Prince Charles backs Climategate team

Published on Friday 3 December 2010 14:14

The Prince of Wales has spoken out in support of the scientists embroiled in the "Climategate" saga, describing their treatment as "appalling".

The prince has been trying for many years to publicise the threat the planet faces from climate change.

His comments came in London as he opened the Science Museum's 4.5 million Atmosphere gallery, which explores global warming.

During his speech to the museum's staff and sponsors of the new exhibition space, the heir to the throne said "climate science has taken a battering of late".

For that reason in January he visited the University of East Anglia's School of Environmental Sciences, which has the prince as its patron and is home to the Climatic Research Unit, the department at the centre of the Climategate row.

Charles added: "I wanted to discuss with them the appalling treatment they had endured during the so-called Climategate row because, as they reminded me, the University of East Anglia is not a campaigning NGO, nor an industry lobby group.

"It is an academic institution working to understand precisely and dispassionately what is happening to our world; to separate the facts from the fiction and build the sum of human knowledge on the one issue that could very well balloon into the cause of our downfall."

The Climategate row was sparked when emails from scientists at the unit were hacked and released online last year.

They were seized upon by climate change sceptics who claimed they showed researchers were manipulating and suppressing data to back up a theory of man-made global warming.

A number of reviews were launched but none found evidence of scientific malpractice.

The prince, who has campaigned to raise awareness of global warming and its effects, was the first official visitor at the new gallery.

Some environmentalists protested when it was revealed that Shell, the oil firm, was sponsoring the gallery — and it has been criticised by those who say global warming is not man-made.

Museum director Professor Chris Rapley said: "The Science Museum's role is to make sense of the science that shapes our lives. Our latest addition, Atmosphere, aims to make sense of one of the biggest issues today, climate change."