The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is in the midst of preparing its Third Assessment Report (TAR), which will be completed in 2001. The report will be a comprehensive assessment of the scientific, technical, and socio-economic dimensions of climate change. Like all IPCC reports, the TAR is being written by multidisciplinary teams of authors from around the world, chosen for their scientific and technical expertise in topics relevant to the report.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The IPCC was formed in 1988 by the United Nations Environmental Programme and World Meteorological Organization to gain a better understanding of global climate change. The IPCC examines, evaluates, synthesizes, and reports information from peer-reviewed published literature, but does not conduct new research. IPCC reports are used worldwide, most notably by parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as a credible
and comprehensive source of information on climate change, its potential consequences, and options to adapt to or mitigate climate change.

The IPCC is organized into three working groups. Working Group I assesses the science of climate change; Working Group II focuses on the impacts and adaptations to climate change; and Working Group III reviews options for climate change mitigation. Each Working Group has a Technical Support Unit (TSU) to help direct the production of reports and a Bureau to oversee the process. The Working Group II TSU is housed in Washington DC and the others are located overseas.

Third Assessment Report

The IPCC published its first assessment report in 1990 and completed it's second assessment report in 1995. The TAR seeks to build on the knowledge base of these reports, as well as other special reports prepared by the IPCC. Each working group will produce a volume of the TAR on their respective topic in a parallel manner. The working groups will also each produce a Summary for Policymakers, a non-technical highlight of the key scientific findings of the report. In addition, a Synthesis Report that focuses on policy-relevant questions using information from all three volumes of the report will be produced.

Work on the TAR began last year, after approval of the mandates for the three working group volumes by the Panel in late 1997. Working Group II authors recently completed the first draft of their volume and began the lengthy review process. The first draft has been sent for review to several hundred experts in various scientific and technical fields. After their comments are received and analyzed, a second draft of the report will be prepared and distributed for review by governments as well as experts that participated in the first review. A final draft will then be prepared and presented to the IPCC for acceptance in mid-2001.

Special Reports

In addition to the TAR, the IPCC is currently producing several special reports that will be completed in 2000. Special Report on Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology Transfer, Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, and the Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry are underway and will follow a similar review process to the TAR.

Two special reports were completed recently and are publicly available. The Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An Assessment of Vulnerability, published in 1998, reviews state-of-the-art information on potential impacts of climate change for ecological systems, water supply, food production, coastal infrastructure, human health, and other resources for ten global regions. The Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere, completed in May 1999, assesses what is known about the effects of aviation on the Earth's climate and atmospheric ozone, both in the recent past and for the future. In addition, the report examines scientific, technological, social, and economic issues associated with options to mitigate these aviation effects.

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Additional information is available on the IPCC website.