So scientists are human after all. They are no different from bankers, politicians, lawyers, estate agents and perhaps even journalists. They cheat. They make mistakes. They suppress truth and suggest falsity, especially when a cheque or a plane ticket is on offer. As for self-criticism, that is for you, not me.

I am just ready to believe that the antics of the climate change scientists, revealed in this week’s Guardian and elsewhere, have no impact on the facts of global warming. But then I must rely on those same scientists to say so. The Yamal-12 larches may be dodgy, the hockey stick limp and the Amazon stats subject to re-evaluation. The date of 2035 for a Himalayan apocalypse may have been a misprint for 2350 and 40,000 comments didn’t spot it. But so what, they all say? The world is coming to an end because we are scientists and, like Nostradamus, we know.

The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, has come under fire over his handling of a false claim about melting glaciers. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

International environment and development groups have given conflicting opinions over whether Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), should resign over criticism of his handling of a false claim about melting glaciers in the panel’s landmark 2007 report. They also fear a drop in the confidence in climate science could undermine governments’ resolve to address global warming, with Greenpeace saying a new leader of the IPCC could restore confidence in the UN panel.

The government claims a small drop in carbon emissions since 2008 help meets its 2020 targets, but experts cite the recession and high energy prices as the main reason. Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

The government is expected to confirm tomorrow that emissions of greenhouse gases fell by a modest amount in 2008 compared to the previous year. Ministers are likely to try to portray the figures as evidence that the UK is on the right track to meeting its targets to cut emissions by over a third by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer walks past members of an environmentalist group during the Copenhagen climate change conference in December 2009. Photograph: Miguel Villagran/Getty Images

Fifty-five countries have formally pledged to cut or limit their emissions in a move welcomed by the UN’s climate change body as an important step towards achieving a legally binding global agreement.

They include the US, all EU countries and China, as well as major emerging economies such as Brazil, Indonesia and India. The 55 nations between them emit 78% of the world’s greenhouse gases. But, significantly, the group includes only Brazil from South America, and just six out of 55 African countries. In all, 137 countries have not made pledges. Independent analyses indicate the pledges as they stand are about half of what is required to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.