1 December 2025
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Madame la Ministre, Monsieur le Maire, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for your warm welcome and for your support of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As Chair of this UN body mandated with assessing climate science, I am grateful for the excellent organisation and hospitality provided by the French government and the city of Saint-Denis.
Next week marks the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement—an extraordinary achievement made possible by global ambition and by France’s diplomatic leadership. With ten years of hindsight, Madame la Ministre, I believe a simple “Chapeau!” expresses our admiration for France´s role in enabling this landmark treaty.
We are nearly 700 participants gathered here this week. Saint-Denis, home to the French national football and rugby union teams at nearby Stade de France, is well prepared for crowds of this size. In the spirit of this place, as we “kick off” our work and your author “teams” move through many “huddles” to “tackle” key scientific questions, perhaps a few more rugby metaphors will find their way into IPCC language.
The Fifth Assessment Report laid the scientific foundations for the Paris Agreement—an example of how IPCC assessment reports underpinned global climate policymaking. It is symbolic that this anniversary coincides with our First Lead Author Meeting for the Seventh Assessment Report. For the first time, authors from all three Working Groups are gathering to launch the Seventh Assessment Report.
It is also my first opportunity to meet all of you—experts from over 100 countries. I congratulate you on your appointments. Selected from several thousand nominations, you bring exceptional expertise across many disciplines. As you look around the room, your presence here clearly reflects our commitment to diversity, gender balance, and greater participation from developing countries and economies in transition.
This meeting is an invaluable opportunity to strengthen interdisciplinarity, to build bridges across Working Groups, and engage deeply with the complex scientific questions ahead. Today marks the moment when our preparations end and assessment of scientific work truly begins.
Let me outline three themes that guide my vision for this assessment cycle: inclusivity and diversity, interdisciplinarity, and policy relevance.
First: Inclusivity and diversity: We have made progress in three areas. Access to literature: Through the Social Responsibility Committee of the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, developing-country authors now have guaranteed access to leading scientific journals through 2028. We are optimistic about bringing additional publishers on board.
Gender, diversity, and inclusion: In September we held an Expert Meeting led by Vice-Chair Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, resulting in a broad set of recommendations to strengthen equity and inclusivity throughout the IPCC to be considered by the Panel at future sessions. Through the Secretariat we have procured training services on Gener, Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity, which will be launched at this meeting. You will learn more about this training later today.
Since the start of the cycle we have also secured meaningful support for Chapter Scientists from developing countries across all Working Groups.
Second: Interdisciplinarity: Our Working Groups are collaborating more closely than ever, including on the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and on this week’s meeting. Each IPCC Vice-Chair works directly with one of Working Groups and helps facilitate cooperation. Externally, Vice-Chairs are strengthening ties with UN scientific bodies including IPBES, the International Resources Panel, and the World Climate Research Programme. IPBES has invited us to co-sponsor a workshop on biodiversity and climate change, and we continue to explore other opportunities for joint work.
Third: Policy relevance: IPCC findings remain central to global climate policymaking at all levels. They are durable and stand the test of time. At COP30 in Belém, the Mutirao decision refers to the findings of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report on what does it take to limit global warming to 1.5 degree. The decision underscores the centrality of equity and the best available science for effective climate action and policymaking, as provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Let me turn to our the products of the 7th assessment cycle. This cycle includes seven reports, each at different production stage. The Special Report on Climate Change and Cities is underway, with its First Order Draft under expert review and the next Lead Author Meeting scheduled in Oslo in January. It is scheduled for release in early 2027.
The Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories is preparing two methodology reports due in 2027, including one on Short-Lived Climate Forcers and another on Carbon Dioxide Removal, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage.
Your work this week begins the drafting of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report. These reports will start to appear in 2028. The cycle will conclude with the Synthesis Report, scheduled for release in late 2029, for which I am responsible.
We are also preparing several expert meetings and workshops, including on Diverse Knowledge Systems, Methods of Assessment, Climate Impacts and Adaptation Metrics, Earth System Tipping Points, Climate and Agriculture, Health and Climate Change, and Regional Climate Information and Atlas and Science of Communicating the Science. These efforts will support your work. .
Ladies and gentlemen, the significance of our next assessment report cannot be overstated. You embark on this work in a time of geopolitical uncertainty and new challenges to science and its integrity. Our mission remains clear: to provide governments with rigorous, policy-relevant, and neutral scientific information. IPCC reports continue to shape climate policies and climate action at every level, including international negotiations, as demonstrated at COP conferences under UNFCCC auspices.
The IPCC’s strength lies in its scientific depth, its rigorous processes, and its ability to achieve consensus among 195 member governments. Your expertise allows us to synthesize an ever-growing body of knowledge and to identify actionable pathways to solutions addressing the climate change challenges.
I want to thank you for your commitment and for volunteering your time and knowledge. It is an honour to begin this work with you. I am looking forward to getting to know you and working with you and wish you a productive and collegial First Lead Author Meeting—rich in insight, collaboration, and respect.
Thank you.