animosity toward climate change skeptics, accusations of misconduct levied against the authors of the emails lacked merit. Moreover, the scientific data referenced in the emails are not essential to our understanding of climate change, and those data that are essential were not involved in the controversy.

After a full airing of this matter, it remains clear that the scientific consensus on climate change, as stated by the IPCC, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and virtually every relevant American scientific society, remains unaltered.

Source: Center for Climate and Energy Solutions

