Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assesses scientific knowledge about climate change so that governments can make informed decisions. Its mandate is to provide comprehensive assessments of the scientific, technical and socioeconomic information relevant to human-induced climate change, its potential impacts, and options for adaptation and mitigation.

Core mandate and guiding approach

Established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the IPCC connects scientific assessment with governmental decision-making.

• It assesses the causes of climate change, its observed and projected effects, the risks it creates, and possible responses.
• Its assessments are policy-relevant but not policy-prescriptive: they explain evidence, consequences and response options without directing governments to adopt a particular policy.
• It examines scientific, technical and socioeconomic information comprehensively, objectively, openly and transparently.

How it assesses knowledge

The IPCC is an assessment body, not a research laboratory. It synthesises existing knowledge rather than conducting original research or directly monitoring climate variables.

• Expert authors assess published literature to identify established findings, areas of agreement, gaps in knowledge and uncertainties.
• Draft reports undergo expert and government review, helping scrutinise their scientific accuracy and balance.
• Its assessments distinguish the strength of evidence and scientific agreement and use calibrated language to communicate confidence and, where appropriate, likelihood.
• Governments approve the Summaries for Policymakers line by line in dialogue with the authors, who ensure consistency with the underlying assessment.

Organisation and principal outputs

The mandate is carried out through three working groups and a task force, each addressing a distinct part of the climate-change assessment process.

• Working Group I assesses the physical science basis of climate change.
• Working Group II assesses impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, including risks to natural and human systems.
• Working Group III assesses mitigation, including options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing their removal.
• The Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories develops and refines internationally agreed methodologies for calculating and reporting national emissions and removals.
• Its principal outputs include comprehensive assessment reports, special reports on specific topics, and methodology reports for greenhouse gas inventories.
• These outputs inform national climate policies and international climate negotiations, including those under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; the IPCC itself does not negotiate agreements.