Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Image: IPCC

In 1988, through a United Nations General Assembly resolution entitled “Protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind” WMO and UNEP established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with the goals to:

1. Assess available scientific information on climate change
2. Assess the environmental and socio-economic impacts of climate change
3. Formulate response strategies

The IPCC assesses key scientific material that is of the highest relevance to policymaking and is very important for the international climate agenda now and in the coming years. One of the most important principles of the IPCC, is to be policy relevant but not policy prescriptive. Other important factors are scientific integrity, objectivity, openness and transparency, achieved through a rigorous review process for all IPCC reports and an adoption and approval process that is open to all member governments.

The IPCC is currently organized into three Working Groups and a Task Force.

• Working Group I deals with "The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change",
• Working Group II with "Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability"
• Working Group III with "Mitigation of Climate Change".

The main objective of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories is to develop and refine a methodology for the calculation and reporting of national GHG emissions and removals.

The IPCC has now completed four assessments of climate change, the latest being published in 2007. The 5th assessment report is now underway and is due to be published in 2014. 

In 2007, after the release of the  Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change“.  The award has had a major impact in creating public awareness on various aspects of climate change.

[More in depth information] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change website

[Further information] about the UN work on climate change can be found on the “UN Gateway to Climate Change (delivering as one)” website