Paris, Dec 1 – More than six hundred experts appointed to the three Working Groups of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are gathering in Paris this week to commence work on the first draft of IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report (AR7). This is the first time in IPCC’s history that the three Working Groups are holding a joint Lead Author Meeting.
At the invitation of the French government, through the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, and International Negotiations on Climate and Nature, the Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the IPCC’s Lead Author Meeting, held jointly by the three Working Groups, is taking place from 1 to 5 December. The authors, from more than 100 countries, will focus their work on the initial drafts of the three Working Group contributions to AR7 and cross-cutting topics. Bringing together authors from all three Working Groups in a single venue aims to enable the IPCC to take an ambitious qualitative leap in assessing key interdisciplinary questions related to climate change.
“It is apt that France is hosting our first Lead Author Meeting for the Seventh Assessment Report on the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. The meeting marks the beginning of our assessment of the latest science related to climate change. From here on, our focus will be on delivering scientifically robust and actionable findings relevant for the world’s policymakers,” said IPCC Chair Jim Skea.
The IPCC provides the world’s policymakers with comprehensive summaries that synthesise and contextualise what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks. Through its assessments, the IPCC identifies the strength of scientific agreement in different areas and indicates where further research is needed.
“In this year marking the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, France is proud to host the very first joint meeting of all IPCC authors. This is an opportunity to send a strong message of support for science, which must remain the foundation of our decisions to reduce our emissions everywhere across the world,” said Monique Barbut, Minister of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity and International Negotiations on Climate and Nature.
Mr Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs said: “Ten years after the Paris Agreement, France is proud to champion climate and scientific diplomacy informed by the work of the IPCC. In an era marked by growing information warfare, France stands as a steadfast bulwark against attacks on science. We will continue to act with strength and determination to ensure that science and climate action remain inseparable.”
IPCC assessments aim for the highest standards of scientific excellence, balance, and clarity. Appointed experts volunteer their time and expertise as IPCC authors to assess the tens of thousands of scientific papers published each year.
“The sheer volume and high level of interest that we received from the scientific community to participate in the IPCC is a positive indication of a global commitment to advance climate action policies that are rooted in science,” said Robert Vautard, Co-Chair of Working Group I and senior climate scientist at the National Centre for Scientific Research at Institute Pierre-Simon Laplace, Paris.
IPCC reports are subject to multiple stages of review to ensure a comprehensive, objective and transparent assessment of the current state of knowledge of the science related to climate change. An open and transparent review by experts and governments around the world is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment and to reflect a diverse range of views and expertise.
The IPCC’s first joint Lead Author Meeting will be opened by Monique Barbut, Minister of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity and International Negotiations on Climate and Nature.
For more information about the first Lead Author Meeting please contact:
Woo Qiyun, Senior Communications Manager of the IPCC Working Group II (media@ipccwg2.org).
Media requests for interviews with IPCC Chair Jim Skea should be addressed to IPCC Head of Communications, Andrej Mahecic (amahecic@wmo.int).
ENDS
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, assessing the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, assessing impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, assessing 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 has agreed on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).
At the Panel’s most recent Plenary Session in Lima, Peru, in October 2025, member governments agreed on the scientific content of the 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage. There, the Panel also agreed on the 2026 workplan for the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report
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.
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.