Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body that assesses the science related to climate change and provides policymakers with recommendations on how to combat global heating Global HeatingThe increase in average global temperatures, which has been primarily driven by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions since the start of…Read on اقرأ المزيد .

Assessment Reports produced by the IPCC summarize the latest and most robust research on climate change. The IPCC findings tend to be biased towards the conservative, and their recommendations are non-binding to the governments that have commissioned them.

Foundation of the IPCC

The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to “assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change Climate ChangeThe most commonly used term to refer to the changes in the climate regionally and globally. It is recommended to…Read on اقرأ المزيد , its potential impacts and options for adaptation AdaptationPrecautionary and timely measures taken to address existing or potential impacts of the climate disasterRead on اقرأ المزيد and mitigation MitigationThe efforts to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation measures include reducing emissions on the demand side through energy-efficiency…Read on اقرأ المزيد .”

Organizational structure of the IPCC

Representatives of the IPPC’s 195 member states meet in plenary sessions held at its headquarters in Geneva. The IPCC is currently organized in three working groups and a task force, assisted by technical support units (TSUs).

• Working Group I assesses various topics related to the physical science of climate change.
• Working Group II focuses on the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and on human societies. It also looks into ways to reduce climate-associated risks through adaptation
• Working Group III focuses on mitigation efforts and methods of eliminating GHG emissions Greenhouse Gas (GHG) EmissionsGases that trap infrared rays in the atmosphere, contributing to global heating. Examples include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous…Read on اقرأ المزيد .
• The Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI) develops methods to calculate and report national greenhouse gas emissions.

Roles of the IPCC

The IPCC produces comprehensive Assessment Reports (ARs) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  (IPCC) summarizing the available science on climate change. Three working…Read on اقرأ المزيد that review climate change knowledge and analyze scientific literature. IPCC reports are prepared by thousands of scientists, involved either as authors, contributors, or reviewers and are thousands of pages long, citing many thousands of studies. These reports are viewed by the scientific community as the most reliable assessment of climate change.

Since 1990, the IPCC has had six assessment cycles, each culminating in an Assessment Report. The findings clearly point at the escalating factors contributing to global heating. The most recent report, 2021’s AR6, describes anthropogenic influences on the climate as an unequivocal fact. It warns that the climate crisis will almost certainly cause irreversible changes unless urgent and substantial mitigation efforts are taken on all fronts, especially phasing out of fossil fuels Fossil FuelRefers to energy materials extracted from the earth and used for burning. The three main fossil fuels are oil, fossil…Read on اقرأ المزيد .

Flaws in the IPCC process

Certain elements in the IPCC process have been criticized for undermining the panel’s role. The Summary for Policy Makers (SPM), the most cited part of the panel’s Assessment Reports, has to be approved by all member states. As a result, key messages are often diluted, which led to calls for reforming the process. Requiring consensus approval means that the reports are conservative for the most part. The IPCC’s recommendations are also non-binding. Policymakers have largely ignored them despite the urgent tone with which the reports have been written.