Climategate

NORWICH, England, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- U.N. officials said they would investigate whether data from an advisory group was manipulated to support positions regarding global climate change.

The so-called Climategate probe will focus on e-mail messages among scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit. Those missives allegedly suggest information disputing global warming was intentionally disregarded for reports to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The CRU is a main source for the IPCC's stances on climate change.

Supporters claim statements from the e-mail were taken out of context; climate change skeptics say they point to plots to support climate change conclusions while ignoring contrary evidence. Either way, the documents have undermined the CRU to the point that its director stepped down during the investigation.

The investigation will be carried out by the U.N. Panel on Climate Change. There is no timetable for it to complete the investigation.

It will, at any pace, be too late to cool rhetoric as the United Nations convenes its Climate Change Conference in Denmark next week. Many world leaders -- including U.S. President Barack Obama who is to stop by en route to picking up his Nobel Peace Prize -- plan to attend. The meeting is to agree to a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Even before "Climategate" it was unclear what agreements would be reached by the 12-day series of meetings.