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Researchers from the University of East Anglia highlight opportunities to enhance the working modalities of the IPCC and actions that can be taken within academia to support IPCC processes and outputs.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assesses the state of global knowledge and science related to climate change. Through its Assessment Reports (ARs), the IPCC provides information which governments and international organisations use to develop climate policies. Each report takes several years to complete and involves hundreds of scientists from all over the world, who review and report on tens of thousands of research papers. The last report (AR6) was published in between 2021 and 2023.
Now in its 36th year, the IPCC is about to begin work on AR7. The IPCC writing process faces enormous challenges: assessing the huge amount of information; ensuring that processes and procedures underpinning the assessments are transparent and robust; and managing the workload of the authors, who are all volunteers. Should the IPCC continue to update its assessments, or should it adopt a different model to serve the science-policy interface of climate change, where the need for evidence in policymaking is more important and complex than ever?
Following a UEA workshop on IPCC, a summary of key recommendations for how the IPCC might evolve for the next assessment cycle are identified below.
For the AR7 cycle:
Low frequency – high impact risks
Enhance engagement with plural forms of knowledge
Greater focus on emerging knowledge gaps
Expert meetings and or special reports:
Adaptation methodologies
Manage the exponential increase in literature
Opportunities offered by AI and machine learning
Practice outside the remit of the IPCC:
Meta data/standardisation within modelling community so assumptions/limitations, etc, are more visible (support integration)
Encourage ‘review calls’ to direct academics to where efforts are needed to support synthesis
Knowledge contributions for the AR7 cycle:
Review methods to assess adaptation efficacy and success
Scaling of adaptation inventory to track progress and effort
Accelerating the translation of IPCC findings into action and use:
Enhance use of graphics and figures to support dissemination
Curated papers extracting IPCC synthesis for specific topics (already catalysed)
Greater visibility of the interactive atlas
Enhance and make better use of FAQs
"UEA is among the universities that have made the most substantial and sustained contribution to the IPCC across disciplines. We are in a unique position to make recommendations that we hope will help strengthen the IPCC process"
Prof Rachel Warren, UEA
ClimateUEA Conversations
Six of the climate change experts that participated in the UEA workshop on the IPCC met in pairs to delve deeper into some of the discussions that took place during the two day event.
Loss, Damage and Cultural Heritage in a Changing Climate
Prof Joanne Clarke (Honorary Professor of Archaeology and Heritage, School of Arts, Media and American Studies, UEA) and Dr Mark Tebboth (Associate Professor in Environment and Global Development, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and School of International Development, UEA) explore the significant gaps between knowledge and governmental action, and adaptation pathways and policy; and discuss crucial priorities for the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report cycle.
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
Dr Nem Vaughan (Associate Professor in Climate Change, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and School of Environmental Sciences, UEA) and Dr Nick Brooks (Director, Garama 3C, Climate Change and Development Consultant, UEA Alumni) unpack a range of overlapping and interacting mismatches influencing global action on climate change adaptation and mitigation – what can the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change do to speak to these issues?
IPCC Communication Product Design
Prof Irene Lorenzoni (Professor of Society and Environmental Change, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and School of Environmental Sciences, UEA) and Dr Jordan Harold (Lecturer in Psychology, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and School of Psychology, UEA) reflect on their work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, discussing challenges and implications for IPCC communication product design and how the institution might evolve for Assessment Report 7 (AR7).
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