ONCE again we find that the global warming evangelists are prone to ignore proper scientific procedures in their single-minded determination to prove that the burning of fossil fuels will cause a catastrophe for the planet.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) now admits that its 1999 statement that the Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035 was wildly alarmist and had no scientific basis.

One Indian scientist made that prediction and the IPCC took it at face value. A decade later the truth has come out.

We also learn that the Indian scientist and his colleagues have been awarded a $500,000 grant from an American charity and a share in a research study worth three million euros, funded by the EU.

The IPCC seems to work on the basis that releasing incorrect, doom-laden forecasts to the media is a good way to mould public opinion in favour of reducing CO2 emissions. The apologies come some years later, but by then the public’s opinions have been formed.

How many other false statements have been released which have yet to come to light?

Jim Allan, Hartlepool.