After More Than Two Months, The BBC Finally Issue An Insulting Non-Response To My Complaint

I wrote about my initial complaint here, submitted on January 15th:

Dear Jaime Jessop

Thank you for contacting the BBC about the article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7575x8yq5o

In considering the concerns your email has raised we have looked at the article, other BBC articles and other content on this issue.

As we understand your email’s concerns that related to these paragraphs:
Global average temperatures for 2024 were around 1.6C above those of the pre-industrial period - the time before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels - according to Copernicus data.
This breaks the record set in 2023 by just over 0.1C, and means the last 10 years are now the 10 warmest years on record.
The Met Office, Nasa and other climate groups are due to release their own data later on Friday. All are expected to agree that 2024 was the warmest on record, although precise figures vary slightly.
Last year's heat is predominantly due to humanity's emissions of planet-warming gases, such as carbon dioxide, which are still at record highs.
Natural weather patterns such as El Niño - where surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean become unusually warm - played a smaller role.
"By far and away the largest contribution impacting our climate is greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere," Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, tells the BBC.

This link was included in the article:
2023 confirmed as world's hottest year on record - BBC News

The BBC’s Editorial Guidelines permit journalists to quote individuals and organisations who are commenting on issues they have expertise in.

After looking at this article it appears the BBC report accurately reflects the research it is based on and quotes those with expertise in the area.

The article not only quotes Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, but also other experts including Myles Allen of the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, and an author of the UN report.
And as your email says, the article also quotes Dr Hausfather. It says:
But the margin of several records in recent years has been less expected, with some scientists fearing it could represent an acceleration of warming.
"I think it's safe to say that both 2023 and 2024 temperatures surprised most climate scientists - we didn't think we'd be seeing a year above 1.5C this early," says Dr Hausfather.
"Since 2023 we've had around 0.2C of extra warming that we can't fully explain, on top of what we had expected from climate change and El Niño," agrees Helge Gößling, a climate physicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.

After reviewing the article we consider it is in line with the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines:
The BBC’s Editorial Values and Standards

I hope this email resolves your concerns about this article and thank you again for contacting the BBC.
Kind regards
Quentin Smith

It completely fails to address the substance of my complaint, namely that the ‘experts’ the BBC quotes do not substantiate the BBC’s statement that the extraordinary record-breaking heat in 2023-24 was due primarily to GHG emissions; in fact Hausfather directly contradicts that assertion. Quentin Smith just waffles inanely about how “The BBC’s Editorial Guidelines permit journalists to quote individuals and organisations who are commenting on issues they have expertise in,” but then completely ignores the fact that the chosen expert they quote (Samantha Burgess) pointedly does not attribute the extra (wholly unexpected) record breaking warmth in 2023/24 to GHGs, just the general warming of the climate observed over many years. Which part of “By far and away the largest contribution impacting our climate is greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere” does Mr Smith not understand? Which part of “I think it's safe to say that both 2023 and 2024 temperatures surprised most climate scientists - we didn't think we'd be seeing a year above 1.5C this early” and
"Since 2023 we've had around 0.2C of extra warming that we can't fully explain, on top of what we had expected from climate change and El Niño” does Quentin not understand? These quotes from experts do not substantiate and they are not equivalent to, the BBC’s statements as follows:

"The scientists said human-caused climate change was the primary driver for record temperatures, while other factors such as the Pacific Ocean’s “El Nino” weather phenomenon, which raises global temperatures, also had an effect."

“Last year's heat is predominantly due to humanity's emissions of planet-warming gases, such as carbon dioxide, which are still at record highs."

The first statement recognises moreover that El Nino may have had some contribution to the extraordinary 0.2C ‘extra’ warmth, but then it claims that GHGs were the “primary driver” of that extra warmth. That is factually inaccurate and misleading, but the BBC are refusing to admit it. I shall have to escalate the complaint now. Irritating. The BBC are either thick or they are engaging in obstinate obfuscation in order to cover up their reporting crimes.