Climate scientists have called on one of Australia’s highest profile business leaders to apologise for accusing their profession of lacking integrity.
The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) described as a “serious slur” the remarks of David Murray, former head of the Commonwealth Bank and the inaugural chairman of Australia’s multi-billion dollar future fund.
Murray told the ABC’s Lateline he believed there had been a “breakdown in integrity” in the science of climate change.
Murray, who was in charge of $75bn of government assets during his final year as the future fund chairman, said “the climate problem is severely overstated”.
He said he had seen no evidence of “integrity” among climate scientists.
In an open letter, AMOS president Blair Trewin wrote: “The society regards the remarks of Mr Murray as being a serious slur on the integrity of the many Australian and international authors of the IPCC report, and views them as highly offensive to those authors and to the profession at large. The society calls upon Mr Murray to withdraw the remarks.”
During the interview, host Emma Alberici pointed out the work of scientists who had contributed to the latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.
Murray was asked what it would take to “convince him” on the science of climate change.
Murray answered: “When I see some evidence of integrity amongst the scientists themselves. I often look at systems and behaviours as a way of judging something, and in this case, to watch the accusations that fly between these people suggests there’s been a breakdown in integrity in the science.”
The letter from AMOS added: “The IPCC reports are an outstanding example of international science co-operation, rigour and transparency. They are subjected to multiple levels of review by experts both inside and outside the climate community, with all review comments and the authors’ responses to them being made publicly available.”
In 2011, Murray was reported to have said there was “no correlation” between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming and that the world’s glaciers were not melting.
The IPCC said in September it was “extremely likely” that human emissions of greenhouse gases had been the dominant force behind the global warming observed since the 1950s.
The IPCC report also found that between 1993 and 2009 about 275bn tonnes of ice were melting from the world’s glaciers every year.
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