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A Tory peer has questioned why the government has not taken stronger actions to replace the chair of the international body set up to study global warming.
During Lords question time, former Conservative frontbencher Baroness Noakes said that according to an independent report published this summer, the head of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) should already have left the position.
The InterAcademy Council published a report suggesting the IPCC, which represents major scientific institutions around the world, needed to ensure it can handle more complex examinations of global warming and intense public scrutiny.
Dr Rajendra Pachauri has led the IPCC since 2002 and was elected for a second six-year term in 2008, but the report suggested a chairman should be limited to a single term of office.
However, his leadership came under question after the panel mistakenly claimed the Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035.
Junior energy and climate change minister Lord Marland said that the government retained "confidence" in the leadership of the IPCC.
However, Lady Noakes said the recent report had "laid bare the faulty processes in the IPCC" which had led to the "ridiculous assertion" about the melting of the Himalaya glacier.
She told peers: "Their recommendation was that the IPCC chairman should not serve more than one term. That is to say the current incumbent should already have gone."
Lady Noakes asked why the government had reached its position of support for the current leadership and asked what evidence had been given on the issue at the most recent meeting of the IPCC.
Lord Marland responded: "Let's look at the facts. This organisation won the Nobel Peace prize in 2007 and that should be commended. Of course, like many organisations, it will have growing pains and management issues and communication issues but it is an organisation that has 194 countries subscribing to it, so we can't just wave a magic wand and change things.
"Dr Pachauri has accepted these recommendations and is going to implement them. He has an excellent relationship with emerging markets, which is very, very important in this particular aspect. He's an eminent Yale professor who is working for free."
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