Future Work

At the conclusion of an assessment cycle, the IPCC generally reflects on the report preparation process and draws lessons to inform consideration of the IPCC's future work programmes and processes.

At its 43rd Session in April 2016, the IPCC decided to prepare proposals for aligning the work of the IPCC during its Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) cycle with the needs of the global stocktake under the Paris Agreement. At its 46th Session in September 2017, the Panel established a Task Group on the Alignment of the IPCC Cycles and the Global Stocktake. At the 47th Session in March 2018, the Panel adopted the Task Group’s terms of reference and renamed it Task Group on the Organization of the Future Work of the IPCC in Light of the Global Stocktake.

Sixth Assessment Cycle

The IPCC is finalizing its Sixth assessment cycle. At its 43rd Session in April 2016, the IPCC decided to produce three Special Reports, a Methodology Report and the Sixth Assessment Report. The first of these special reports, Global Warming of 1.5ºC was finalized in October 2018. The Special Report on Climate Change and Land  was finalized in August 2019 and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate in September 2019. The Methodology Report, entitled 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, was delivered in May 2019.

The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report was finalized in August 2021.  The Working Group II and III contributions were finalized in February and April 2022 respectively. The Synthesis Report was finalized in March 2023. 

The IPCC also decided, at the 43rd Session, to include a Special Report on climate change and cities in the AR7 cycle. To stimulate scientific reports and peer-reviewed publications on this subject it decided to consider working with academia, urban practitioners and relevant scientific bodies and agencies to organize an international scientific conference on climate change and cities early in the AR6 cycle. This conference was held in Edmonton, Canada, in March 2018.

At its 59th Session to be held in Nairobi, Kenya at the end of July 2023, the IPCC will be electing a new IPCC Bureau and a new Bureau of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. More details are available on the elections page here.

The Sixth Assessment Report

The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, 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.

The Synthesis Report , Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report was released on 20 March 2023 to inform the 2023 Global Stocktake under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.