WG1 co-chair Thomas Stocker abandons IPCC principles

Thomas Stocker, the co-chair of IPCC WG1, has been discussed previously on this blog.

On 26th November he gave a talk at Imperial College on the messages from the AR5 WG1 report. The headline of the write-up is

“Act now to limit climate change says climate expert at Grantham Annual Lecture”

and it ends with

“Professor Stocker finished his talk with the message that the international community has to act now and that any further delay in reducing emissions could close the door on limiting global mean warming, and consequent impacts, permanently.”

Perhaps he needs to be reminded of the principles of the IPCC:

“Because of its scientific and intergovernmental nature, the IPCC embodies a unique opportunity to provide rigorous and balanced scientific information to decision makers. By endorsing the IPCC reports, governments acknowledge the authority of their scientific content. The work of the organization is therefore policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive.”