Bangkok, March 27 – The 64th Plenary Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) closed in Bangkok this evening. The session discussed the review of the Principles and Procedures that govern IPCC’s work. These should be reviewed every five years and are critical to ensuring the IPCC’s capacity to produce comprehensive, neutral, objective, transparent, inclusive, and robust assessments of climate-related science.
The Panel decided to consider the review of the IPCC Principles and Procedures at future sessions.
During the Plenary, the member governments also decided to consider the timeline of the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).
While the Panel made no formal decision, the member governments clearly indicated that they want the timeline agreed at its next session.
“In IPCC, we use our best endeavours to achieve consensus. Sometimes, as we pursue our best endeavours, we strive in slightly different directions. But I think the spirit of compromise and flexibility in IPCC was shown in the end,” said IPCC Chair Jim Skea, addressing the delegates in closing the session.
During the four-day session, the Panel also considered the financial situation and fundraising for the IPCC Trust Fund for this cycle and beyond to ensure its long-term sustainability. Supported entirely by voluntary contributions from member governments, the IPCC Trust Fund is the key mechanism enabling participation by developing-country governments and scientists in the IPCC’s work.
The Panel also agreed on the work programme of the Task Group for Data Support for Climate Change Assessments.
The 64th Plenary Session of the IPCC was also the last one for the IPCC Secretary Abdalah Mokssit, who led the IPCC Secretariat for the past decade, and will retire in the next few months. On this occasion, the delegates, Bureau members, observer organizations, and staff expressed appreciation for the outgoing Secretary’s strong commitment and rich contributions.
For more information, contact:
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.
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.
For more information visit www.ipcc.ch
BANGKOK, March 24 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) began its Sixty‑fourth Plenary Session at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Bangkok, Thailand, today. Nearly 300 delegates representing IPCC member governments and observer organisations from around the world have gathered to advance IPCC’s planned work in the seventh assessment cycle. The session is scheduled from 24 to 27 March 2026.
A key agenda item for this Session is the review of the Principles and Procedures that govern the work of the IPCC, which are subject to review every five years.
With the Panel now more than two and a half years into the seventh assessment cycle, IPCC Chair Jim Skea, invited member governments to initiate this review at this plenary session and strengthen how the IPCC conducts its business.
“The principles and procedures governing our work are vital in safeguarding IPCC’s ability to deliver comprehensive, neutral, objective, transparent, inclusive, and scientifically robust assessments,” said IPCC Chair Jim Skea during his opening remarks. “The Panel can seize the opportunity presented at this plenary to give this important matter its full and undivided attention,” he added.
During the four-day meeting, the Panel will also discuss raising funds for the IPCC Trust Fund, the work programme of its Task Group for Data Support for Climate Change Assessments, and will consider new observer organisations, among other items. The Panel will also receive progress updates from different parts of the IPCC and various products of the seventh assessment cycle.
The IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle formally began in July 2023 and will culminate in the release of the Synthesis Report to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) in 2029. In this cycle, the IPCC will prepare the AR7, comprising three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report, and 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, the Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers and the Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage.
During the opening ceremony, delegates were welcomed by the Permanent Secretary of Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Raweewan Bhuridej. The Plenary was also addressed by the IPCC Chair Jim Skea and the Deputy Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organisation, Ko Barrett. The opening ceremony also included video messages from Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme and Simon Stiell, the Executive Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Except for the opening session, the IPCC Plenary session is closed to the media.
Media assets from the opening ceremony, including text and video recordings of the speeches, visuals and B-roll , will be available here.
For more information, please contact:
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.
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.
For more information visit www.ipcc.ch
24 March 2026, Bangkok, Thailand
Check against delivery
Your Excellency, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Dr. Raweewan Bhuridej,
Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation, Ko Barett,
Distinguished delegates, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to welcome you all – the government delegations, representatives of observer organisations and members of the IPCC Bureau – to the sixty-fourth plenary session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And I am very pleased to see that everyone has been able to make it, in spite of the current geopolitical challenges that we all face.
We are gathered in Thailand, a country with strong scientific institutions and prominent scientists making significant contributions to science, technology and medicine globally. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank UNESCAP management and staff, the Royal Thai Government, and the City of Bangkok for their warm hospitality and support in organising this meeting.
We meet in this Plenary for the fifth time in the seventh assessment cycle. We are now well over two and a half years into it. It has been a period of great progress and some complex and new challenges. So far, despite testing times, the Panel has proven its strength as an important multilateral forum and a unique science-policy interface able to carefully build and foster international consensus – a precious commodity in today’s world.
Our job is to assess the most up-to-date climate science, a cornerstone for any sound policymaking. Here, I stress the key role of the IPCC Bureau, and I thank its members for their exceptional scientific guidance provided to the Panel and for maintaining our momentum.
We have now clearly entered a busy phase of the assessment cycle. Here’s a brief resume of where we are now:
With further Lead Author meetings and reviews, as well as expert meetings and workshops, 2026 is shaping up to be the most active year of the current cycle.
The years to follow – 2027, 2028 and 2029 – will be very busy and demanding for both the governments and scientists, starting with approval plenaries for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and two methodology reports, followed by the three Working Groups’ contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report and the Synthesis Report.
Given this, I believe we have a window of opportunity at this plenary session to address ways of working and the important issue of how we actually conduct IPCC business.
In that regard, I would like to bring to the Panel’s attention that the IPCC Principles stipulate that they be reviewed every five years. The principles and procedures governing our work are vital in safeguarding IPCC’s ability to deliver comprehensive, neutral, objective, transparent, inclusive, and scientifically robust assessments. The Panel can seize the opportunity presented at this plenary to give this important business matter its full and undivided attention. Bureau members, whose task is to implement the procedures, have identified ways in which some aspects could be clarified, and the Panel may wish to consider these.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I also invite the Panel to take a close, in-depth look at the state of IPCC’s finances at this plenary. IPCC’s ability to meet its mandate and deliver the most up-to-date, rigorously reviewed assessments of climate science rests on the sustainability of its Trust Fund, with a continuous and adequate flow of voluntary contributions from our member governments that match our expenditures. The IPCC Trust Fund is a vitally important mechanism for supporting participation by developing-country governments and scientists.
I am confident the Panel will be thorough in its consideration of the full spectrum of options for the long-term sustainability of the IPCC Trust Fund, noting that multi-year funding commitments are especially valuable for planning future activities and expenditures.
Lastly, before we move into the working part of the session, I would like to acknowledge that this week’s plenary will be the last one for our colleague and friend Abdalah Mokssit as the Secretary of the IPCC before his retirement. We will come back to this later, but for now, allow me to express our collective thanks to Abdalah. His long and diverse engagement with the IPCC spans over four cycles. For the past decade, Abdalah has led the Secretariat that manages the technical, logistical, and administrative support for our work.
I invite you to join me in congratulating Abdalah on his achievements as the Secretary of the IPCC and wish him all the best for the next chapter.
And, as I turn the floor back to you, thank you, Abdalah, for your rich contribution and genuine commitment to the work of the IPCC!
Thank you.
GENEVA, March 19 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be meeting for its sixty-fourth Plenary Session in Bangkok, Thailand, from 24 to 27 March 2026.
The 64th Session of the IPCC is hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) and the Royal Thai Government.
Opening session
The opening session of the meeting will take place on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, at 09.00 a.m. Bangkok time (UTC+7) at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.
During the opening, the Plenary will be addressed by IPCC Chair Jim Skea, Permanent Secretary of Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Raweewan Bhuridej, and Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization Ko Barrett.
The delegates will also see video messages from Inger Andersen, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Simon Stiell, the Executive Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Where: United Nations Conference Centre,
Rajadamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200 Thailand.
Media assets, including text and video of the speeches, visuals and B-roll from the opening session will be posted here.
Except for the opening session, the IPCC Plenary meetings are closed to media.Bangkok-based correspondents interested in attending the opening session should register here by 10.00 am Bangkok time on Monday 23 March 2026. Registered journalists can collect their badges at the UNCC premises on Monday, 23rd March from 15:00 to 17:00, and 08:00 to 09.00 on Tuesday, 24 March on presentation of accreditation card from UN-ESCAP or the Royal Thai Government.
For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int;
Andrej Mahecic, +41 22 730 8516; Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
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 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.
For more information visit www.ipcc.ch
ACCRA, Ghana, Feb 27 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is bringing together experts at an IPCC Expert Meeting on Adaptation Metrics, Methodologies and Indicators. The meeting, which will be held in Accra, Ghana at Alisa Hotel from 3 to 5 March 2026, with the kind invitation and generous support of the government of Ghana.
This meeting is convened by the IPCC Working Group II which has the mandate to assess the latest available evidence on climate impacts, adaptation, and vulnerabilities. This meeting takes place at a pivotal moment in the IPCC assessment cycle, as authors are preparing the first draft of the Working Group reports.
This meeting will bring together nearly 60 experts from around the world. The three-day meeting will focus on three objectives:
This meeting will begin with a Press Briefing taking place on 3 March 2026 at 08:00-08:30, followed by an Opening Ceremony at 09:00. Members of the media are also invited to the IPCC outreach event hosted by the government of Ghana, United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) and the IPCC on 4 March 2026 which is also taking place at the Alisa Hotel. This outreach event aims to connect adaptation practitioners, early career researchers and Expert Meeting participants to discuss ways stakeholders can engage with the IPCC process and IPCC findings in national decision-making and in practice.
Key speakers at the media briefing, opening ceremony and the outreach include:
More speakers are being confirmed.
For more questions about this IPCC Expert Meeting or if you would like to schedule media interviews with any of the speakers, please contact Woo Qiyun (media@ipccwg2.org) and Ruby Kortey (ruby.kortey@epa.gov.gh).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will hold two scientific workshops at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom from 10 to 12 February 2026. Organized in collaboration with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the UK Met Office, the workshops will support the preparation of the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) by strengthening approaches to knowledge integration and assessment methods across the IPCC.
The outcomes and recommendations of the two scientific workshops will provide critical guidance for the IPCC leadership and authors working on the next IPCC assessment. The guidance will help them assess the ever-growing body of climate literature and engage with wider forms of knowledge, including that by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The University of Reading has been a generous host and a genuine partner in this effort
The Workshop on Engaging Diverse Knowledge Systems will explore how a wide range of knowledge—scientific, Indigenous, local, and practitioner—can be recognized and assessed within the framework of IPCC’s existing principles and procedures.
The Workshop on Methods of Assessment will consider the means by which such knowledge systems can be assessed. Topics will also include artificial intelligence and machine learning tools for systematic review, ex-post evaluation methods, and other emerging approaches that can improve efficiency, transparency, and robustness in assessment learning tools for systematic review, ex-post evaluation methods, and other emerging approaches that can improve efficiency, transparency, and robustness in assessment.
Both workshops will also consider the extent to which such means of synthesis and assessment may be conducted by the IPCC itself or by the knowledge holders and research communities who generate the literature on which the IPCC relies. The outcomes will inform recommendations for IPCC authors, IPCC and Task Force Bureaus, Technical Support Units, the IPCC Secretariat, research communities, and funding bodies throughout the seventh assessment cycle.
Participation in both workshops is by invitation only.
Outreach events:
Ahead of the workshops, the University of Reading will host three events on 9 February. These events will inform early-career researchers to pathways for engaging with the IPCC, provide local government and business leaders with insights into the use of IPCC findings, and offer a public lecture and panel discussion led by IPCC Chair Prof. Sir Jim Skea entitled Inside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: How Global Science Supports Our Future Climate. career researchers to pathways for engaging with the IPCC, provide business leaders and decisionmakers with insights into the use of IPCC findings, and offer a public lecture and panel discussion led by IPCC Chair Prof. Sir Jim Skea
For more details about the public lecture and to register for in-person or online attendance, please visit the University of Reading website.
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