Climate sceptics, people who doubt the science on global warming, must not be allowed to sabotage U.N. climate talks which start next week, Reuters quoted Britain"s Energy and Climate Secretary as saying today. "I do think that we have to beware of the climate saboteurs, the people who want to say the science is somehow in doubt, and want to cast aspersions on the whole process," Ed Miliband told reporters at a briefing. "I"m not claiming there"s a conspiracy, but there are interests that don"t want to see an agreement in Copenhagen." Nearly 200 countries and some 100 world leaders will meet in the Danish capital from Dec. 7-18 to try to agree a new treaty to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. Its most important goal is to agree on a peak in global carbon emissions by 2020, Miliband said. The minister said those that doubt man-made global warming, which scientists say is caused by mass deforestation and burning fossil fuels, are seeking "an easy way out". "Sticking your head in the sand is not an answer," he said. Sceptics have seized on the publication of a several hacked e-mails from climate scientists at the University of East Anglia as evidence that the case for global warming has been exaggerated. Miliband referred not only to the emails, which this week led to the resignation of the research unit"s head, but also to former Conservative finance minister Nigel Lawson, who published an article in The Times on Nov. 23 casting doubt on the science and expressing pessimism about the Copenhagen talks. "I think it is profoundly irresponsible for people who have held, in the case of Nigel Lawson, positions of high office, to be doing what they are doing," Miliband said. "There is a very widespread consensus on the science. It is clear and settled ... not some fashionable consensus that has been dreamed up by elites." Miliband also called recent speeches on the environment by the opposition Conservatives "rhetoric not backed by a substantive, worked-out policy". Last Monday, the Conservatives promised to cut the emissions of government departments by 10 percent within a year if elected, saving some 300 million pounds a year.
