Britain and the International Panel on climate change: The impacts of scientific advice on global warming part 1: Integrated policy analysis and the global dimension

Abstract

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environment Programme to advise governments and the UN General Assembly on climate change: the underlying science, likely impacts and realistic responses. The Climate Convention entered into force in March 1994 and codifies the largest global research and data collection effort ever undertaken. Why and how did Britain seek leadership in this effort? It can be argued that this leadership was enabled by a mature national research lobby which recognised and assisted in the development of opportunities that arose in the political context of the mid‐1980s. It captured the IPCC scientific advisory process and incorporated this successfully into domestic and foreign policies. Politicians found the threat of global warming useful as greenwash for unpopular energy and taxation policies. Attention and resources were shifted from current national environmental matters to speculative, re...