MPs back IPCC climate change findings

The findings of a UN climate panel have been endorsed by an influential group of MPs. The study was performed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and found that humans are the dominant case behind global warming.

Following the announcement of the findings, members of the Energy and Climate Change Committee said they had no reason to doubt the findings or the credibility of the science behind them. The members said the conclusions outlined in the report should be accepted by policymakers. 

However, two MPs with a history of being sceptical on the issue of global warming have voted against the report's conclusion, saying it is not an objective analysis. The climate sceptics, including Lord Lawson of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, have made use of the mistakes that were made in the IPCC's 2007 report within their objections of the new findings.

Former Conservative minister and chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, Tim Yeo, said: "The importance of the conclusions of IPCC reports in terms of their policy implications understandably places the IPCC under a lot of scrutiny. Some of the criticism directed toward the IPCC has been from people who for various political or economic reasons do not like its conclusions, but we decided to take a closer look at whether the scientists involved in the IPCC could be doing more to address genuine concerns."

The committee also looked into the IPCC's processes and said they were correct and in line with the findings. This decision to back the report could help to reinforce the fact that the IPCC's findings should play an integral part in the creating of new climate policies within the UK and Europe.

The key findings from the IPCC said that scientists were almost entirely certain (95 per cent) that since the 1950s, humans have been the "dominant cause" of climate change. This means that policies aimed at reducing emissions and increasing renewable energy sources could help to mitigate the effects of global warming.