10 November 2025, video address
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – I would like to thank you for the invitation to address the opening of the Earth Information Day at COP30.
Although I am not with you in person, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about the status of our seventh assessment cycle and our work assessing the latest science related to climate change.
Following the Panel’s 63rd Plenary Session two weeks ago in Lima, the scientific content of all six reports for this cycle has been agreed. These include the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report, respectively covering physical science, adaptation and mitigation; the 2027 Special Report on Cities and Climate Change; the 2027 Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers; and the 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. The critical knowledge gaps that these reports will address have been identified.
The reports are in different stages of production:
Since the start of the current cycle two years ago, significant progress has been made in expanding access to scientific literature for authors from developing countries, in securing support for Chapter Scientists from developing countries, and successfully delivering an Expert Meeting on Gender, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity. These efforts confirm our commitment to inclusivity, diversity and equity across IPCC.
At this stage of the cycle, we can now bridge between the knowledge base established in the past cycle with the key questions and prospective scientific findings of the current one. And of course, observational data is foundational for IPCC’s work, including in the context of overshoot of 1.5 degrees warming.
Now to illustrate all this, allow me to expand on three topics: attribution, adaptation, and sustainable development and equity.
So regarding attribution, the Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report clearly states that “human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming”.
There is high confidence that some impacts, such as observable increases in hot extremes, can be attributed to human activities. Human activities are likely the principal driver of intensifying heavy precipitation. Yet there is lower confidence regarding human influence on agricultural and ecological drought. The Seventh Assessment Report will address these lower-confidence topics with a view, if its supported by the evidence, to reaching robust conclusions.
We will be addressing the attribution of specific weather events to global climate change. The Working Group I report will extend the attribution of large-scale changes in the global and regional climate systems to the attribution of local-level changes and extremes. Working Group II will extend the assessment of attribution to observed and projected impacts.
We are going to place greater emphasis on adaptation in the current cycle, while not, of course, neglecting mitigation. Adaptation has lacked the means to measure progress. It simply isn’t easy to separate adaptation investment from wider infrastructure investment and patterns of development. Working Group II will address that by revising and updating the 1994 Technical Guidelines on assessing impacts and adaptation, including indicators, metrics and methodologies. The Working Group II report will, for the first time, include a chapter on finance, an indispensable precondition for successful adaptation.
Regarding sustainable development, the IPCC will pay closer attention to the role of climate action, including progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Regional and thematic chapters of the Working Group II report will address distributional aspects, including human rights, equity and justice, and impacts on vulnerable groups. The report also includes a chapter focused on responses to losses and damages, which are disproportionately experienced by vulnerable communities and groups.
An entire chapter of the Working Group III report is dedicated to sustainable development and mitigation, covering the distributional consequences of mitigation actions, synergies and trade-offs with sustainable development, and implications for biodiversity and ecosystems, conservation, and restoration.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The broader scientific community is already hard at work on these topics and others. Our unique role is to assess and synthesise the vast and exponentially growing body of knowledge on climate change, its impacts, and available response options. During testing times, and facing complex challenges, IPCC will continue to reach for consensus on a shared and trusted evidence base. This is essential for underpinning effective action on the truly global challenge of climate change.
Thank you.
10 November 2025, video address
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for the invitation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – to address the opening of COP 30. As the Chair of the UN body mandated to assess the scientific knowledge related to climate change, we are grateful for the opportunity to deliver this video message.
Allow me to start by congratulating the government of Brazil and the city of Belém on hosting this year’s COP, the first in Brazil since the 1992 Earth Summit. The “Rio Conventions” stand as a testament to a global commitment to tackling environmental and development issues.
Since then, the challenges posed by climate change to both human and natural systems have become both more acute and more evident.
The World Meteorological Organization has shown that 2024 was the warmest year on record, reaching 1.55 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, with the long-run trend standing at between 1.34 and 1.42 degrees Celsius.
UNEP’s 2025 Emissions Gap Report, released last week, shows that even if countries fully implement their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), global temperatures could still rise by 2.3 to 2.5°C this century.
Based on the evidence in the most recent IPCC reports, it is now almost inevitable that 1.5°C of global warming will be exceeded in the near term. This is unambiguously due to insufficient climate action over the last few years, and the consequent continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
But, returning global warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century may still be possible. This would involve immediate, deep and sustained reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the removal of substantial amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Though there are important knowledge gaps around the feasibility of doing the latter.
In that regard, I am pleased to inform you that two weeks ago, the IPCC member governments agreed on the scientific content of the 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage at the Panel’s 63rd Plenary session, in Lima, Peru.
With the Panel’s latest decision, the scientific content of all planned reports for the IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle has been agreed, and this clears the way for their production and publication starting from 2027.
IPCC reports have unequivocally established that climate-related risks, losses and damages, and adaptation needs increase with every increment of global warming. The Seventh Assessment Report, while certainly not neglecting mitigation, will place greater emphasis on climate resilience and adaptation. For the first time in IPCC history, we will have chapters on adaptation finance and responses to losses and damages.
As the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report shows, we have agency over our collective future, through both adaptation and mitigation actions. We have the know-how, the resources, and the tools to address the climate change challenge.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The IPCC’s capacity to assess and synthesise the vast and continually growing body of scientific knowledge on climate change, its impacts, and available responses is unique.
The key findings of our reports are durable. The many adaptation and mitigation options identified in our reports can be implemented right now. The IPCC is going to continue to deliver clear, authoritative, timely and actionable scientific findings that can support UNFCCC processes.
I wish you all fruitful and constructive discussions in Belém. I will be following your work closely and contributing to several events remotely.
Thank you.
ENDS
LIMA, Oct 30 – The member governments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agreed on the scientific content of the 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage at the Panel’s 63rd Plenary session, which closed this evening in Lima, Peru.
This is one of two methodology reports of the seventh assessment cycle. Carbon Dioxide Removal refers to anthropogenic activities that remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it durably in geological reservoirs or in products.
The decision opens the next important stage in the report production in which member governments, observer organizations, and IPCC Bureau members will nominate experts to serve as authors.
With this decision, the entire scientific content of all planned reports for the seventh assessment cycle has been agreed upon, clearing the way for their production.
The Panel also agreed on the 2026 workplan for the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7). The Panel invited the three Working Groups to continue their work by convening Lead Author meetings and other activities planned and budgeted for 2026. The work on the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report will kick off in Paris already in December this year with the first-ever joint Lead Author meeting.
“Panel’s decisions in Lima give strong impetus to our work on our methodology reports and ensure the continuity of IPCC scientific activities and operations related to the production of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report,” said IPCC Chair Jim Skea.
The three Working Group contributions assess the physical science basis of climate change; impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and mitigation of climate change.
The Panel also approved IPCC’s overall budget for 2026.
For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office
Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Andrej Mahecic: +41 79 704 2459 Werani Zabula: +41 22 730 8120
Notes for Editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.
Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, scientists and experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.
IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.
About the Seventh Assessment Cycle
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Task Force Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi.
At its first Plenary Session in the seventh assessment cycle – the 60th Plenary Session in Istanbul, Türkiye, in January 2024 – the Panel agreed to produce in this cycle the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), namely the Working Group I report on the Physical Science Basis, the Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and the Working Group III report on Mitigation of Climate Change. The Synthesis Report of the Seventh Assessment Report will be produced after the completion of the Working Group reports and released by late 2029.
The Panel decided already during the previous cycle to produce a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers during AR7.. Scientists have also been asked to deliver a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. At the IPCC’s 61st Plenary Session held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 27 July to 2 August 2024, the Panel agreed upon the outlines for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities scheduled for approval and publication in March 2027 and for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcers scheduled for publication in the second half 2027. The Panel agreed on the outlines of the Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report during its 62nd Session in February 2025 held in in Hangzhou, China.
In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.
IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provided direct scientific input to the First Global Stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.
The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.
The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (September 2019).
For more information visit www.ipcc.ch.
The website includes outreach materials including videos about the IPCC and video recordings from outreach events conducted as webinars or live-streamed events.
Most videos published by the IPCC can be found on our YouTube channel.
LIMA, PERU, Oct 27 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) today opened its 63rd Plenary Session in Lima, Peru, bringing together some 300 delegates from IPCC member governments and observer organizations to advance its work in the seventh assessment cycle.
Over the four-day session, the Panel will continue discussions on the timelines for the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), as well as on the draft outline and timeline of the Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage.
In addition, the Panel will discuss the IPCC’s Trust Fund programme and budget for 2026, the indicative budget for 2027 and 2028, a proposal for an expert meeting, and other agenda items.
“By now, we know the scope of the Seventh Assessment Report, and we have selected the scientists who will be delivering the work,” said IPCC Chair Jim Skea. “Building on the progress made so far, the Panel now needs to settle the important matter of the timelines for producing the reports, taking into account inclusive assessment practices and policy relevance. I trust that Panel members will seek consensus on the timelines in line with the IPCC’s established procedures.”
The Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugo de Zela addressed the opening of the IPCC’s 63rd Plenary Session, reaffirming the country’s commitment to the global fight against climate change. In his remarks, Minister De Zela urged member states to act with a sense of urgency and responsibility to finalize the reports and methodologies necessary to accelerate climate action.
“Information produced by the IPCC remains essential to guiding the policy decisions of States seeking to reduce global warming,” said Minister De Zela.
The IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle formally began in July 2023 and will culminate in the release of the AR7 Synthesis Report in 2029. In this cycle, the IPCC will prepare the AR7, which comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report, as well as update the 1994 Technical Guidelines for Assessing Climate Change Impact and Adaptation. The Panel will also produce a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, and two Methodology Reports.
Delegates were welcomed at an opening ceremony in Lima this morning, which included remarks from Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Hugo de Zela, Deputy Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources for Peru’s Ministry of Environment, Raquel Hilianova Soto Torres, the IPCC Chair Jim Skea, and Director of Climate Change Division of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Martin Krause. The opening also included projections of video messages from Celeste Saulo, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization and Simon Stiell, the Executive Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Except for the opening session, the IPCC meeting is closed to the media. Visuals and video messages from the opening ceremony will be available here.
For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office
Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Andrej Mahecic: +41 79 704 2459 Werani Zabula: +41 22 730 8120
Notes for Editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.
Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, scientists and experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.
IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.
About the Seventh Assessment Cycle
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Task Force Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi.
At its first Plenary Session in the seventh assessment cycle – the 60th Plenary Session in Istanbul, Türkiye, in January 2024 – the Panel agreed to produce in this cycle the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), namely the Working Group I report on the Physical Science Basis, the Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and the Working Group III report on Mitigation of Climate Change. The Synthesis Report of the Seventh Assessment Report will be produced after the completion of the Working Group reports and released by late 2029.
The Panel decided already during the previous cycle to produce a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers during AR7.. Scientists have also been asked to deliver a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. At the IPCC’s 61st Plenary Session held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 27 July to 2 August 2024, the Panel agreed upon the outlines for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities scheduled for approval and publication in March 2027 and for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcers scheduled for publication in the second half 2027. The Panel agreed on the outlines of the Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report during its 62nd Session in February 2025 held in in Hangzhou, China.
In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.
IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provided direct scientific input to the First Global Stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.
The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.
The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (September 2019).
For more information visit www.ipcc.ch.
The website includes outreach materials including videos about the IPCC and video recordings from outreach events conducted as webinars or live-streamed events.
Most videos published by the IPCC can be found on our YouTube channel.
27 October 2025, Lima, Peru.
Check against delivery
Your Excellency, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Hugo de Zela,
Deputy Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources at the Ministry of Environment, Ms Raquel Hilianova Soto Torres,
Director of Climate Change Division of the UN Environment Programme, Martin Krause,
Distinguished delegates, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to the sixty-third plenary session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC.
Allow me first to greet government delegations, representatives of observer organisations and members of the IPCC Bureau.
As the IPCC Chair, I wish to thank our hosts – the Peruvian government and the city of Lima – for their hospitality and excellent organisation. I know that they have made extraordinary efforts to show their hospitality and welcome us here in not the easiest circumstances.
Our host is a country of ancient civilisation – the Inca people. We have much to learn from cultures that came before us. The structures at Machu Picchu stand as a testament to the Incas’ engineering prowess, with structures built to last and designed to be earthquake-resistant. They practised disaster risk reduction before the term was invented.
This brings me to why we are in Lima this week. More than two years into the seventh assessment cycle, this is our fourth Plenary session. Input from the elected Bureau has been instrumental work in guiding the Panel and ensuring steady progress.
The expert review of the First Order Draft of the Special Report on Cities and Climate Change began ten days ago and will run until mid-December. The second Lead Author meeting for the Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers took place less than two weeks ago, and authors are now working on the First Order Draft.
The Panel’s February decision on the scientific content of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report enabled us to invite nominations of experts to serve as authors. The Bureau concluded its selection in July, and by the end of August, we had appointed 664 authors from more than 100 countries. Among them are seven Peruvian scientists working on the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and the three Working Groups’ reports. With nominations exceeding available places by a factor of almost six, this speaks to the high quality of the Peruvian nominations.
During these 24 months of the cycle, significant progress has been made on expanded access to scientific literature for authors from developing countries, on a successful Expert Meeting on Gender, Diversity and Inclusion, and on securing support for Chapter Scientists from developing countries. These efforts reflect a growing commitment to inclusivity, diversity and equity across IPCC.
Ladies and gentlemen,
By now, we know the scope of scientific knowledge we need to assess for the Seventh Assessment Report, and who will be delivering the work.
The missing piece is a Panel decision setting out the workplans for the three Working Group reports. This is one of the priority agenda items this week.
Our work for this week also includes completing the outline of the Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage. Agreement on the outline is essential if we are to move forward promptly with this report.
Before I close, allow me to thank our member governments for their scientific and financial support. Our delivery of the most up-to-date, rigorously reviewed, best available science relies on voluntary financial contributions from our member governments.
I invite all member governments to offer support for the vitally important work that the Panel has agreed upon for this cycle. The IPCC Trust Fund is the main mechanism supporting participation from developing country governments and scientists.
Every contribution to the IPCC Trust Fund is important and appreciated. But predictable, multi-year funding commitments are especially valuable. They are vital for securing a sustainable and inclusive basis for IPCC’s current and future work.
Your voluntary contributions ensure the scientific integrity and continuity of the IPCC as the most authoritative and policy-relevant voice on climate science globally.
Thank you.
ENDS
The representatives of member governments and observer organizations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be meeting in Lima, Peru, from 27 to 30 October 2025.
The Panel, comprising 195 member governments, is expected to continue discussions on the workplan of the Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report, as well as on the draft outline and workplan of the Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage.
The 63rd Session of the Panel, hosted by the Peruvian government, will also consider proposals for Expert Meetings and Workshops to be held in its current cycle as well as the IPCC’s program and budget, among other business.
Opening session
The opening session of the meeting will take place on Monday, 27 October 2025, at 10.00 a.m. Lima local time (UTC-5) at ESAN Convention Centre in Lima. During the opening, the Plenary will be addressed by IPCC Chair Jim Skea, Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Hugo de Zela, Deputy Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources for Peru’s Ministry of Environment, Raquel Hilianova Soto Torres, and Director of Climate Change Division of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Martin Krause.
The delegates will also see the video messages from Celeste Saulo, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization and Simon Stiell, the Executive Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Where: ESAN Convention Centre, Jr. Alonso de Molina 1652, Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
Except for the opening session, the IPCC Plenary meetings are closed to media.
Remarks from the opening session and other assets will be posted here.
For more information, contact:
Peruvian government media contact: prensa@rree.gob.pe
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int;
Andrej Mahecic, +41 22 730 8516; Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
Notes for Editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.
Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, scientists and experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.
IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.
About the Seventh Assessment Cycle
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Task Force Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi.
At its first Plenary Session in the seventh assessment cycle – the 60th Plenary Session in Istanbul, Türkiye, in January 2024 – the Panel agreed to produce in this cycle the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), namely the Working Group I report on the Physical Science Basis, the Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and the Working Group III report on Mitigation of Climate Change. The Synthesis Report of the Seventh Assessment Report will be produced after the completion of the Working Group reports and released by late 2029.
The Panel decided already during the previous cycle to produce a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers during AR7.. Scientists have also been asked to deliver a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. At the IPCC’s 61st Plenary Session held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 27 July to 2 August 2024, the Panel agreed upon the outlines for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities scheduled for approval and publication in March 2027 and for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcers scheduled for publication in the second half 2027.
In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.
IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provided direct scientific input to the First Global Stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.
The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.
The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (September 2019).
For more information visit www.ipcc.ch.
The website includes outreach materials including videos about the IPCC and video recordings from outreach events conducted as webinars or live-streamed events. Most videos published by the IPCC can be found on our YouTube channel
Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is filling the position of
Deadline: to apply before November 3, 2025
Help support the authors of the IPCC in their task to deliver the comprehensive and policy-relevant assessment reports. Do you have expertise in scientific capacity building, empowerment and co-creation of scientific products at the international level?
We are looking for a dedicated Science and Capacity Officer with strong interpersonal skills. Are you committed to contribute to an inclusive global scientific practice? Please read on!
The Technical Support Unit (TSU) of IPCC Working Group II provides scientific, logistical, and editorial support for researchers who write reports focused on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. It coordinates hundreds of authors worldwide.
Your goal is to ensure that authors- especially from developing countries and under-resourced environments – are equipped with the knowledge, tools, and skills needed to deliver high-quality, policy-relevant assessments. It acquires a combination of strategic planning, operational execution (organize and coordinate), and author empowerment.
Together with the Chapter Coordinating Lead Authors (CLAs) you will assist in identifying the capacity building needs of authors. You develop custom-made engagement packages for their author teams. Ensuring consistency across chapters while tailoring approaches to diverse scientific, cultural, and regional contexts. This way of working needs to be embedded in the operational and scientific processes in which the authors are engaged.
Activities you will organize and coordinate may include:
Due to the international character of the job, willingness to travel to implement capacity building support at international meetings is a must. Also to have a high degree of stress-resistance to work to deadlines is an asset.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is in its Seventh Assessment cycle. The Working Group II Technical Support Unit (TSU), which provides the scientific, technical and organizational support of the activities and products of the Working Group focusing on the Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability of Climate Change. The TSU is co-located at Deltares in the Netherlands and at the Singapore Management University in Singapore.
This is a fulltime fixed term contract at Deltares for the duration of at least 2.5 years. Parttime contract is negotiable, subject to flexibility and minimum level of commitment. The position is funded by the Dutch government and employment conditions (e.g., renumeration scales, insurance and other benefits) is through Deltares. We offer:
Apply with your CV and motivation letter before November 3. Applications without a motivation letter will not be reviewed. Interviews will be held on November 18 and 19. Selection may include multiple interviews and evaluation of assignments representative of the support work carried out in the TSU. Starting date: as soon as possible. The position is based in Delft in the Netherlands. Working remotely from another country is not preferred. Questions? Please call Brian de Bruin (Recruitment Officer sollicitatie@deltares.nl +31615267686).
Given the ambition for cultural diversity in the TSU applicants from developing countries are particularly encouraged to apply.
We assist with the application to the Immigration Service (IND) if you don’t have an EU passport. Together with the Expat Management Group (EMG) we make sure everything is arranged.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is in the process of preparing its Seventh Assessment Report (AR7). The IPCC Working Groups are seeking highly motivated early-career researchers from developing countries and countries in transition to apply as Chapter Scientists to support author teams for the AR7.
The call for applications is being coordinated by International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) External Activities Unit, together with the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), organizations with extensive track records for supporting sustainable science in the global South.
Applicants may apply to only one Working Group and to a maximum of three Chapters. Successful applicants will be required to work under the general rules and procedures of the IPCC. Chapter Scientists will be acknowledged in the IPCC report.
The role of a Chapter Scientist is an excellent opportunity for early-career researchers to participate in the IPCC process. The primary role of a Chapter Scientist is to provide technical support to the author teams in the Working Groups. This can involve a wide range of support tasks, including literature review, figure drafting, reference checking and compilation, traceability checking, identification of overlaps or inconsistencies across chapters, and technical editing, facilitating communication between the author team, organization of chapter teleconferences and more.
We are looking for applicants with an advanced university degree related to climate change, its physical science basis, impacts, adaptation, vulnerability, mitigation. Applicants must also be a citizen of a developing country or economies in transition at the time of application. We highly encourage researchers and citizens of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to apply. Please refer to the website for the full list of eligibility as indicated in the link below.
Chapter Scientists will not be employees of IPCC, or IPCC Working Groups’ Technical Support Units and will be expected to work from their home institutions (if applicable) or be based in a country where they have legal standing to work independently.
Contractual arrangements for the Chapter Scientists role, which includes a stipend over the course of 4 years, as well as equipment and IT support, will be managed by ICTP. They will also receive support for travel and subsistence for their participation in Lead Author Meetings, which occur twice per year. Attendance at the IPCC author meetings is an excellent opportunity to meet and work with a diverse set of high-profile scientists from multiple countries.
Note: Deadline for applications is on 18 October 2025.
For more information and to register, please refer to the following website: https://www.ictp.it/opportunity/ipcc-ar7-chapter-scientists
For any further questions, contact oea@ictp.it
Prof. Dr. Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne, Vice-Chair of the IPCC Working Group I and a professor at ETH Zürich, is this year’s co-laureate of the prestigious German Environmental Award presented by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). The DBU award is among the most notable in Europe and comes with a €500,000 purse, which this year will be split with the other co-laureate – the management duo Lars Baumgürtel and Birgitt Bendiek being awarded for circular business model.
This year’s DBU award is bestowed upon Prof. Seneviratne for her “excellent innovative climate research”. In the citation, the DBU Secretary-General Alexander Bonde describes Prof. Seneviratne as a “brilliant climate scientist,” who has used new research methods such as satellite image analysis and “groundbreaking studies on land-climate dynamics to highlight the interactions between soil moisture, vegetation, evaporation and the atmosphere in international discourse.”
The German Environmental Award also recognises Seneviratne’s “outstanding climate protection communication”, her work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the establishment of the Swiss National Drought Platform.
Since 2007, Seneviratne has been a Professor at the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zürich. She studied environmental physics and biology at ETH Zürich and the University of Lausanne. She obtained her PhD in 2003 at ETH Zürich and was a postdoctoral scientist at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Centre from 2003 to 2004. Her research addresses climate change and extreme events, land-climate interactions, and terrestrial water processes.
In her work with the IPCC she has been a Coordinating Lead Author and Lead Author on several IPCC reports, including the 2012 Special Report on Extreme events, the 2018 Special Report on 1.5°C Global warming, and the 2021 Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report on which she was a Coordinating Lead Author of the Weather and Climate Extremes chapter. In the current seventh assessment cycle, Prof. Seneviratne has been elected as one of the Vice-Chairs of Working Group I, assessing the physical science basis of climate change.
The DBU German Environmental Award, which, this year, will be presented for the 33rd time, honours the achievements of people who make an exemplary contribution to protecting and preserving the environment.
The award ceremony will take place on Sunday, October 26, in Chemnitz, Germany, in the presence of the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
GENEVA, September 17 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) opened today the registration for experts to serve as Expert Reviewers on the First-Order Draft (FOD) of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.
Following the Second Lead Author Meeting this August, authors of this Special Report have prepared a first draft, which will be open in a month for experts worldwide to review and provide comments.
The review of the First Order Draft is the first of multiple review stages foreseen for every IPCC report. The review process is critical in preparing IPCC reports, as it helps ensure scientific rigour, the widest range of perspectives, and relevance to the urgent challenges urban areas and communities face in a warming world and changing climate.
Scheduled for release in March 2027, the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities will be the first IPCC report published in the seventh assessment cycle. It is also the only special report in the current cycle. The report aims to provide a timely assessment of the latest science related to climate change and cities, including climate impacts and risks, as well as adaptation and mitigation options.
This review is the first opportunity for experts to engage with the draft text of the Special Report. All review comments submitted by experts or governments are addressed by the authors. The comments and the author responses, together with the drafts, are published after the report is finalised.
“Our team of around 100 authors have dedicated their time and expertise to develop a meaningful and holistic first draft of the Special Report. We sincerely invite members of the urban community to come forward to provide comments to ensure this report will reflect the latest science and be relevant to the work of urban practitioners around the world,” said Winston Chow, Co-Chair of Working Group II.
“We want to hear the voices of experts from around the world, as we know that city contexts differ worldwide. Expert reviews are critical touchpoints with the global community. They allow authors to consider diverse perspectives and listen to local realities,” said Bart van den Hurk, Co-Chair of Working Group II.
Interested experts can register for participation in the review here. The registration of experts closes on 30 November 2025.
The FOD of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities is available for Expert Review from 17 October to 12 December 2025.
For more information about the Expert Review, please contact Woo Qiyun, Senior Communications Manager, IPCC Working Group II Technical Support Unit, media@ipccwg2.org.
More information about IPCC review processes
For more information about IPCC and its processes, please contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Notes for Editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.
Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, scientists and experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.
IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.
About the Seventh Assessment Cycle
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Task Force Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi.
At its first Plenary Session in the seventh assessment cycle – the 60th Plenary Session in Istanbul, Türkiye, in January 2024 – the Panel agreed to produce in this cycle the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), namely the Working Group I report on the Physical Science Basis, the Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and the Working Group III report on Mitigation of Climate Change. The Synthesis Report of the Seventh Assessment Report will be produced after the completion of the Working Group reports and released by late 2029.
During its 62nd Plenary Session held in Hangzhou, China, in February 2025, the Panel agreed on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).
The Panel had already decided during the previous cycle to produce a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers during AR7.. Scientists have also been asked to deliver a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage.
At the IPCC’s 61st Plenary Session held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 27 July to 2 August 2024, the Panel agreed upon the outlines for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities scheduled for approval and publication in March 2027 and for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcers scheduled for publication in the second half of 2027.
In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.
IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provided direct scientific input to the First Global Stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.
The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.
The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (September 2019).
For more information, please visit www.ipcc.ch.
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