Colleague defends Climate Scientst

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PRESENTER

The energy and climate change secertary Ed Milliband spent this morning talking to young people 

about his ambitions for Copenhagen; afterwards I asked him whether he accepted that the e-mail 

controversy could diminish the prospects of reaching a deal.

ED MILLIBAND

One chain of emails does not undo the pretty much global concensus there is on the science and 

I think that we should not let the people who want use these e-mails for the wrong reasons to 

do that.

PRESENTER

But there will be those listening to this interview who will say your talk of concensus is part 

of the problem here - there's a sense of being driven in part by the politics to brush aside 

the doubts and the uncertainties and try to suggest that this is something on which there is 

absolute certainty, when a more sensible position would be to say 'well, we think the evidence 

points in this direction, but no-one can be 100% certain about anything in such a complex and 

dynamic area of science'?

ED MILLIBAND

I.. I.. I'm not a scientist, Shuan... but let me just say to you when I first got this job I 

sat down with Lord Reecse, the President of the Royal Society, and I said to him and his 

colleagues 'is this a certainty? Are you cery clear about this? Do you have any doubts?'. The 

clear impression they give to me, is there isn't doubt about this, and so you know I. I.. think 

 it is irresponsible for us to somewhow suggest that there is doubt about whether man-made 

climat6e change is happening or not because none of the scientists, none of them are saying to 

mee 'yes, well we do have some dounts about this maybe it's not happening aftyer all'...

PRESENTER

But do you think it wouold have been inappropriate to ahh.. use phrases like 'trick' and like 

altering e-mails in this way - would that be soemthing that oyu think would be damaging to the 

case?

ED MILLIBAND

Well this is why we need the inquiry because we don;t actually know what the word 'trick' 

actually means in this context - it could be a scientific way of describing what they need to 

do to make the data consistent ahh.. with with with previous data. I don't know the answer to 

that question but I would be very surprised I would be very surprised if the very professional 

people at the Universirty of East Anglia and elsewhere were somehow doing things to the data 

which they shouldn't be doing, because I actually think the scientists across this country and 

indeed across the world are people that want to get to the truth about these things and we've 

got to remember the political moment we are in - we are at a moment when the world is about to 

take some very big decisions, and there will be people that don't want the world to make those 

bnig decisions, adn they are trying to use this in part to say somehow this is all in doubt 

asnd perhaps we should put the whole thing off well I just think they're wrong about that.

PRESENTER

Does that include the Saudi Arabians who are saying that this provides the proof as they see it 

uh that ah.. climate change is not man made?

ED MILLIBAND

I was surprised to see the remarks of the Saudi cheif negotiator I've obviously met him in the 

past and indeed the minister that he works for - they have never said to me that the Saudi 

Arabias position is that eh climate change is not man-made or is not happening - my sense is 

that the vast majority of countries at the talks will not be swayed by one chain of e-mails 

they have their own scientists and you know I've been taking part in these talks now Shaun for 

about a year, and I can not remember an occassion when any country around the table rich or 

poor, developed or developing, ah.. has said to me 'perhaps this thing is all ahh.. is all 

nonsense' and perhaps it isn't happening after all - maybe we should just pack our bags and go 

home?'. Apart from anything else as Richard Lambert said this morning on the precautionary 

principle you should proceed anyway, but I think the science is very clear about this and I 

should listen to the scientists and I think that is what other people should do too.

PRESENTER

But won't this e-mail dispute in a sense ah throw grit into the negotiations and diminish the 

prospects of a meaningful agreement?

ED MILLIBAND

I don't have a sense of that - frankly I think it is a test of our character and f our society 

- do we get swayed by a bunch of e-mails or do we say actually we're going to hold true to the 

values of the enlightenment and reason which say that the science is clear on this?

PRESENTER

That was the Climate Change Secretary Ed Milliband.

Colleague defends Climate Scientst

We are leaving the little ice age

Warming due to man would not stop because of variation, yet that is precisely what it has