UN climate panel to resume in December after key report deadlock

GENEVA: The world's top climate scientists will reconvene in early December, reporters were told Thursday, after member states failed to agree when to release its crucial new findings on global heating.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations body, is the global authority on climate science.

The IPCC suspended its latest negotiations on October 16 after a week of tough talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.


The panel will resume the session from December 1 to 3, it said in a brief statement, adding that "the meeting will be held virtually".

It will tackle two remaining agenda items it failed to close in Addis Ababa: its next major report and the budget supporting its work.

IPCC reports bring together the latest knowledge on climate change, its causes, potential impacts and options for responding.

They are the key reference point for international agreements on how to tackle the climate crisis, are used by governments to develop national climate policies and have been quoted in international court rulings.

Many of the IPCC's nearly 200 member countries want the next major report out in time for a crucial UN climate summit in 2028.

That summit is due to take stock of the world's progress so far in cutting planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and is a key decision-making point.

But some IPCC members -- including Saudi Arabia, India and China -- have argued that more time is needed to incorporate science and data from developing nations and have said the new report should be delayed until 2029.

The IPCC, set up in 1988, knits together assessments from thousands of climate scientists who work voluntarily to compile its mammoth reports.

They are normally released every five to seven years. The most recent came out in 2021.