COP26: Former sceptic apologises for role in Climategate

The Climategate scandal came just weeks before the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009

A former climate change sceptic has told the BBC he wants to apologise for his role in the "Climategate" scandal.

Thousands of documents and emails were stolen from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, shortly before a UN conference in 2009.

Steve Mosher, who was sent the hacked data, selected emails to try to claim climate change science was falsified.

Asked about CRU scientists, he said: "I'd apologise for unkind things I said about their work and capabilities."

'Giant irony sandwich'

US-based Mr Mosher, a key figure in the scandal, and other climate change sceptics were sent thousands of emails, documents and scientific data stolen from the CRU, which is based in Norwich.

He selected emails he thought would be most damaging, and these were then promoted on climate sceptics' blogs.

It called into question the work of leading climatologist Prof Phil Jones and climate modeller Prof Tim Osborn, who were vilified in some sections of the media and subjected to a series of inquiries.

Speaking to BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera for The Hack That Changed the World podcast, Mr Mosher said: "If I get to make an apology, even if it's remotely via BBC, to Phil Jones and Tim Osborn, then I'm happy."

He said he ran his own models using the stolen data and found the results and conclusions reached by the university were correct.

"In the end, when I checked my results, and my results matched Phil Jones' results - the guy who I had criticised all those years - and then I had to eat this giant irony sandwich, and damn near broke my teeth," he said.

Analysis: By Gordon Corera, security correspondent

It's 12 years since the theft of emails from UEA but it is a story that still matters.

What became known as 'Climategate' had a significant impact on public debate, particularly in the US.

But it also pointed towards a future in which information would be stolen, weaponised and spread on social media.

As well as the global impact, the personal toll on some of those involved was also very real, as portrayed in the recent BBC drama The Trick, which told the story of Prof Phil Jones.

The comments from Steve Mosher, who was a key player in the sceptic community, are a sign that some of those involved have had time to reflect on events and even change their opinion.

The scientific and public debate has certainly moved on since 2009, but some of the scars remain.

Prof Phil Jones said the science was lost as the media and climate changer-deniers became obsessed with "a few words in a few emails"

Last month, Prof Jones, who continues to work at CRU, said he still received hate mail each October and November, coinciding with the anniversary of the hack and subsequent "media storm".

He believed Climategate delayed action on climate change by a decade.

"We were fighting against a massive tide, and people just didn't seem to want to know about the science, they wanted to know about a few words in a few emails," he told BBC Look East.

All allegations against Prof Jones and the CRU were rejected in subsequent inquiries.

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Speaking of climategate's impact on attitudes at the UN at the time, he said: "If they had acted after Copenhagen [December 2009], we'd be 10 years further down the line.

"They acted in the Paris Agreement in 2015 but they have to enhance that in Glasgow [this week's COP26 gathering], and there has got to be action in countries around the world if we going to avert any more major changes in the climate."

The Hack That Changed The World is available on BBC Sounds.

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