On August 9, 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Working Group I Sixth Assessment Report (WGI AR6), which concluded that the climate crisis is unequivocally caused by human activities. While the WGI AR6 is a scientific report, it may influence the talks of negotiators and policymakers in international legal fora, as discussed below. In addition, the IPCC will publish reports from Working Group II (assessing impacts, adaptations, and vulnerabilities with regard to climate change) and Working Group III (focusing on the mitigation of climate change) in early 2022, with a synthesis report expected in September 2022. The last IPCC synthesis report, Climate Change 2014, was published in 2015—leading up to the historic Paris Agreement.
What Is the IPCC?
The IPCC is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations (UN) established by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environmental Programme in 1988. The IPCC was subsequently endorsed by the UN General Assembly. It currently has 195 member states.
International Law and the Work of the IPCC
As mentioned above, the IPCC reports are scientific, focusing on the most updated physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, ecosystems and biodiversity, and the range of available mitigation options. However, these scientific findings are then considered with regard to sustainable development, as well as in the context of international cooperation to address climate change.
In this context, the IPCC reports contribute to the ongoing work of member states parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement (191 ratifications), which functions as a further agreement to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (197 ratifications).
The Paris Agreement is one of several legally binding international treaties addressing climate change; however, the Paris Agreement is goal-oriented rather than punitive as an international legal instrument, lacking firm rules or a dispute settlement mechanism. Article 4, paragraph 2 of the Paris Agreement, however, establishes the requirement for member states to provide national determined contributions (NDCs) to the NDC Registry, which are national climate plans highlighting national climate actions, including climate-related targets, policies, and measures to respond to climate change.
Looking toward the 26th conference of the parties to the UNFCCC (commonly referred to as COP 26, or the Glasgow Climate Change Conference) starting in late October 2021, the IPCC reports will provide fundamental scientific and policy-rooted bases for the global fight against climate change, including ongoing international legal cooperation.