How leaked emails of climate scientists were misinterpreted to deny climate change, discredit them

Every so often, a story comes along that is so messy, politicised and toxic that all the principles of open engagement go out the window. One of these stories was the affair in 2009 that became known as “Climategate” – when unknown hackers dumped ten years’ worth of email exchanges between leading climate scientists onto the internet. Researchers recoiled in horror as sceptics highlighted the messages that painted climate science in the worst possible light and managed to garner enormous coverage in the world’s media. Many feared that the controversy would prove the death knell for public trust in climate science and a major setback for those relying on the credibility of the science to convince policymakers that action was needed to reduce CO2 emissions.

I don’t actually remember how I found out about the hacked emails, although they dominated life at the SMC for many months; it’s one of the stories that left its mark on everyone who got involved. That was nothing, however, compared to its effect on the scientist at the centre of the storm. In November 2009, Professor Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA), learned – along with...

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