Inside the IPCC
How Assessment Practices Shape Climate Knowledge

This Element studies how authors write IPCC reports, and how experts assess climate knowledge and solutions in diverse, international teams.

Jessica Leigh O'Reilly (Author), Mark Vardy (Author), Kari De Pryck (Author), Marcela da S. Feital Benedetti (Author)

9781009559836, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 June 2024

86 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.6 cm, 0.262 kg

Inside the IPCC explores the institution of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by focusing on people's experiences as authors. While the budget and overall population of an IPCC report cycle is small, its influence on public views of climate change is outsized. Inside the IPCC analyzes the social and human sides of IPCC report writing, as a complement to understanding the authoritative reports that underwrite policy decisions at many scales of governance. This study shows how the IPCC's social and human dimension is in fact the main strength, but also the main challenge facing the organization, but also the main challenge facing the organziation. By stepping back to reveal what goes into the making of climate science assessments, Inside the IPCC aims to help people develop a more realistic, and thus, more actionable, understanding of climate change and the solutions to deal with it. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Contents
1. Introduction
2. IPCC authors
3. Assessing climate science: making and communicating projections
4. Building bridges between the physical and social sciences of climate
5. How does the IPCC define climate solutions?
6. Government approval
7. How assessment practices shape climate knowledge
References.

Subject Areas: Meteorology & climatology [RBP]