Scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are meeting to finalize the third part of its first major climate assessment in seven years. But what exactly is the IPCC?
The IPCC presents options to mitigate the damage and adapt to climate changeImage: picture alliance / Geisler-Fotopress
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Its findings influence governments, business leaders and even young protesters on one of the biggest issues facing the planet: the climate crisis.
But many people may never have heard of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC is a UN body that evaluates climate science. It brings together leading scientists to study climate change and how it is reshaping the world. It also explores solutions to cut emissions and adapt to a hotter planet.
Founded in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program, the IPCC produces major assessments every few years. The reports are dense documents thousands of pages long — but are accompanied by summaries for policymakers that are intended for a broader readership.
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Gold-standard for climate science
To write these reports, the IPCC selects hundreds of scientists from across the world to evaluate peer-reviewed scientific literature and, less often, government and industry reports. In that sense, none of the findings in the reports are new.The scientists consider thousands of studies when writing their assessments.
The most recent publication is the IPCC's sixth assessment report. It published the first installment on the physical science of climate change in August 2021. The second section, on the effects and adaptation, was released in February. The third section on slowing climate change and cutting emissions is out in April. It will be completed by a synthesis report published in September.
The sixth assessment comes after a series of special reports published in 2018 and 2019 that covered projections for life on a planet that will have warmed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), and the effects of climate change on land, oceans and icy places. The special report on 1.5 C of warming is credited with forcing journalists to pay more attention to climate change.
Delegates and experts gathered in 2017 to discuss special reports on climate impacts across land, sea and iceImage: Getty Images/AFP/H. Guerrero
Projections, not predictions
IPCC climate scientists stress that they do not tell governments what to do, but rather assess different pathways they could take. In UN jargon, they say they are "policy-relevant but not policy-prescriptive."
They also say their conclusions for the future are projections — based on different warming scenarios — rather than predictions.
The summaries for policymakers they publish with each report are prepared by experts and reviewed line-by-line in marathon plenary sessions by UN member states who must then unanimously approve them. These documents guide decision-makers.
But while the science in the reports themselves is left entirely to the experts, the inclusion of governments in the review process has raised criticisms this lets politicians water down the conclusions. For instance, the sixth assessment report on the physical science of climate change did not mention the words "fossil fuels" in its 40-page summary for policymakers because Saudi Arabia successfully lobbied to remove it.
IPCC authors stress that they can — and do — push back on comments that are not justified by the science. Among scientists, the reports are viewed as the most comprehensive and reliable assessments of climate change.
In 2007, the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
This is an updated version of a previous article.
In pictures: Deadly extreme weather shocks the world
From the Mediterranean to Germany to California and beyond, dramatic pictures of the severe impacts of extreme weather have been dominating the news this summer. Is the climate crisis to blame?
Image: Jon Nazca/REUTERS
Rainfall best ally for Spanish firefighters
A wildfire that burned through at least 7,780 hectares (30 square miles) in about a week and devastated forests in southern Spain was brought under control thanks to steady rains. The downpour helped the firefighters, who were backed by some 50 aircrafts. The blaze was one of the most difficult to combat in recent times in Spain. Some 2,600 people were forced to flee their homes.
Image: Jon Nazca/REUTERS
Fierce flash floods in Europe
Unprecedented flooding — caused by two months' worth of rainfall in two days — has resulted in devastating damage in central Europe, leaving at least 226 people dead in Germany and Belgium. Narrow valley streams swelled into raging floods in the space of hours, wiping out centuries-old communities. Rebuilding the ruined homes, businesses and infrastructure is expected to cost billions of euros.
Image: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images
Europe on fire
While half of Europe is drowning, elsewhere areas are going up in flames: Large fires raged, particularly in Greece, Italy and Turkey. They have caused unforeseeable monetary damage, while thousands of people in Europe have lost their homes and their belongings.
Image: ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP
Record heat in Italy
In addition to deadly wildfires, Italy also battled record heat temperatures, with the Italian Health Ministry issuing the maximum possible heat warning level for many cities. On the island of Sicily, 48.8 degrees Celsius (almost 120 degrees Fahrenheit) was measured on August 11 — a new European heat record. The heat could make existing fires worse, or lead to new ones.
Image: Andrew Medichini/AP/picture alliance
Still out of control
Meanwhile, the Dixie Fire continues smoldering in California. It's California's largest fire on record, and among the most destructive in the state's history — it wiped the town of Greenville off the map. Although it's about 60% contained, the fire continues to burn two months in. Meanwhile, hot and dry conditions continue in the region, spreading fears of more fire.
Image: DAVID SWANSON/REUTERS
Extreme rainy seasons
Earlier this summer, record floods also hit parts of India and central China, overwhelming dams and drains and flooding streets. The downpours have been particularly heavy, even for the rainy season. Scientists have predicted that climate change will lead to more frequent and intense rainfall — warmer air holds more water, creating more rain.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Greece melts down amid heat waves
As nations flood in northern Europe, Mediterranean countries like Greece were in the grip of several heat waves. In the first week of July, temperatures soared to 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit). Tourism hot spots like the Acropolis were forced to shut during the day, while the extreme heat also sparked forest fires outside Thessaloniki, which helicopters tried to douse.
Image: Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP/Getty Images
Sardinia scorched by 'unprecedented' wildfires
"It is an unprecedented reality in Sardinia’s history," said Sardinia's Governor Christian Salinas of the ongoing wildfires that have scorched the historic central western area of Montiferru. "So far, 20,000 hectares of forest that represent centuries of environmental history of our island have gone up in ashes." Around 1,500 people were evacuated from the island by the end of July.
Image: Vigili del Fuoco/REUTERS
Heat records in the US, Canada
Intense heat is becoming more common, as seen in late June in the US states of Washington and Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Scorching temperatures under a "heat dome," hot air trapped for days by high pressure fronts, caused hundreds of heat-related deaths. The village of Lytton recorded a high of 49.6 Celsius (121 Fahrenheit) — and burned to the ground the next day.
Image: Ted S. Warren/AP/picture alliance
Wildfires sparking thunderstorms
Heat and drought are fueling one of the most intense wildfire seasons in the West Coast and Pacific Northwest regions. Oregon's Bootleg Fire, which burned an area the size of Los Angeles in just two weeks, was so big it created its own weather and sent smoke all the way to New York City. A recent study said the weather conditions would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change.
Image: National Wildfire Coordinating Group/Inciweb/ZUMA Wire/picture alliance
Amazon nearing a 'tipping point'?
To the south, central Brazil is suffering its worst drought 100 years, increasing the risk of fires and further deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Researchers recently reported that a large swath of the southeastern Amazon has flipped from absorbing to emitting planet-warming CO2 emissions, pushing the rainforest closer to a "tipping point."
Image: Andre Penner/AP Photo/picture alliance
'On the verge of starvation'
After years of unrelenting drought, more than 1.14 million people in Madagascar are food-insecure, with some now forced to eat raw cactus, wild leaves and roots, and locusts in famine-like conditions. With the absence of natural disaster, crop failure or political conflict, the dire situation in the African nation is said to be first famine in modern history caused solely by climate change.
Image: Laetitia Bezain/AP photo/picture alliance
More people fleeing natural disasters
The number of people fleeing conflict and natural disasters hit a 10-year high in 2020, with a record 55 million people relocating within their own country. That's in addition to some 26 million people who fled across borders. A joint report released by refugee monitors in May found that three-quarters of the internally displaced were victims of extreme weather — and that number is likely to grow.
