None [of the Team] have any links to the Climatic Research Unit, or the United Nations’ Independent Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Boulton CV Chinese link
9. CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE & RESEARCH POLICY
…
As contributor to G8 Preparatory Groups and Intergovernmental Panels on climate change
And oh yes, another thing. Remember that other fib by the Inquiry that “None have any links to the Climatic Research Unit… ” At the Inquiry press conference, Boulton partially fessed up:
I should also add something that ought to be in my CV but is not – that I was appointed to a full-time post in the new school of environmental science at UEA at 1968 and worked there until 1980 which if you calculate correctly is 30 years ago.
Except his CV says that he worked at UEA until 1986 (as was noted in his Debretts bio):
1968-86: School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia. Lecturer:1968-76, Reader:1976-86 (half-time, 1982-86)
Oh and another thing. Boulton also said at the press conference:
I should stress that I am not involved in recent and the issues of recent and current climate nor am I part of that community.
But heres what his CV said:
His research is in the field of climatic and environmental change and energy, and is an advisor to the UK Government and European Commission on climate change. He leads the Global Change Research Group in the University of Edinburgh, the largest major research group in the University’s School of Geosciences.
ht reader oneuniverse who spotted Boultons CV.
Update (Feb 17 8 am): The FAQ at the Inquiry website now says:
Some of the blogs are saying that Professor Geoffrey Boulton is connected to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – is this true?
No, it is not true. Professor Boulton has had no formal contact with the IPCC. He has not been a member of the Panel or made any submissions to it.
Memo to Muir Russell: all I did in this post was quote Boulton’s CV. Don’t blame the blogs – You say that Boulton has not been “a member of the Panel or made any submissions to it”. Well, why did his 2007 CV say that he was a “contributor to G8 Preparatory Groups and Intergovernmental Panels on climate change”?
Climate Audit 
28 Comments
Oops sorry, forgot about that. Pay no mind though, Mr Brown still believes I am impartial. -GB
Rut Roh.Get a fork and start the toaster.
Dear Steve. Boulton is not telling fibs, he is “misremembering”. A Hero of Apocalyptic Global Warming should not be expected to be accurate on such minor points of detail as what lectures he has given in the recent past or, indeed, to list in a CV all the myriad committees, working groups and QUANGOs on which he serves.
The claim is that Boulton had no associations with the CRU. It is not that Boulton had no association with UEA. The associate of my associate is not necessarily my associate. If they were, we would all be Kevin Bacon.
If Boulton was in, say, the Physics department you might have a point. He was in the School of Environmental Sciences which the CRU is part off.
I doubt that this part of the UEA was very big given that climate research wasn’t receiving the billions of dollars in funding it currently receives.
So what if the CRU is part of the School of Environmental Sciences? No one, to my knowledge, is claiming that Boulton was not part of the School of Environmental Sciences. I’ve just heard claims that he is not linked to the CRU. This claim appears to be true. Calling it a “fib” serves no truthful purpose.
I am part of a large University school and within an engineering programme within that school. There is no way that anyone in my parent school would claim to be independent and fit to review my professional conduct and neither would my ex colleagues who have moved on to other institutions. Neither my colleagues nor I would be duplicitous enough to claim that we were “independent”. We are linked financially, educationally and in our research activities just as CRU is linked to its parent school. Why do you feel the need to defend this man who appears to have naively tried to hide his connection to CRU and the IPCC.
This review must be seen to be independent if it is to have any credibility with the scientific community or the public. Clearly Prof Boulton is not independent and it is in nobody’s best interests for him to stay on the panel, not even his!
Curt:
Are you Boulton’s press flak? C’mon get real. It is an inquiry – appearances mean a lot. If this was a civil law case do you think the judge would let him on the jury? Sheesh!!
Houghton said in 1995 “If we want a good environmental policy in the future, we’ll have to have a disaster.”
Click to access houghton-and-god.pdf
Sunday Telegraph, 10.9.95
Me and my God
Sir John Houghton talks to Francis Welch
Moral outlook: earthquake, wind and fire
Sir John Houghton, the former director of the Meteorological Office, has believed in God all his life. He believes that God has a personality and that He does not mind letting His errant children feel the whip. “God does show anger. When He appeared to Elijah there was earthquake, wind and fire. Our model is Jesus. He was a man as well as being divine and he certainly showed anger.”
An expert on global warming and chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Houghton warns that God may induce man to mend his ways with a disaster. “God tries to coax and woo, but he also uses disasters. Human sin may be involved, the effect will be the same.
“If we want a good environmental policy in the future, we’ll have to have a disaster. It’s like safety on public transport. The only way humans will act is if there’s been an accident.
Houghton’s work has been enriched by his faith. He sees no clash between science and religion and has just written The Search for God: Can Science Help? in which he presents evidence of God’s existence in scientific terms.
As a Scot, you would think Boulton would have heard of Sir Walter Scott “Oh! what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!”
Or Burns “Facts are chiels that winna ding”
I went looking for a translation and found this beauty instead:
There is no great harm in the theorist who makes up a new theory to fit a new event. But the theorist who starts with a false theory and then sees everything as making it come true is the most dangerous enemy of human reason.”
Gilbert Keith Chesterton The Flying Inn
Could Boulton wriggle out of this by say that, though he one “had” links to the IPCC, he does not currently “have” links?
I would love to see that one!
‘I did not have…relations with that community’
“…United Nations’ Independent Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).” What is this? Can’t they get the name correct or is there some other panel called the Independent Panel on Climate Change.
I have actually heard that “Independent” part a few times. Anyone know about it?
So the next investigative task for CA readers is – what was his contribution to the IPCC?
I’m annoyed with myself – I downloaded that CV last Friday but didnt spot the IPCC thing!
A good way to check where he was during 1980-86 is to look at the affiliation given in his papers during that period. Most give his address as UEA only, or joint UEA/Amsterdam:
G. S. Boulton et al
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia,
and University of Amsterdam
Glacial geology and glaciology of the last mid-latitude ice sheets
Journal of the Geological Society; June 1985; v. 142; no. 3; p. 447-474; (1985)
G. S. Boulton et al
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia,
Nature 298, 437 – 441 (29 July 1982)
G. S. Boulton et al
Univ. East Anglia school environmental sci
Journal of Glaciology
vol. 30, no105, pp. 140-152 (1984)
G. S. Boulton et al
School of Environmental sciences, Norwick
Boreas vol 10 p 39-51 (1981)
G. S. Boulton et al
Univ. East Anglia, school environmental sci.
Jokull no 32 p 37-47 (1982)
G. S. Boulton
A paradigm shift in glaciology?
Environmental sciences, UEA and University of Amsterdam
Nature vol 322 no 6074 (1986)
So his remark that he worked there until 1980 is being economical with the truth.
I’m tempted to say:
“And another one’s gone
and another one’s gone
Another one bites the dust”
But I wouldn’t stoop so low.
Guy who oversees construction of a building whose cost was seven times over budget.
snip
Economy is good, in general. Economy with the truth is NOT.
Steve – the word warmist is forbidden here. Any comments with this term will be deleted without editing.
I sent a couple of emails to the pr contact named on the Inquiry website, asking about some of the Boulton issues and the self-contradictions.
I got this reply – last line quite definitive, I wonder what other Inter-gov panel on CC GB could have been referring to.
“Dear xxxxx,
Members of the Review team were selected on the basis they have no prejudicial interest in climate change and climate science and for the contribution they can make to the issues the Review is looking at. The Review’s job is to determine if there is evidence of poor scientific practice which could call CRU’s research into question; whether they followed University and statutory FOI procedures properly; and whether they should have better procedures for managing their research and keeping their data safe.
A re-appraisal of the scientific work of CRU is being separately commissioned by UEA, with the assistance of the Royal Society.
Professor Boulton has confirmed that: ‘My current view of the balance of evidence is that the earth is warming and that human activity is implicated. As a sceptical scientist, I am prepared to change those views if the evidence merits it. They certainly do not prevent me from being heavily biased against poor scientific practice, wherever it arises.’
Sir Muir Russell remains completely confident that each member of the Review team has the integrity, the expertise, and the experience to complete its work impartially.
Regarding your inquiry about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – Professor Boulton has had no formal contact with the IPCC. He has not been a member of the Panel or made any submissions to it.
Best,
stop press – I now see that the FAQ have been updated to confirm no link with IPCC. http://www.cce-review.org/FAQs.php
Interestingly enough there they also refer to wikipedia (a.k.a. the non-peer reviewed Connolley et al (2000-2010)) for information on climate change.
I sent them an email about it.
If true, this is extremely damning, particularly when its omission from the current CV is combined with the omission of years at East Anglia- this cannot be mere oversight. Again, if true, these two events combined show a deliberate intention to deceive- possibly not only the public, but the review Chairman himself. Whatever happens now, whether he resigns or stays, I cannot believe any serious individual who has taken the time to read the e-mails will take anything this “inquiry” says seriously.
Ross Taylor – the Inquiry website has been updated to say ‘Professor Boulton has had no formal contact with the IPCC. He has not been a member of the Panel or made any submissions to it.’
So that’s that.
London Times 9 December 2009:-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6950783.ece
Statement from the UK science community
We, members of the UK science community, have the utmost confidence in the observational evidence for global warming and the scientific basis for concluding that it is due primarily to human activities. The evidence and the science are deep and extensive. They come from decades of painstaking and meticulous research, by many thousands of scientists across the world who adhere to the highest levels of professional integrity. That research has been subject to peer review and publication, providing traceability of the evidence and support for the scientific method. The science of climate change draws on fundamental research from an increasing number of disciplines, many of which are represented here. As professional scientists, from students to senior professors, we uphold the findings of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, which concludes that “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and that “Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations”.
Then follows a list of those who sign on to this statement.
Do “Ctrl F”, to find Boulton, and there he is “Prof Geoffrey Boulton, Edinburgh University. It is a pretty bold statement that he has signed on to. This must kick him into touch susrely?
This is the petition that the Met Office cobbled-up last December with Prof Julia Slingo, Met Office at the top of the pile and heroine Dr Vicky Pope lower down the list.
This statement was on the Met Office website in December but I can not find it there now – anybody else looked there recently?
I hope nobody has done this already!
Actually this is bothering me again. What Intergovernmental Panels on climate change are there that Boulton might have contributed to, other than the IPCC?
Any experts who can tell me?
Or is this word-play, a ‘contribution’ is different to a ‘submission’?
I’ve asked this question of the pr person:
“For clarity, can you confirm that he has not contributed to the IPCC (ie that a ‘submission’ is equivalent to a ‘contribution’?) That his reference to himself as a contributor is therefore to quite different Intergovernmental Panels, none of which is the IPCC?”
Which should one trust the CV of the FAQ?
The author (under properties) of the CV is Geoffrey Boulton (unsurprisingly).
The FAQ wagging finger should be in Geoffrey’s direction for the IPCC association. You would think that as Geoffrey was putting together the “team’s” remit he would have striven for consistency with his own CV. Clearly he was being economical with the truth, even with himself.
Stand by for the comment that Geoffrey’s IPCC contributions were informal.
Continue here
4 Trackbacks
[…] None have links to …IPCC – somes links are stronger than others.. […]
[…] Climate Audit by Steve McIntyre Skip to content Hockey Stick StudiesStatistics and RContact Steve McProxy DataCA blog setupFAQ 2005Station DataHigh-Resolution Ocean SedimentsSubscribe to CAEconometric ReferencesBlog Rules and Road MapGridded DataTip JarAboutCA Assistant « “None have links to …IPCC” […]
[…] None have links to the UN IPCC, […]
[…] future health”) and Geoffrey Boulton a climate change advisor to the UK government and the EU, who spent 16-years at the University of East Anglia [4] – the institution under apparently ‘independent’ […]