Against the backdrop of the final draft of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ºC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that it is committed to an open, robust and transparent assessment process.
The scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations recently circulated the Final Draft of the report to governments, with a request for comments on the Summary for Policymakers from June 4 to July 29, 2018.
The full title of the report is: “Global Warming of 1.5 ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 ºC above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty”.
The IPCC says that it, during the review stages, actively seeks the collaboration of researchers and practitioners across a broad range of expertise to provide expert comments on the draft reports. As with the normal practice of peer review, this process is designed to ensure that the report is as accurate, comprehensive and objective as possible, it adds.
“The report undergoes revisions between the first and second order draft, and between the second order draft and the final draft. This is in response to thousands of review comments and also because the authors have assessed new literature that has been accepted for publication since the previous draft and before the final cut-off date.
“Draft reports are provided to governments and reviewers as confidential working documents and must not be publicly distributed, quoted or cited. This is out of respect for the authors and to give them the time and space to finish writing before making the work public.”
For these reasons, the IPCC says it does not comment on the contents of draft reports while work is still ongoing.
The IPCC approval session of the Summary for Policymakers of the report is due to take place from October 1 to 5, 2018 in Incheon, Republic of Korea. The IPCC says it looks forward to presenting and discussing the report findings, subject to approval by the Panel, on October 8 and thereafter.
