The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide governments with scientific information they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC reports are also key inputs into international climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the IPCC’s work. The IPCC does not undertake new research or monitor climate-related data. Instead, it conducts assessments of the state of climate change knowledge on the basis of published and peer-reviewed scientific and technical literature. Scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks. IPCC assessment reports are intended to be policy relevant, but not policy prescriptive. The IPPC’s first assessment report was released in 1990.