COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Allegations that scientists manipulated climate-change data to support claims of global warming unsettles the agenda in Denmark, Saudi officials said.
World leaders opened a major climate-change conference in Copenhagen on Monday with the aim of reaching a comprehensive agreement on greenhouse gas emissions and energy policy.
Mohammad al-Sabban, the Riyadh envoy to the Copenhagen summit, said allegations that British scientists during the 1990s manipulated global climate data would influence negotiations, Emirati newspaper The National reports.
"The level of confidence is certainly shaken," he said. "We believe this scandal is definitely going to affect the nature of what can be fostered" in Copenhagen.
E-mail statements leaked on the Internet from British scientists suggests climate data was manipulated to support the claim greenhouse gases cause global warming.
Riyadh, meanwhile, opposes any international effort aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that could influence the price of oil. A Finnish study, the report adds, revealed the Saudi government was attempting to undermine the international climate-change regime in an effort to shore up its vast oil wealth.
Saudi Arabia, however, has funneled $300 million of its own money to examine reductions in emissions in order to protect the environment.
