The Guardian • Issue #2047

Background to IPCC report

  • The Guardian
  • Issue #2047

Photo: Markus Spiske – Unsplash License.

The production of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports by consensus, by scientists and governments means that statements that appear in the report summaries are justified by multiple lines of scientific evidence.

The IPCC is comprised of 195 member countries charged with producing comprehensive and objective assessments of the scientific evidence for climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Work on the latest series of reports commenced in 2015.

Its reports provide governments with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies and they are also a key input into international climate change negotiations.

In 2021 and 2022 the IPCC produced a series of reports on the physical science basis of climate change: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, and mitigation. There were three other special reports that tackled focused topics, where governments requested rapid assessments to aid in their decision making. They covered: global warming of 1.5℃, climate change and land, and the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate.

The Synthesis Report brings together the findings of the previous six reports for policy advisers.

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