http://andyrussell.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/institute-of-physics-stc-evidence-submission-%E2%80%93-what%E2%80%99s-actually-wrong-with-it/

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IOP and the Science and Technology Committee’s inquiry into the disclosure of climate data

5 March 2010
Institute of Physics News

The Institute of Physics recently submitted a response to a House of Commons Science and Technology Committee call for evidence in relation to its inquiry into the disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia which has become the focus of media hype.

We regret that our submission has been seized upon by some individuals to imply that IOP does not support the scientific evidence that the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is contributing to global warming.

IOP’s position on global warming is clear: the basic science is well established and there is no doubt that climate change is happening and that we should be taking action to address it now.

More information about IOP’s views http://www.iop.org/Media/Press%20Releases/2009/press_38339.html

The evidence to the Committee was focused however on the need to maintain the integrity, openness and unbiased nature of the scientific process. The key points it makes are ones to which we are deeply committed – ie that science should be communicated openly and reviewed in an unbiased way. However much we sympathise with the way in which CRU researchers have been confronted with hostile requests for information, we believe the case for openness remains just as strong.

Our submission (PDF, 47 KB) http://www.iop.org/activity/policy/Consultations/Energy_and_Environment/file_39010.pdf

The preparation of the evidence followed the process we always use for agreeing documents of this kind. We asked the Energy Sub-Group of our Science Board to prepare the evidence, based on their analysis of the material which is already in the public domain. The evidence was then circulated around Science Board, which is a formal committee of the Institute with delegated authority from its trustees to oversee its policy work, and approved.

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It’s not like saying “the scientific process is fatally flawed”. It’s like saying – well, it is saying – that the level of transparency of the scientific process in general needs to be vastly increased in order for the published conclusions to gain credibility (i.e. be verified or rebutted by anyone with the expertise to do so). In that case, the impetus would be on the researchers to ensure that their methodology was sound – not a problem, of course, for any scientist worth his/her salt – and so the truth will out.

Needless to say, the IOP submission had nothing to say about the conclusions themselves – that wasn’t the point, as mentioned in the above statement. If you want to show that the conclusions are not robust, you need to do that by scientifically robust means. We’ll all be happy to hear it, since your own work will be credible, having been through this same process of transparency and subsequent review by experts and laypeople alike.

It’s like saying: “The scientific process is fatally flawed, but its conclusions are still robust.”