IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body that assesses published research on climate change for governments.
Example
Its assessment reports cover the physical science, impacts and adaptation, and mitigation in separate working group volumes.
The catch
The IPCC reviews existing literature, and its findings are policy-relevant without prescribing particular policies.
Related terms
Climate change, Albedo, Atmospheric lifetime, Carbon budget, Carbon dioxide, Climate feedback
In more depth
IPCC, explained.
IPCC findings carry weight because governments sign off on the summaries while scientists keep control of the evidence. Author teams, nominated by governments and observer organisations and working unpaid, assess the literature through rounds of expert and government review. Each Summary for Policymakers is then approved line by line in a plenary session, with authors present to keep every sentence consistent with the full report.
Read the calibrated language closely. Words such as 'likely' and 'very likely' carry defined probability ranges, and confidence ratings describe the strength of evidence and agreement. The IPCC also publishes the methodology guidelines that countries use for their national emissions inventory, and its assessments feed the global stocktake. When citing it, name the cycle, the working group and the chapter, for example IPCC AR6 WGIII.
In the journal