Quick Fact: Baier falsely suggested allegedly hacked emails dispute global warming science

On Special Report, host Bret Baier falsely suggested that a series of emails reportedly stolen from the UK's Climate Research Unit (CRU) creates a “basis for disputing global warming.” In fact, the validity of climate science is not hinged on the contents of these emails, some of which conservative media have taken out of context; reports from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading scientific body for assessing climate change research, are the product of thousands of scientists worldwide.

Fox News' Bret Baier falsely suggested emails create basis for “disputing global warming”

Baier stated Gibbs did not see basis for disputing global warming “despite” emails “seeming to portray” scientists “supress[ing] or discredit[ing] data.” From the November 30 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier:

BRET BAIER (anchor): Gibbs went on to say that he doesn't see any real scientific basis for disputing global warming, despite this large collection of emails seeming to portray leading scientists there scheming to suppress or discredit data and analysis that is contrary to their predictions about global warming. This continues to gain steam all over the place, especially on the Internet.

Fact: NASA scientist: Emails do not show that “global warming is a hoax”

NASA's Gavin Schmidt: Critics “are using language used in science and interpreting it in a completely different way.” Wired's Threat Level blog reported on November 20 that Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said: “There's nothing in the e-mails that shows that global warming is a hoax. ... There's no funding by nefarious groups. There's no politics in any of these things; nobody from the [United Nations] telling people what to do. There's nothing hidden, no manipulation. It's just scientists talking about science, and they're talking relatively openly as people in private e-mails generally are freer with their thoughts than they would be in a public forum. The few quotes that are being pulled out [are out] of context. People are using language used in science and interpreting it in a completely different way.” Schmidt is a contributor to the RealClimate blog, which has stated that some of the reportedly stolen CRU emails “involve people” at RealClimate.

Fact: Thousands of scientists from around the world participate in IPCC process

IPCC: “Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis.” The IPCC, which is a scientific body established by the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization, has established that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” The IPCC “reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide,” and its reports are the product of contributions from "[t]housands of scientists from all over the world."