Climate change sceptics in New Zealand are taking the government’s climate agency to court over the validity of its evidence on global warming.
The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition has accused the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research of tampering with official weather records to make the case for global warming.
In a move that has been heavily criticised by several top scientists, the group is mounting a high court challenge to the country’s official temperature record.
The Coalition’s chairman Barry Brill says the calculations are wrong and should not be relied upon.
“In terms of the New Zealand temperature record I’m saying that’s totally inaccurate and needs to be completely vacated and redone,” he said.
“One of the most important facts in the whole debate is what’s been happening in the past and in our country that record is wrong.”
Several of New Zealand’s climate change scientists say the temperature records show a clear warming trend consistent with what has been measured by thousands of meteorological stations around the world.
A spokesman for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said the agency is confident that its science will be fully vindicated.
