"In November 1995, a scientist and a diplomat quarreled in Madrid.
The scientist was Benjamin Santer, an American climate researcher and the convening lead author of a chapter by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that would finally establish, once and for all, that "the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate."
That sentence would end years of equivocation over the cause of warming and start the world on the road to do something about it.
But first, Santer and other lead authors had to persuade the 100 representatives from nations around the world, all gathered in the Palacio de Congresos Madrid, that the science supported it. The most vocal opponent was Mohammad Al-Sabban, a Saudi petroleum ministry official with an American education in economics.
He was determined to kill the sentence."
Jean Chemnick reports for ClimateWire October 29, 2018.
SEE ALSO:
Part One: "Geopolitics: U.S. 'Love Affair' With Saudi Arabia Delays Climate Action" (ClimateWire)
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