Grey-faced with exhaustion, Thomas Stocker, co-chairman of the IPCC report, announced the conclusions agreed by 259 of the world’s top climate scientists and officials from 110 governments.
The announcement was the result of four days in communication lock-down in a conference centre in Stockholm debating almost every word of a 33-page summary document for policymakers.
The negotiations were so intense, Professor Stocker said, that he had slept for only six of the previous 52 hours. Sometimes paragraphs were discussed for more than an hour.
In theory, these wranglings are aimed at turning scientific prose into a language that the average politician can understand and apply. In reality, there is a degree of politicisation by stealth. Whether a paragraph is included or omitted can tilt the