Lord Oxburgh, the climate science peer, 'has a conflict of interest'
 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7071751.ece

Ben Webster, Environment Editor
A member of the House of Lords appointed to investigate the veracity of climate science has close
links to businesses that stand to make billions of pounds from low-carbon technology.

Lord Oxburgh is to chair a scientific assessment panel that will examine the published science of
the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.

The CRU has been accused of manipulating and suppressing data to overstate the dangers from climate
change. Professor Phil Jones, its director, has stood down from his post while a separate inquiry,
chaired by Sir Muir Russell, takes place into the leaking of e-mails sent by him and his
colleagues.

Climate sceptics questioned whether Lord Oxburgh, chairman of the Carbon Capture and Storage
Association and the wind energy company Falck Renewables, was truly independent because he led
organisations that depended on climate change being seen as an urgent problem.

Andrew Montford, a climate-change sceptic who writes the widely-read Bishop Hill blog, said that
Lord Oxburgh had a "direct financial interest in the outcome" of his inquiry.

Lord Oxburgh has said that he believes the need to tackle climate change will make capturing carbon
from power plants "a worldwide industry of the same scale as the international oil industry today".

The CCS Association has stated that carbon capture could become a "trillion dollar industry" by
2050, but this would happen only if governments made reducing emissions a top political priority.
In an interview in 2007, Lord Oxburgh said that the threat from global warming was so severe that
"it may be that we shall need . . . regulations which impose very severe penalties on people who
emit more than specified amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere".

The university appointed Lord Oxburgh, a geologist and former chairman of the Lords Select
Committee on Science and Technology, after consulting the Royal Society, of which he is a fellow.

Professor Trevor Davies, the university's pro-vice-chancellor for research, said that the
university had been aware of Lord Oxburgh's business interests but believed that he would lead the
panel of six scientists "in an utterly objective way". The panel will meet in Norwich next month.

He added: "We all have an interest in seeing alternatives to fossil fuel energy sources. This is
going to be an issue for us all in future regardless of climate change.

"The choice of scientists is sure to be the subject of discussion, and experience would suggest
that it is impossible to find a group of eminent scientists to look at this issue who are
acceptable to every interest group which has expressed a view in the last few months. Similarly it
is unlikely that a group of people who have the necessary experience to assess the science, but
have formed no view of their own on global warming, could be found."

He said the scientists has been selected because they had "the right mix of skills to understand
the complex nature of climate research and the discipline-based expertise to scrutinise CRU's
research".

Lord Oxburgh, a former chairman of Shell UK, said: "The shadow hanging over climate change and
science more generally at present makes it a matter of urgency that we get on with this assessment.
We will undertake this work and report as soon as possible."

The university expects his report to be published before the summer.

The panel members a Huw Davies, Professor of Physics at the Institute for Atmospheric & Climate
Science at ETH Zürich; Kerry Emanuel, Professor of Meteorology at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; Professor Lisa Graumlich, Director of the School of Natural Resources and the
Environment at the University of Arizona; David Hand, Professor of Statistics in the Department of
Mathematics at Imperial College, London; Herbert Huppert, Professor of Theoretical Geophysics at
the University of Cambridge; and Michael Kelly, Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the
University of Cambridge. They will be given access to CRU's original data and be able to interview
its scientists.

Professor Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, said: "I strongly support the choice of chair and panel members - all world class - and
the terms of reference. This should lead to a critical evaluation of the quality of the CRU
science."

Lord Oxburgh, the climate science peer, 'has a conflict ofinterest'
 

On Mar 23, 8:18*pm, "Eric Gisin" wrote:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7071751.ece

Ben Webster, Environment Editor
A member of the House of Lords appointed to investigate the veracity of climate science has close
links to businesses that stand to make billions of pounds from low-carbon technology.

Lord Oxburgh is to chair a scientific assessment panel that will examine the published science of
the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.

The CRU has been accused of manipulating and suppressing data to overstate the dangers from climate
change. Professor Phil Jones, its director, has stood down from his post while a separate inquiry,
chaired by Sir Muir Russell, takes place into the leaking of e-mails sent by him and his
colleagues.

Climate sceptics questioned whether Lord Oxburgh, chairman of the Carbon Capture and Storage
Association and the wind energy company Falck Renewables, was truly independent because he led
organisations that depended on climate change being seen as an urgent problem.

Andrew Montford, a climate-change sceptic who writes the widely-read Bishop Hill blog, said that
Lord Oxburgh had a "direct financial interest in the outcome" of his inquiry.

Lord Oxburgh has said that he believes the need to tackle climate change will make capturing carbon
from power plants "a worldwide industry of the same scale as the international oil industry today".

The CCS Association has stated that carbon capture could become a "trillion dollar industry" by
2050, but this would happen only if governments made reducing emissions a top political priority.
In an interview in 2007, Lord Oxburgh said that the threat from global warming was so severe that
"it may be that we shall need . . . regulations which impose very severe penalties on people who
emit more than specified amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere"..

The university appointed Lord Oxburgh, a geologist and former chairman of the Lords Select
Committee on Science and Technology, after consulting the Royal Society, of which he is a fellow.

Professor Trevor Davies, the university's pro-vice-chancellor for research, said that the
university had been aware of Lord Oxburgh's business interests but believed that he would lead the
panel of six scientists "in an utterly objective way". The panel will meet in Norwich next month.

He added: "We all have an interest in seeing alternatives to fossil fuel energy sources. This is
going to be an issue for us all in future regardless of climate change.

"The choice of scientists is sure to be the subject of discussion, and experience would suggest
that it is impossible to find a group of eminent scientists to look at this issue who are
acceptable to every interest group which has expressed a view in the last few months. Similarly it
is unlikely that a group of people who have the necessary experience to assess the science, but
have formed no view of their own on global warming, could be found."

He said the scientists has been selected because they had "the right mix of skills to understand
the complex nature of climate research and the discipline-based expertise to scrutinise CRU's
research".

Lord Oxburgh, a former chairman of Shell UK, said: "The shadow hanging over climate change and
science more generally at present makes it a matter of urgency that we get on with this assessment.
We will undertake this work and report as soon as possible."

The university expects his report to be published before the summer.

The panel members a Huw Davies, Professor of Physics at the Institute for Atmospheric & Climate
Science at ETH Zürich; Kerry Emanuel, Professor of Meteorology at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; Professor Lisa Graumlich, Director of the School of Natural Resources and the
Environment at the University of Arizona; David Hand, Professor of Statistics in the Department of
Mathematics at Imperial College, London; Herbert Huppert, Professor of Theoretical Geophysics at
the University of Cambridge; and Michael Kelly, Prince Philip Professor of Technology at the
University of Cambridge. They will be given access to CRU's original data and be able to interview
its scientists.

Professor Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, said: "I strongly support the choice of chair and panel members - all world class - and
the terms of reference. This should lead to a critical evaluation of the quality of the CRU
science."

What is needed Is Royal Commission

Lord Oxburgh, the climate science peer, 'has a conflict ofinterest'
 

Professor Trevor Davies, the university's pro-vice-chancellor for research, said that the
university had been aware of Lord Oxburgh's business interests but believed that he would lead the
panel of six scientists "in an utterly objective way".

Lol