In another sense there is indeed such a thing as the IPCC - Specifically, its leadership and most engaged participants. The Working Groups are largely independent of each other and even chapters within the same Working Group can be written largely independently of other chapters. Today I take a look at the IPCC’s self-described political agenda and argue that the institution finds itself at a fork in the road.īefore proceeding, I want to be clear about what I mean when I talk about “the IPCC.” In one sense there is really no such thing as “the IPCC.” The organization’s assessment process includes many hundreds of people who do their work across three Working Groups to produce many dozens of chapters covering a wide range of topics.

Regular readers of The Honest Broker will know that I have taken issue with the recent IPCC Sixth Assessment (AR6) based on an unacceptable number of errors and omissions in my areas of expertise, as well as its over-reliance on the most extreme climate scenarios. Such assessments can also help us to understand policy options and expectations for how different choices might lead to different outcomes. Scientific assessments are of critical importance in many areas to help policy makers and the public to identify what is known, what is uncertain, as well as where there is contestation, uncertainties and areas of fundamental ignorance. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established as a scientific assessment process more than 35 years ago.

Political agenda