The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the world’s top authority on climate science. Here’s what its reports are telling us — and what we can do about it.
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a global body of the United Nations, analyzes the science related to climate change and provides guidance to world leaders as they develop and refine climate policies.
Since issuing its first report in 1990, the IPCC has played a critical role in building scientific consensus on climate change. In 2007, the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize for communicating the dangers of climate change and how to counteract them.
What is in the IPCC’s reports?
The IPCC issues comprehensive assessment reports every six to seven years to synthesize the latest research on what’s driving climate change, analyze its socio-economic impacts and provide guidance on mitigation strategies. The IPCC does not produce new research, but rather aggregates and summarizes information from thousands of scientific journals.
Hundreds of top scientists from 195 countries contribute to IPCC reports, which are then reviewed by thousands of other experts. The IPCC also distributes technical papers that drill into specific issues related to climate change.
Recent reports
The IPCC is now in its sixth assessment cycle. Reports in this cycle have focused on three main questions: How the climate is changing, what is humanity’s capacity to adapt, and how to avoid the worst consequences. This cycle concluded with a final synthesis report issued in March 2023.
The sixth assessment cycle includes the following reports:
2023: Synthesis Report
March 2023
The final installment in the IPCC’s sixth assessment cycle summarizes key findings from the world’s leading climate scientists. It finds that the world is on track to exceed 1.5°C (2.7°F) of planetary warming by the early 2030s. But the report also offers hope in the form of actions that could avert the worst impacts of climate change.
Read our take:
- Experts see hope in gloomy climate report
- The New U.N. Climate Report Has Arrived. Resist the Urge to Despair
2022: Mitigation of Climate Change
April 2022
In its latest report, the IPCC provides the most conclusive endorsement yet of nature as a climate solution. It reveals that reducing the destruction of ecosystems, restoring them, and improving the management of working lands, like farms, are among the most effective options for mitigating carbon emissions.
Read our take:
- IPCC report: Countries miss the mark on climate action, but nature could help get us back on track
- That UN climate report wasn’t all bad news
2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
February 2022
The IPCC finds that the catastrophic impacts of climate breakdown are mounting quickly and may soon outpace humanity’s ability to adapt. In more than 2,000 pages, this report lays bare the inequities inherent in the climate crisis, stressing that the communities most vulnerable to climate impacts are also the least to blame.
Read our take:
2021: The Physical Science Basis
August 2021
Scientists sound a grim alarm on the intensifying effects of climate change, warning that “human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land,” and that even if nations started cutting emissions immediately, global temperatures will almost surely rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) — the limit at which runaway climate change will begin to upend life as we know it.
2019: The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
September 2019
This report outlines the grave impacts climate change will have on the world’s oceans — and what governments need to do to prevent the collapse of marine ecosystems.
Read our take:
2019: Climate Change and Land
August 2019
This report warns that the world’s land and water resources are being exploited, putting extreme pressure on the global food system. In stark terms, it that lays out the disastrous environmental impacts of unsustainable agriculture and its potential to exacerbate the effects of climate change.
Read our take:
More analysis
TikTok: Shyla Raghav, climate expert, breaks down the February 2022 report
Instagram: What you need to know about the February 2022 report
Instagram: Laure Katz, marine scientist, discusses September 2019 report