The IPCC is an intergovernmental organization established by WMO and UNEP to assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the risks of human-induced climate change. All member countries of the UN and WMO are members of the IPCC.
Activities
The IPCC’s main activity is the preparation – approximately every six years – of a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the policy-relevant scientific, technical and socio-economic dimensions of climate change. Other activities of the IPCC include:
preparing Special Reports and Technical Papers on specific topics in response to requests from the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or from within the IPCC itself;
through the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, developing guidelines and methodologies to be used for calculating greenhouse-gas emissions and removals in order to assess the impacts of climate change and evaluate appropriate adaptations;
facilitating cooperation between the climate-modeling and impacts communities through the IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate
Analysis (TGICA), which is composed of experts in climate modeling, climate impact assessment and scenario development;
making available a range of scenario-related data for conducting assessments of climate change through its Data Distribution Centre (DDC); and
holding workshops and expert meetings in support of the assessment process.
Type of organisation:
Intergovernmental organizations
Established:
1988
Number of staff:
6
Head/Director:
Secretary: Renate Christ
Cooperation
Key partners are the parent organizations WMO and UNEP and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The IPCC also cooperates with other relevant UN organizations, UN specialized agencies and Conventions. About 30 intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations participate as observers in the work of the IPCC.
Publications
Since its inception, the IPCC has produced three multi-volume Assessment Reports and a number of special reports, methodology reports and technical papers - see the website. In 2007 IPCC will publish its Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007 in four volumes: The Physical Scientific Basis; Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; Mitigation; Synthesis Report.
Keywords
atmosphere, climate change, information systems, ozone
