Glacier mistake cost us dear: Pachauri

NEW DELHI: IPCC chairman R K Pachauri has admitted that the panel’s credibility has been damaged by the false claims on the disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers made in the Fourth Assessment Report. The climate panel chief has rebutted claims of further errors, such as the Amazon claim, in the IPCC report, describing it as the work of a “factory” of people “only there to create pinpricks and get attention”.

With the IPCC is working on the next assessment report, Mr pachauri realises the adverse impact of the Himalayan blunder. “I think this [glacier] mistake has certainly cost us dear, there’s no question about it. Everybody thought that what the IPCC brought out was the gold standard and nothing could go wrong. But look at the larger picture, don’t get blinded by this one mistake.”

The acknowledgement that the UN panel had got it wrong on the Himalayan glaciers has proved to be a shot in the arm of climate sceptics.