Science panel rapped over errors

A DUTCH inquiry into the United Nation's climate science panel has found "no errors that would undermine the main conclusions" on probable impacts of global warming.

The Dutch parliament asked for the inquiry after two mistakes were identified in the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The inquiry is the latest in a series that have backed climate science against sceptics.

However, it did not give the panel a completely clean bill of health.

It said the IPCC should be more transparent in its workings and added that the summaries tended to emphasise "worst-case scenarios".

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, which carried out the inquiry, had a remit to look at how accurately the IPCC's chapters on regional projections of climate impacts reflected the science available.

Martin Parry, visiting professor at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change Research at Imperial College London, co-chaired a working group involved in the IPCC report.

"We welcome the conclusion of this report, which is essentially that our conclusions are safe, sound and reliable," he said.

"The IPCC is about to venture into the next assessment, so it's important we learn from these issues, and it's important not to be defensive. That's how the IPCC is approaching things now."