Climate change study has ‘significant error’: experts

The study was posted on the website of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was written about by numerous international news agencies, including AFP.

But AAAS later retracted the study as experts cited numerous errors in its approach.

"A reporter with The Guardian alerted us yesterday to concerns about the news release submitted by Hoffman & Hoffman public relations," said AAAS spokeswoman Ginger Pinholster in an email to AFP.

"We immediately contacted a climate change expert, who confirmed that the information raised many questions in his mind, too. We swiftly removed the news release from our Web site and contacted the submitting organization."

Climate scientist Rey Weymann told AFP that the "study contains a significant error in that it confuses 'equilibrium' temperature rise with 'transient temperature rise.'"

He also noted that study author Liliana Hisas of the Universal Ecological Fund (UEF), a non-profit group headquartered in Argentina, was told of the problems in advance of the report's release.

"The author of the study was told by several of us about this error but she said it was too late to change it," said Weymann.

The study was co-authored by Nobel-Prize winning scientist Osvaldo Canziani, who was part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The study cited the IPCC's fourth assessment report released in 2007 as its basis, combined with "the business-as-usual path the world is currently following," said Hisas.

Canziani's spokesman said Tuesday he was ill and was unavailable for interviews.

The public relations firm that issued the report on the UEF's behalf said the group stands by the study and would issue a statement shortly.