London:
A top panel of the United Nations on climate change will probe claims that UK scientists manipulated data on global warming, the chief of the body said on Friday, days ahead of the landmark Copenhagen summit.
Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN panel on climate change, has sought a probe into claims that British scientists manipulated data on global warming, saying the matter could not be swept under the carpet.
The allegations emerged after e-mails written and received by UK climate researchers appeared on the Internet.
The police are investigating whether the scientists' computers were hacked.
Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told BBC Radio 4's The Report programme that the claims were serious and he wanted them investigated.
"We will certainly go into the whole lot and then we will take a position on it," he said.
"We certainly don't want to brush anything under the carpet. This is a serious issue and we will look into it in detail," Pachauri underlined.
The IPCC is the global scientific body established to review and assess the most recent scientific research on climate change.
The University of East Anglia has already appointed a former civil servant, Muir Russell, to head an inquiry into allegations of misconduct by its scientists.