Boiling over

Environment | Climate-gate, IPCC errors prompt a reconsideration of global warming policy | Daniel James Devine

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

Scientific scandal, media intrigue, and legal action: So go exhibits A, B, and C to prove "Climate-gate"—the name attached to the leak of emails between influential climate scientists late last year—was not just a passing headline. Investigations into the emails have since triggered a series of alarming revelations, ultimately prompting demands for a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse-gas policy.

The email correspondence came from Britain's influential Climatic Research Unit (CRU). In some emails, former CRU director Phil Jones asked colleagues to delete certain messages in order to avoid freedom of information requests by global warming skeptics. A subsequent investigation by the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office determined in January that the CRU and its affiliated university violated Britain's Freedom of Information Act—but because of a quirk in the law, it was too late to impose a fine.