Met Office Climate Forecasts: Always Wrong But Never In Doubt

None of the Met Office forecasts have been correct. The global annual average temperature has to increase soon or else the goalposts will have to be moved again. At what stage does one admit the predictions were wrong? –David Whitehouse, The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 1 December 2011

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Tim, Chris, I hope you’re not right about the lack of warming lasting till about 2020. I'd rather hoped to see the earlier Met Office press release with Doug's paper that said something like - half the years to 2014 would exceed the warmest year currently on record, 1998! –Phil Jones, 5 January 2009 George Osborne has made his clear political choice. The Autumn Statement contained lots of 'blue meat' designed to appeal to the Tory base. If you run an SME or indeed are a climate change sceptic you will be very content with the Chancellor's message. Today the government appears much more climate change sceptical - but then the Chancellor listens a lot to the guidance of Lord Lawson. --Ian Anderson, Huffington Post, 29 November 2011 One interesting phenomenon of the 2012 race has been the disappearance of global warming as a campaign issue. Not surprising among the Republicans, but not even President Obama is talking about it. Even this year’s worldwide confab of climate change zealots and anti-growth fanatics in Durban, South Africa is very low key. Expect a dry written statement from the Obama administration, with empty phrases like “progress made” or “a deepened understanding among nations is developing.” --Ed Rogers, The Washington Post, 30 November 2011

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A European drive to forge a legally-binding deal that would break the deadlock at the world climate talks is struggling to gain traction, negotiators and observers at UN talks here say. The scheme has come under fire from both China and United States, the world's two largest carbon emitters. But it is also being attacked by poorer nations, which are calling for a more rapid ramping up of pledges from rich countries on carbon-cutting and finance. --AFP, 30 November 2011 Some climatologists say it’s warming, some say it’s not. Some say global warming is causing extreme weather right now, some say it’s not going to happen until we’re nearly halfway through the 21st century. It’s time for these scientists and the IPCC to fess up to the fact that they really don’t know what is going on and that there is no “overwhelming consensus” as to what causes climate change. --Art Horn, Energy Tribune, 30 November 2011

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