From: Mike Hulme To: Phil Jones Subject: Re: [Fwd: SSI Alert: IPCC Chair Vote] Date: Mon Apr 22 18:14:44 2002 Cc: s.raper Phil, I can't quite see what all the fuss is about Watson - why should he be re-nominated anyway? Why should not an Indian scientist chair IPCC? One could argue the CC issue is more important for the South than for the North. Watson has perhaps thrown his weight about too much in the past. The science is well covered by Susan Solomon in WGI, so why not get an engineer/economist since many of the issues now raised by CC are more to do with energy and money, than natural science. If the issue is that Exxon have lobbied and pressured Bush, then OK, this is regrettable but to be honest is anyone really surprised? All these decisions about IPCC chairs and co-chairs are deeply political (witness DEFRA's support of Martin Parry for getting the WGII nomination). Mike At 07:17 20/04/02 +0100, you wrote: There is more on the BBC Sci/Tech web site. Phil Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 18:24:58 -0600 From: Tom Wigley X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en To: Phil Jones , Sarah Raper , Mike Hulme Subject: [Fwd: SSI Alert: IPCC Chair Vote] You may not have seen this latest piece of politicalization by the Bushies. Tom. ************************* -------- Original Message -------- Subject: SSI Alert: IPCC Chair Vote Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 18:00:59 -0400 From: "SSI Mailbox" ******************* EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ******************** ISSUE: Today - April 19, 2002, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) plenary voted for Dr. Rajendra Pachauri as the sole chair of the IPCC. Dr. Pachauri, an economist and engineer, will replace Dr. Robert Watson, an atmospheric chemist, as chair of the IPCC. This outcome was actively sought by the Bush Administration at the behest of the most conservative elements of the fossil fuel industry. This development threatens to undermine the scientific credibility and integrity of the IPCC and may weaken the job this extraordinary body has done to bring the world's attention to one of the most pressing environmental problems. ACTION: Monitor your local paper and respond to news stories with a letter-to-the-editor. MAIN MESSAGE: Given the Bush Administration's consistent opposition to climate change mitigation, it is especially imperative at this time that the scientific community and Dr. Pachauri work together to ensure that the IPCC remains a strong and credible scientific process. DEADLINE: As soon as possible after the story runs in your paper -- preferably the same day but no later than a day or two after. ****************************************** *** THE ISSUE *** According to a report by Associated Press today (appended below), Dr. Rajendra Pachauri was elected as Chair of the IPCC at a plenary meeting in Geneva. As you would be aware from our earlier SSI alerts of the past several weeks, this follows on from intense lobbying of the US government by the fossil fuel industry to remove Dr. Robert Watson as Chair. Although reports from Geneva are still sketchy, our sources on the ground tell us that there was intense behind-the- scenes lobbying by Saudi Arabia, with assistance from Don Pearlman -- a well known oil and gas lobbyist with strong connections to industry-backed organizations opposed to climate change mitigation. Through their maneuvering, the co-chair compromise approach -- comprised of former chair Dr. Robert Watson and Dr. Pachauri -- was not considered. As a result of this election, there is considerable concern in the climate science and environmental communities -- reinforced by the intensive lobbying from fossil fuel interests on this decision -- that the Bush Administration's lack of support for former IPCC Chair Dr. Robert Watson signals a more general lack of support for the IPCC as a credible international scientific assessment process that provides governments with sound information on climate science, impacts, and solutions. By supporting Dr. Pachauri for primarily political purposes, the Bush Administration has seriously threatened the scientific credibility of the IPCC process. The conservative fossil fuel interests should be exposed for their role in influencing the US government's stance on this issue, and the IPCC process must remain a scientifically credible and non-politicized process. The next IPCC Climate Change Assessment is due out in five years, and it is the chair's role to oversee this complex process. The scientific community's voice is important in this issue to ensure that the IPCC process remains strong under the leadership of Dr. Pachauri and that the Bush Administration does not erode the effectiveness of this important international body. *** THE ACTION *** -- Monitor your local paper and respond to news stories with a letter-to-the-editor. Information on how and to whom to submit a LTE is usually found right on the Letters Page in your paper. Many papers now accept letters via email. If you can't find the information you need, simply call the paper and ask how to go about submitting a letter in response to a recently published article. To increase the chances that your letter will be published, do the following: - keep it under 200 words and stay focused on one or two main points you'd like to make; - focus on a local angle, if possible, that adds something new to the story that appeared in your paper; - be sure to include your name, address, and daytime phone number; the paper will contact you before printing your letter; and - submit the letter on the same day the story appears, if possible. [For additional help with writing an effective letter to the editor, you may turn to the reference guide on the SSI member page at <[1]http://www.ucsusa.org/ssimembers/index.html >.] -- MAIN MESSAGE: Given the Bush Administration's consistent opposition to climate change mitigation, it is especially imperative at this time that the scientific community and Dr. Pachauri work together to ensure that the IPCC remains a strong and credible scientific process. -- TIMING: Your letter to the editor should reach your paper within a few days of the publication of the story to increase the chances of it being published. -- SPECIAL NOTE: If your paper did not carry the story at all yet, send an LTE describing the story and emphasizing that this issue is of great interest to the paper's subscribers. *** SUPPORTING MESSAGES *** -- [Be sure to include a description of your scientific expertise, your involvement with the IPCC process, or the importance of the climate issue to your community.] -- For the past 10 years, the IPCC's science has been the foundation for sound policymaking on the climate issue. The IPCC's unique intergovernmental approach to scientific consensus has worked amazingly well but is now threatened. -- It is disturbing that the Bush Administration sought and received advice from the fossil fuel industry on the leadership of an important scientific body such as the IPCC. A politicized IPCC threatens the integrity and credibility of the scientific process. -- There are fears that it will now be easier for the US to distance itself from the IPCC process. You may point out that the US already rejected the Kyoto protocol last year. -- It is vital that the scientific process for the next Assessment Report (due out in another five years) not be compromised so that the IPCC continues to produce sound science on climate change. -- The credibility of the IPCC's Third Assessment Report (TAR) findings were strongly affirmed by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS), which published its supportive report in response to President Bush's request for an independent assessment on the state of climate science. *** SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION *** -- Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri is an Indian engineer and economist. Pachauri, formerly one of the five vice chairs of the IPCC, is highly regarded but will be the first non- atmospheric chemist as chair of the IPCC. -- For more information on the ExxonMobil memo urging the Bush Administration to remove Dr. Watson from his position as IPCC Chair, please see < [2]http://www.nrdc.org/media/docs/020403.pdf >. -- For information on the Saudi/Pearlman connection, see the summary by Jeremy Leggett, author of "The Carbon War", at < [3]http://www.carbonwar.com/ccchrono.html >. -- IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization for the purpose of assessing "the scientific, technical and socioeconomic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change." To date, the IPCC has issued three comprehensive assessments. The first assessment report (FAR) was released in 1990, the second assessment report (SAR) was released in 1996, and the third assessment report (TAR) was released in 2001. These assessments are based on "published and peer reviewed scientific technical literature" For more information see < [4]http://www.ipcc.ch > ****************** NOTE: Please send us an email message that tells us what action you took. If you actually send a letter, please send us a "blind copy." (A blind copy simply means that you do not indicate anywhere on your letter that you are sending a copy to us.) Send to: ssi@ucsusa.org or UCS, 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02238-9105 (attn. Jason Mathers). CHANGE OF EMAIL ADDRESS: Help us keep you posted! If your email address will soon change, or if you'd like us to use a different address, please let us know by sending a message to ssi@ucsusa.org with your new address. Thanks! *********** Associated Press Fri Apr 19, 1:18 PM ET U.S. scientist voted off international climate panel By JONATHAN FOWLER, Associated Press Writer GENEVA - A U.S. scientist was voted off an international climate panel Friday following what campaigners claimed was pressure from the oil industry and Washington. Atmospheric scientist Robert Watson was seeking re-election as head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. World Meteorological Organization (news - web sites) spokeswoman Mo Lagarde said Watson was defeated by Indian challenger Rajendra Pachauri. Some 76 countries supported Pachauri, while 49 voted for Watson in the secret ballot, she said. Seven nations voted for Jose Goldemberg, a Brazilian (news - web sites) who entered the race this week. The WMO and the U.N. Environment Program jointly host the IPCC's offices and organized the Geneva meeting. Environmental groups have accused the administration of President George W. Bush (news - web sites) of caving in to a request from Exxon Mobil that it try to remove Watson, a leading expert on global warming (news - web sites), because he had consistently warned governments of the dangers of climate change. "The fossil fuel industry and the U.S. government will be celebrating their success in kicking out Bob Watson, an experienced scientist who understood that urgent action is needed to tackle global climate change," said Kate Hampton, international climate co-ordinator for British-based Friends of the Earth (news - web sites). "The Bush administration and its friends would rather shoot the messenger than listen to the message," Hampton said in a statement. The Swiss-based Worldwide Fund for Nature said it was worried by the "apparent politicization" of the IPCC. "WWF is concerned that oil and gas interests had too much to say in the removal of Dr. Watson as chairman of what should be an impartial, scientific body," said Jennifer Morgan, Director of WWF's Climate Program. But, Morgan said, the "IPCC is a vibrant group of scientists and WWF looks forward to working closely with Dr. Pachauri to protect the integrity of the IPCC and ensure that it continues to produce sound science on climate change." The U.S. State Department said earlier this month that it would support Pachauri, who was the Indian government's nominee, to become the next chair. Two weeks ago, the Natural Resources Defense Council, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group, said the White House's Council on Environmental Quality received a memo from Exxon Mobil in February 2001 that asked, "Can Watson be replaced now at the request of the U.S.?" The memo, which the group said it obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, also recommended that the administration "restructure the U.S. attendance at upcoming IPCC meetings to assure none of the Clinton/Gore proponents are involved in any decisional activities." U.S. officials were unavailable for comment. Watson has been an outspoken proponent of the idea that fossil fuel emissions contribute to rising global temperatures. He has led the panel since 1996 and is also the chief scientist of the World Bank (news - web sites). Pachauri is an engineer and an economist and is the director of the Tata Energy Research Institute in New Delhi, India. Prof. Phil Jones Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090 School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) 1603 507784 University of East Anglia Norwich Email p.jones@uea.ac.uk NR4 7TJ UK ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- References 1. http://www.ucsusa.org/ssimembers/index.html 2. http://www.nrdc.org/media/docs/020403.pdf 3. http://www.carbonwar.com/ccchrono.html%A0 4. http://www.ipcc.ch/