Climate Commission Report Debunked
Scientific audit of the Climate Commission Report
“The Critical Decade – Climate science, risks and responses”
May, 2011
Bob Carter, David Evans, Stewart Franks, William Kininmonth
PART I – INTRODUCTION, DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS
For PART II – SCIENCE AUDIT see the Full PDF file of Part I & II
INTRODUCTION
The Key Messages[1] summary of The Critical Decade[2] opens with a ringing statement of hyperbole:
Over many decades thousands of scientists have painted an unambiguous picture: the global climate is changing and humanity is almost surely the primary cause. The risks have never been clearer and the case for action has never been more urgent.
This declaration establishes two things. The first sentence signals that the report is committed to repeating the conclusions of the 4th Assessment Report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC)[3], conclusions that are essentially reliant on computer modelling and lack empirical support. And the second signals that the report is long on opinionated analysis and political advocacy but devoid of objective risk analysis.
These same characteristics apply to the scientific basis of four earlier Australian global warming documents, in order the Garnaut review[4], two reports by the Department of Climate Change Change[5] [6], a report by the Academy of Science[7], and finally a science briefing[8] that Professor Steffen provided to the Multi-party Committee on Climate Change in November, 2010, prior to that committee entering policy-setting mode.