Written question asked by Lord Donoughue (Labour) on Monday, 28 November 2016, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 December 2016. It was answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative) on Monday, 12 December 2016 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Climate Change

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 26 June 2013 (WA139) and the briefing paper by the Chief Scientist of the Met Office Statistical Models and the Global Temperature Record, cited in the Written Answer, in the light of the use of such models in textbooks, as well as in over a hundred research papers, why they consider integrated models for the global temperature series to be inappropriate; and why the linear trend model that is studied in the briefing paper is not also considered to be inappropriate.

Answer: As detailed in the briefing paper Statistical Models and the Global Temperature Record by the Chief Scientist of the Met Office, neither integrated nor linear models incorporate knowledge of physical processes that affect global temperature change. Therefore, for a full picture of the science behind our changing climate, we do not rely solely upon statistical tests to assess changes in climate, but also use our physical understanding of how the climate system works embedded in our physical climate simulations.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: HL3624
Session: 2016-17
Related items: Climate Change
Wednesday, 1 February 2017
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects: Climate change Statistics
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk