Senate Republicans release new report on IPCC scenarios

by William Yeatman on September 14, 2004

in Politics


A new report from the Senate Republican Policy Committee looks at the poor state of economic analysis in current projections of global temperatures.  The document, Scientists Set Off Wrong Alarm Bells with Global Warming Conclusions, examines the criticisms of Ian Castles and David Henderson and the reactions to the criticisms.



Castles and Henderson (see previous issues, passim) have produced a devastating analysis of the economic assumptions underlying the scenarios used in computer models by the U. N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes Third Assessment Report to predict future global temperatures.  The RPC paper summarizes the ensuing debate.    



The paper concludes that it is the IPCCs status as a body with a political, rather than scientific, agenda that led it to such technical sloppiness and use of dubious assumptions.  The paper argues that the Principles Governing IPCC Work demonstrate that, The IPCC exists to support the Framework Conventions  predetermined conclusions, not to objectively assess whether global warming is real or not, or whether it would be potentially harmful or benign.



The paper suggests that there is no indication that the next round of IPCC work will address these concerns.  As a result, the paper warns, Policymakers should approach the IPCCs claims with a healthy dose of skepticism before considering whether restrictions on energy use based on the IPCCs conclusions are warranted. Alarm may well be in order alarm that the IPCCs science cannot be relied upon.  The report can be found on the web at:  http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/Sept1004GlobalWarmingPG.pdf.

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