§ Mr. Paul FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what analysis he has made on the effects of sunspots on(a) global warming, (b) the trade cycles and (c) landslides. [20807]
§ Mr. AtkinsThe Government have undertaken no such analyses. However on(a), the 1994 report of the scientific assessment working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that any influence of solar intensity varying on the 11–year cycle associated with sunspots is likely to be small. Longer term variation in solar intensity may have accounted for around 10 per cent. of the warming influence of additional greenhouse gases since 1850.