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Home / IAS Preparation / Ipcc Report

Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC)- Everything You Need to Know for UPSC Exams

Last Updated on Jul 20, 2022
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations institution in charge of studying climate change science. The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess climate change using the most recent information. 

This article will help you understand the features and workings of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change. Study major topics of Polity from the perspective of UPSC Exams.

What is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?

The IPCC is now in its sixth assessment cycle, drafting the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) with contributions from its three Working Groups and a Synthesis Report, three Special Reports, and a modification to its most recent Methodology Report. The IPCC is presently putting the finishing touches on its Sixth Assessment Report. The report provides an update on the scientific, technical, and societal aspects of climate change. The Sixth Assessment Report is being issued in installments, with individual reports produced by three Working Groups. The last portion is a Synthesis Report, which summarizes climate change research and knowledge. It is based on the Working Group reports as well as the three IPCC Special Reports published between 2018 and 2019.

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Background on IPCC
  • The United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 to assess the scientific, technical, and socioeconomic information required to appreciate the dangers of human-caused climate change.
  • It neither performs new research nor collects and analyses climate-related data.
  • Its evaluation is mostly based on peer-reviewed scientific and technical material that has been published.
  • These assessments are intended to inform international climate policy and debates.

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What is the Assessment Report of IPCC?

The Assessment Reports, the first of which was released in 1990, are the most comprehensive evaluations of the Earth’s climate. Every few years, the IPCC issues an assessment report (about every seven years). Hundreds of specialists go through every important piece of published scientific data in order to develop an agreed understanding of climate change.

  • In 1995, 2001, 2007, and 2015, four sequential evaluation reports spanning hundreds of pages were produced.
  • These have formed the basis of the global response to climate change.
  • Over the years, each assessment report has built on the work of the previous one, adding new evidence, information, and data.
  • As a result, most decisions on climate change and its consequences now have substantially more clarity, confidence, and a wealth of new information than in the past.
  • These debates led to the Paris Agreement and, prior to that, the Kyoto Protocol.
  • In response to the Fifth Assessment Report, the Paris Agreement was negotiated.
  • The Evaluation Reports Three scientific working groups create them.
  • Working Group I is concerned with the scientific underpinnings of climate change.
  • Working Group II looks into possible effects, vulnerabilities, and adaptive problems.
  • Working Group III is concerned with potential climate change mitigation methods.

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Recent IPCC report – Sixth Assessment Report 2021

The IPCC has published its sixth assessment cycle. It is preparing the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) with contributions from its three Working Groups and a Synthesis Report.

  • It was underlined that achieving global net-zero emissions by 2050 was the bare minimum necessary to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
  • It lays the groundwork for the Conference of Parties (CoP) 26 meeting in November 2021.
  • Without drastic reductions in emissions, the average surface temperature of the Earth would rise 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels in the next 20 years (by 2040) and 2 degrees Celsius by the middle of the century.

Check the details on the Environment UPSC Notes Here.

Key Findings of IPCC Report

Some of the key findings of the IPCC report are discussed below:

Current Situation
  • Over 100 countries have already proclaimed their intention to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
  • Among them are major emitters such as the United States, China, and the European Union.
  • India, the world’s third largest emitter, has resisted, stating that it was already doing far more than was required and that it was outperforming other countries in relative terms.
  • Any new burden would jeopardize the country’s ongoing efforts to bring millions out of poverty.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) Concentrations

  • They are at their highest point in at least two million years. Humans have released 2,400 billion tonnes of CO2 since the late 1800s.
  • The majority of this might be attributed to human behavior, notably the usage of fossil fuels.
  • Human activity has warmed the planet at an unparalleled rate in the last 2,000 years.
  • The global carbon budget has already been depleted by 86%.

Precipitation and Drought

  • Every 0.5 °C rise in temperature increases hot extremes, excessive precipitation, and drought.
  • The additional heat will also reduce the effectiveness of the Earth’s carbon sinks, which include plants, soils, and the ocean.

Heat Extremes

  • Heat extremes have grown while cold extremes have reduced, and these patterns are expected to continue throughout Asia in the future decades.

Sea-Level Rise

  • The rate of sea-level rise quadrupled during 1901-1971. The Arctic Sea ice is at its thinnest in 1,000 years.
  • Coastal areas will face continuous sea-level rise throughout the 21st century, leading to coastal erosion and more frequent and severe floods in low-lying places.

Average Surface Temperature

  • Without drastic reductions in emissions, the average surface temperature of the Earth would rise 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels in the next 20 years (by 2040) and 2 degrees Celsius by the middle of the century.
  • The recent decade has been the hottest in the last 1,25,000 years. The global surface temperature was 1.09°C higher in the decade between 2011-2020 than between 1850-1900.
  • This is the first time the IPCC has said that even in the best-case scenario, 1.5°C warming is unavoidable.

Receding Snowline & Melting Glaciers

  • Global warming will have a significant influence on mountain ranges worldwide, especially the Himalayas.
  • Mountains’ freezing levels are projected to alter, and snowlines will recede during the next several decades.
  • Retreating snowlines and melting glaciers are reasons for concern since they can lead to changes in the water cycle, precipitation patterns, greater floods, and increasing water shortages in Himalayan nations in the future.
  • Temperature increases in the mountains and glacier melt are unparalleled in the last 2,000 years. Glacier decline is increasingly ascribed to anthropogenic reasons and human impact.

Monsoon

  • Monsoon precipitation is also likely to change, with both yearly and summer monsoon precipitation expected to rise.
  • The South West Monsoon has reduced in recent decades due to an increase in aerosols, but if this decreases, we will see strong monsoon rains.

Sea Temperature

  • The Indian Ocean has warmed faster than the world average, including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
  • When the world temperature rises by 1.5°C to 2°C, the sea surface temperature over the Indian Ocean is expected to rise by 1 to 2°C.
  • The marine temperature in the Indian Ocean is rising faster than in other locations, which may have an impact on other areas.

Net- Zero Emissions

  • It means that all man-made greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced and removed from the atmosphere, decreasing the Earth’s net climatic balance to zero after removal via natural and manmade sinks.
  • Humanity would be carbon neutral, and the global temperature would settle.

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First Assessment Report (1990)

  • Human-caused emissions are significantly increasing the amounts of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
  • In the last century, global temperatures have risen by 0.3 to 0.6 degrees Celsius. Temperatures are expected to rise by 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels by 2025 and by 4 degrees Celsius by 2100 under a business-as-usual scenario. Sea levels are expected to rise by 65 cm by 2100.
  • This study served as the foundation for the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations.

Second Assessment Report (1995)

  • In light of new research, the anticipated rise in global temperatures to 3 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels by 2100 and sea-level rise to 50 cm is revised.
  • The global temperature rise of 0.3 to 0.6 degrees Celsius since the late 1800s, is “unlikely to be totally natural in origin.”
  • This paper served as the scientific foundation for the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997.

Third Assessment Report (2001)

  • Revises the expected rise in global temperatures from 1990 to 2100 to 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius. The rate of warming projected is unparalleled in the previous 10,000 years.
  • On average, rainfall will rise. The paper also estimates that by 2100, sea levels would have risen by much to 80 centimeters from 1990 levels. Glaciers will recede in the twenty-first century.
  • Extreme weather events will become more frequent, intense, and long-lasting.
  • Presents fresh and stronger evidence that human activity is mostly to blame for global warming.

Fourth Assessment Report (2007)

  • Between 1970 and 2004, greenhouse gas emissions climbed by 70%.
  • CO2 levels in the atmosphere reached their highest level in 650,000 years in 2005.
  • In the worst-case scenario, global temperatures might climb by 4.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels by 2100. Sea levels might be 60 centimeters higher than in 1990.
  • The IPCC report received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and served as the scientific input for the 2009 Copenhagen climate conference.

Fifth Assessment Report (2014)

  • Human activity is responsible for more than half of the temperature increase since 1950.
  • Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide quantities in the atmosphere are “unprecedented” in the previous 800,000 years.
  • Global temperatures might rise by 4.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 compared to pre-industrial levels.
  • Heat waves that are more frequent and last longer are “almost certain.”
  • A “significant number of species” are on the verge of extinction. Food security would suffer as a result.
  • This paper served as the scientific foundation for the 2015 Paris Agreement discussions.

Sixth Assessment Report( 2021)

  • The IPCC is currently in its sixth assessment cycle, during which it is producing the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) with contributions from its three Working Groups and a Synthesis Report, three Special Reports, and a revision to its most recent Methodology Report.
  • The IPCC report warned that the world is on track to reach 1.5oC within the next two decades and that only drastic cuts in carbon emissions beginning now would help prevent an environmental disaster.

Read about the Bonn Climate Change Conference in detail here!

Significance of IPCC Reports
  • The IPCC’s findings also had an impact on the first Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Climate Convention, which was convened in Berlin, Germany, in 1995.
  • Participants drafted the so-called Berlin Mandate, which outlined the framework of a negotiating process that would result in enforceable promises by industrial countries to cut their heat-trapping emissions beyond the year 2000.
  • Because the IPCC is an UN-affiliated organization with 195 member nations and a diverse pool of specialists and researchers at its disposal, it is one of the most trusted institutions for publishing research and evidence on climate change.
  • In general, the procedure takes between two and five years to complete.

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UPSC Practice Questions
  1. What is the significance of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change latest Sixth Assessment Report? How can this report be utilized by Indian policy makers?

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More Articles for IAS Preparation

Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change FAQs

IPCC is an abbreviation for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

What is the purpose of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the world's primary organization for assessing climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) work represents the international scientific community's agreement on climate change science.

The latest IPCC report shows greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and current plans to address climate change are not ambitious enough to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

According to the latest IPCC assessment, greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow, and existing climate change policies are insufficiently ambitious to restrict warming to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels.

Hoesung Lee is the current President of the IPCC.
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