Pachauri Facing Independent Inquiry

Rajendra Pachauri, the controversial Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to face an international inquiry into the performance of his organisation.

Since the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is supporting IPCC and Pachauri, it may seem motivated to let also the Academy face an independent inquiry.

Why bother about a statement of the Academy in support of IPCC? Because Swedish climate policy is based on this statement as a statement of the highest scientific authority: If the Academy would change position and withdraw its unconditional support of IPCC, then Swedish climate politics would have to change.

But the Academy has not modified its statement/support of IPCC after the scandals hitting IPCC since Climategate in November 2009. Nor has Swedish climate politics changed after

Copenhagen. But this is unreasonable, and in science unreason does not last...

The Academy could learn quite a bit from the Institute of Physics in their submission to the UK Parliament Committee:

• The Institute is concerned that, unless the disclosed e-mails are proved to be forgeries or adaptations, worrying implications arise for the integrity of scientific research in this field and for the credibility of the scientific method as practised in this context.
  

But the Academy does not seem to be worried...