The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has admitted that its alarming conclusions — that glaciers in the Himalayas could be gone 25 years from now, eliminating a primary source of water for hundreds of millions of people — is largely unsubstantiated, based on news reports rather than published, peer-reviewed scientific studies.

The mistake has called into question the credibility of the IPCC, which has been considered an authoritative source for information about climate change.