Topical question asked in the House of Commons, by Evan Harris (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 25 February 2010 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Topical Questions

Question: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Interruption.] I come hot-foot from a meeting at your office, Sir. Does the Secretary of State agree that despite the controversy over the university of East Anglia e-mails, the science is very clear, not least from other data sets, that global warming is a real effect, and that we should not be distracted by this controversy from insisting on our policies?

Answer: I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his just-in-time questioning. He raises an important issue. Clearly, mistakes have been made, and it is important that those are looked at and that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change looks at its procedures. I have written to Dr. Pachauri to emphasise our support for the organisation, but also our wish that it looks at its procedures to try to eliminate such errors. The overall picture is very clear: climate change is happening, it is real, and it is man-made. It is very important to say that.

Secondary information