Committee Discusses Process for Developing U.N. Climate Report
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing to examine the process used by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to develop the recently completed Fifth Assessment Report. Testifying before the Committee today were Dr. Richard S.J. Tol, Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex; Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs in the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University; Dr. Daniel Botkin, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Dr. Roger Pielke Sr., Senior Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University.
The IPCC assessment report development process, including the approval process for the Summary for Policymakers, is widely recognized as a very comprehensive and credible scientific undertaking to assess the current state of climate science and the risks associated with anthropogenic climate change. The IPCC assessments are accepted by a panel representing 195 world governments. Democratic members agreed with the witnesses on the value of improving the IPCC process, but members expressed their concern that any changes to the process should not undermine or ignore the climate science which has served as the foundation of the IPCC assessment reports.
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said in her opening statement, “The reality is that the IPCC assessment is unprecedented in its scope and inclusiveness. The United States, along with 194 other nations, has arrived at a rigorous and open process that yields the most comprehensive and objective assessments of the scientific literature relevant to understanding climate change and its associated risks…Developing timely solutions to these [climate] challenges is critical, and the IPCC provides policymakers with the factual basis to do just that…We have a responsibility to listen to the facts and act to protect the American people from the growing risks of a changing climate. The IPCC makes clear to anyone who will listen that the science is well established and well accepted by the vast majority of climate scientists. We cannot continue to turn a deaf ear to the pleas from our constituents to start working towards solutions.”
The Democratic witness, Dr. Michael Oppenheimer said in his testimony, “The IPCC has performed an important service to governments and the general public by assessing the scientific literature, determining the consensus and range of expert views on critical questions, collaborating with governments to state those findings clearly and succinctly in the Summaries for Policymakers, and aiming to widely disseminate its reports…The world needs an IPCC and IPCC needs to continually improve its performance to meet that need. Our ability to appropriately deal with the risk of climate change depends on it.”
It is notable that the witnesses recognized that humans play a major role in the world’s changing climate. In response to questions from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Dr. Richard Tol verified a statement he made in a paper he previously authored. In that paper, Tol stated, “It is well-known that most papers and most authors in the climate literature support the hypothesis of anthropogenic climate change. It does not matter whether the exact number is 90% or 99.9%.”
Ranking Member Johnson said, “I hope that today’s hearing will be followed by a hearing at which scientists from the IPCC can actually present the findings of the Fifth Assessment, because those findings are quite sobering and important for us to hear.”
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