Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

"IPCC" redirects here. For other uses, see IPCC (disambiguation).

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
AbbreviationIPCC
Formation1988; 36 years ago (1988)
TypePanel
HeadquartersGeneva, Switzerland
Chair
Jim Skea
Vice-Chair
Youba Sokona
Parent organization
World Meteorological Organization
United Nations Environment Program
Websitewww.ipcc.ch Edit this at Wikidata
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change
IPCC Assessment Reports
IPCC Special Reports

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities.[1] The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) set up the IPCC in 1988. The United Nations endorsed the creation of the IPCC later that year.[2] It has a secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by the WMO. It has 195 member states who govern the IPCC.[3] The member states elect a bureau of scientists to serve through an assessment cycle. A cycle is usually six to seven years. The bureau selects experts in their fields to prepare IPCC reports.[4] There is a formal nomination process by governments and observer organizations to find these experts. The IPCC has three working groups and a task force, which carry out its scientific work.[4]

The IPCC informs governments about the state of knowledge of climate change. It does this by examining all the relevant scientific literature on the subject. This includes the natural, economic and social impacts and risks. It also covers possible response options. The IPCC does not conduct its own original research. It aims to be objective and comprehensive. Thousands of scientists and other experts volunteer to review the publications.[5] They compile key findings into "Assessment Reports" for policymakers and the general public;[4] Experts have described this work as the biggest peer review process in the scientific community.[6]

Leading climate scientists and all member governments endorse the IPCC's findings.[7][6] This underscores that the IPCC is a well-respected authority on climate change. Governments, civil society organizations and the media regularly quote from its reports. IPCC reports play a key role in the annual climate negotiations held by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).[8][9] The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report was an important influence on the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015.[10] The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for contributions to the understanding of climate change.[11]

The seventh assessment cycle of the IPCC began in 2023. In August 2021, the IPCC published its Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC AR6) on the physical science basis of climate change.[12] The Guardian described this report as the "starkest warning yet" of "major inevitable and irreversible climate changes".[13] Many newspapers around the world echoed this theme.[14] In February 2022, the IPCC released its Working Group II report on impacts and adaptation.[15] It published Working Group III's "mitigation of climate change" contribution to the Sixth Assessment in April 2022.[16] The Sixth Assessment Report concluded with a Synthesis Report in March 2023.

During the period of the Sixth Assessment Report, the IPCC released three special reports. The first and most influential was the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C in 2018. In 2019 the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL), and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) came out. The IPCC also updated its methodologies in 2019. So the sixth assessment cycle was the most ambitious in the IPCC's history.[17]

  1. ^ "About the IPCC". Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  2. ^ "UN General Assembly Resolution 43/53 "Protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind"" (PDF). UN General Assembly Resolutions 43rd Session 1988-1989. United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Annex C to Appendix C to the Principles Governing IPCC Work". IPCC Procedures. IPCC.
  4. ^ a b c "Structure of the IPCC". Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Procedures — IPCC". Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  6. ^ a b "IPCC, the world's unrivalled authority on climate science". AFP. 9 August 2021.
  7. ^ Sample, Ian (2 February 2007). "Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study". Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 July 2007. Lord Rees of Ludlow, the president of the Royal Society, Britain's most prestigious scientific institute, said: 'The IPCC is the world's leading authority on climate change...'
  8. ^ "What is the UNFCCC?". UNFCCC.
  9. ^ IPCC. "Principles Governing IPCC Work".. Approved 1–3 October 1998, last amended 14–18 October 2013.
  10. ^ Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich; Rogelj, Joeri; Schaeffer, Michiel; Lissner, Tabea; Licker, Rachel; Fischer, Erich M.; Knutti, Reto; Levermann, Anders; Frieler, Katja; Hare, William (25 July 2016). "Science and policy characteristics of the Paris Agreement temperature goal" (PDF). Nature Climate Change. 6 (9): 827. Bibcode:2016NatCC...6..827S. doi:10.1038/nclimate3096.
  11. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 2007". The Nobel Prize. Nobel Prize Outreach.
  12. ^ IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, New York, US, In press, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.
  13. ^ Harvey, Fiona (9 August 2021). "Major climate changes inevitable and irreversible – IPCC's starkest warning yet". The Guardian.
  14. ^ Sullivan, Helen (10 August 2021). "'Code red for humanity': what the papers say about the IPCC report on the climate crisis". The Guardian.
  15. ^ "Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability".
  16. ^ "Mitigation of climate change".
  17. ^ "Decisions adopted by the 43rd Session of the Panel" (PDF). p. 11 decision 6.