The IPCC approved the structure of the first two reports in the Seventh Assessment Cycle ahead of COP29 in Azerbaijan

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at its 61st Plenary Session in Sofia, Bulgaria, agreed on the structure of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and the IPCC Methodological Report on Short-Term Climate Factors for 2027. More of 230 delegates from 114 member governments, present at the week-long meeting in the Bulgarian capital, also agreed on the respective timelines of the two reports.

"Today's panel decision paves the way for the critically important next steps in our work – the nomination and selection of authors who will actually write these two reports." We aim for these processes to attract the most diverse and comprehensive group of authors to date," said IPCC Chair Jim Skia.

"The timing of these two reports confirms the continued political importance of the IPCC's scientific reports."

Invitations to nominate authors are expected to be published as early as next week.

The harmonized framework of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities includes trends, challenges and opportunities for cities in a changing climate, actions and solutions to reduce urban risks and emissions, including how to facilitate and accelerate adaptation in the urban context and solutions for cities, species and regions. The panel's endorsement and publication of this special report is scheduled for March 2027. The detailed outline is available here.

The scientific guidance of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities is shared between the three IPCC Working Groups. The Co-Chairs of Working Group II – Winston Chow and Bart van den Hurk – who lead the preparation of the report, emphasized that this Special Report is of great importance to many stakeholders around the world in terms of implementing effective urban climate action, adding that their teams are dedicated to its timely signing in the next three years.

The 2027 IPCC Report on Methodologies for Inventories of Short-Term Climate Impacts will guide the preparation and reporting of national emissions inventories of short-term climate impacts. The planned publication time of this methodological report is July 2027. The detailed structure is available here.

Based on the report of the upcoming scoping meeting of the three working groups' contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report planned for December 2024, the next plenary session of the Panel in early 2025 will agree on the scope of their contribution, structure and work plans, including schedules and budgets.

What is the IPCC?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the UN's body for assessing scientific evidence related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments of climate change, its impacts and risks, and to propose strategies for adaptation and mitigation. In the same year, the UN General Assembly approved the actions of WMO and UNEP to jointly establish the IPCC. 195 countries are members of the panel.

Thousands of people around the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. To produce the assessment reports, experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to evaluate the thousands of scientific papers published each year and 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 these risks.

Working Group I, which deals with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, which addresses climate change mitigation. Also present on the panel is the Working Group on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, which develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.

IPCC assessments provide governments at all levels with scientific information they can use to develop climate policies. The IPCC's assessments are a key input to international negotiations to address climate change. IPCC reports are prepared and reviewed in several stages, thus ensuring objectivity and transparency.

For the Seventh Evaluation Cycle

Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which officially began in July 2023 with the election of a new IPCC Bureau and working groups during the IPCC plenary session in Nairobi.

The latest IPCC report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the publication of the Synthesis Report, which provides direct scientific input to the first global assessment process under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.

The sixth evaluation report consists of three working group reports and a summary report. The contribution of Working Group I Climate change 2021: the physical science basis was published on 9 August 2021 The contribution of Working Group II Climate change 2022: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability was published on 28 February 2022 The contribution of Working Group III, Climate Change 2022: Climate Change Mitigation, was published on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report distills and integrates the findings of the three assessments of working groups as well as from the three special reports published in 2018 and 2019.

Special reports were devoted to Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (September 2019).

For more information, visit www.ipcc.ch. The website includes informational materials, including videos about the IPCC and videos of informational events held as webinars or broadcast live.

Most of the videos published by the IPCC can be found on the YouTube channel.