Leading climate scientists on Thursday welcomed a British report that cleared researchers of exaggerating the effects of global warming and said they hoped it would restore faith in the fight against climate change.

The University of East Anglia, in eastern England, launched an inquiry after more than 1,000 emails hacked from its climate research unit were put on the Internet.

Climate change skeptics leaped on the “climategate” emails as evidence scientists had exaggerated or lied about man’s role in global warming, leading to a surge in cyber and media attacks on climate scientists.

The emails were leaked just before last December’s major U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen and helped sour the public’s belief in the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions blamed for heating up the planet.