What is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or the IPCC?
1 Answer
The IPCC is a panel set up by the United Nations to assess how to prevent dangerous changes in the world's climate systems.
Explanation:
The IPCC is a panel of the United Nations (UN) made up of members of the UN's Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization. The IPCC was established..."in 1988 to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts" (source ). The IPCC does not produce any original research. Rather, they review what has been published.
Because this is a panel of thousands of researchers from across the globe and there are no financial incentives to working on this panel, the IPCC is arguably the most objective reviewer of climate change. As of today, 195 countries are members of the IPCC.
The IPCC publishes extensive assessment reports on climate change. To date, they have produced five such reports that review and combine the latest research in the field.
The latest report, the fifth assessment report (AR5) came out in 2014. It stated that with 95% certainty, humans are causing warming in the earth's oceans, lands, and air. AR5 also stated that our emissions are rising and, without changes, emissions will continue to increase so that the earth warms more than 2 degrees Celsius.
