Reforming the IPCC While Taking on Climate Change

The American Security Project today released a new report entitled “Reforming the IPCC: While Taking on Climate Change” which urges reform in how climate change research is conducted and reported. The report, authored by ASP Senior Fellow Dr. Bernard Finel and ASP Research Analyst Lindsey Ross, states that the decision in February 2010 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to convene an outside review panel after coming under scrutiny is an important step. However, it is a step that ought to be bolstered with some additional measures to ensure transparency and accuracy.

Dr. Finel and Ms. Ross detail five main issues that need to be addressed to strengthen the reliability of climate science: lack of communication, faulty sources, lack of transparency, volunteer-based research, and regional environmentalists report on home countries.

The report states that it is unfortunate that a series of relatively minor, but highly publicized, incidents have tainted the credibility of the IPCC and climate science in the eyes of some. It concludes that improving the process and tackling the climate change challenge need to proceed simultaneously.