Environment adviser admits 'damage' over climate change

On a visit to the region to offer environmental advice to Yorkshire Water, Jonathon Porritt – a key Whitehall adviser on green issues from 2000 to 2009 – called for cross-party action to reassure the public following the leaking of emails written by UK climate scientists indicating they have been dodging Freedom of Information (FoI) requests from well-known climate sceptics.

Mr Porritt said the scientific consensus remained overwhelmingly that greenhouse gas emissions were causing dangerous climate change but that the email affair had hit public confidence.

"It is damaging," he said. "There's no point pretending it's not. It has knocked people's confidence in the science, it's strengthened the hands of those who want to deny anything is happening, and it's made things harder for the politicians.

"What you need to understand is (the scientists) are under constant bombardment from the climate sceptics and it drives them bonkers, because it takes up so much of their time and resources.

"But that's no excuse. I do think the unit acted irresponsibly."

Mr Porritt said Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg should respond by jointly asking a high-level panel of experts to prepare an appraisal of the science behind climate change.

CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE BACKED

Yorkshire is right to be planning the construction of a massive network of pipelines to take captured CO2 and bury it out at sea, Jonathon Porritt said.

But the former Government adviser made it clear the region's most important challenges remained improving energy efficiency and developing renewable energy sources such as off-shore wind farms.

Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward is planning the construction of a major Carbon Capture and Storage system over the next 20 years through which all the region's major polluters will be able to bury C02 gas in depleted North Sea gas fields.

Mr Porritt said pursuing carbon capture was right. as practically everything possible to reduce emissions needed doing. "But it isn't anything like as important as the basics – massive improvements in energy efficiency and the development of renewables."