October 26, 2021
Attention: Dr Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC,
c/o WMO, 7bis Ave de la Paix, CP2800, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland.
CLINTEL expresses serious concerns on scientific misrepresentations in the Summary for Policymakers
Dear Dr Lee,
As you already know, CLINTEL is a group of over 900 highly-experienced climate scientists and engineers in 37 countries; we pride ourselves in taking independent objective views on climate science and associated policy, see our World Climate Declaration on www.CLINTEL.org.
We have now carried out an interim review of the AR6 WG1 Summary for Policymakers (SPM) and believe that it misrepresents the latest objective climate science. Our concerns are described in the enclosed letter and its appendices. We are of the view that regrettably the SPM fails to meet adequate standards of objective scientific integrity and therefore will unfortunately misinform discussions in COP26 in Glasgow. Our more detailed analysis will follow in November, directly after the COP26.
We, like you, are committed to a sustainable future for the planet, but insist that the path to sustainability must be informed by objective climate science; in our view, adaptation, much more effective than mitigation, is the optimal way forward.
The enclosed letter with its appendices will also be distributed to all world leaders.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. A.J. (Guus) Berkhout, President of CLINTEL
Emeritus Professor of Geophysics
Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
Senior member of the Dutch Academy of Engineering (AcTI)