The emails from climate change scientists at the University of East Anglia did not constitute evidence against established climate change science, the vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told reporters on Saturday, on board the Climate Express from Brussels to Copenhagen.

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele said the emails at the heart of the “climategate” affair dated from 1999 and discussed a branch of climate science that traces past temperatures from tree rings.

At that time, scientists were puzzled by the fact that although air temperatures were rising in the 1960s, tree ring data did not appear to reflect this.

Hence, he said, the phrase “hide the decline”, which sceptics have seized on as evidence that scientists were manipulating data.

Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme, said the emails should not be allowed to derail the Copenhagen summit.

Dr van Ypersele suggested that the emails may have been obtained from Russian hackers, who might have been paid for their services.

Hopes for Copenhagen have risen as President Obama of the US confirmed on Friday night that he would attend the crucial closing stages of the talks, at which world leaders are expected to forge a settlement that would require developed nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions sharply, and developing countries to curb the future growth of their emissions.

Source: traintocopenhagen.org

Brussels Midi station had never seen anything like it. At 8am on Saturday morning, scores of people were excitedly milling around platform 3 in a hubbub of noise, as a strangely decorated train waited to set off. The train indicator read “Climate Express to Copenhagen”. Bemused Belgian railway officials tried in vain to keep some kind of order on the platform as squads of TV crews surrounded VIPs in suits, including members of the Belgian government and European officials, and photographers snapped. An old man in a fake white beard and robes – looking like a cross between Father Christmas and an archbishop – posed with a large blow up globe. Children watched in fascination. A small band played. There were a small knot of cyclists, en route from Barcelona.

Eventually, the railway officials got their way and everyone climbed on board. The whistle blew, the engines started up, and people on the platform waved as the train slowly gathered speed. The Climate Express – run by the UIC union of European railways, and Deutsche Bahn – with its carriages filled with politicians, government officials, business people, railway company executives, climate change activists, and journalists from all over Europe, was on its way.