Reports

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.

In 2013 and 2014, the IPCC released its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) on Climate change. AR5 provides a clear and up to date view of the current state of scientific knowledge relevant to climate change. It consists of three Working Group (WG) reports and a Synthesis Report (SYR). The three WG reports cover (1) The Physical Science Basis, (2) Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, and (3) Mitigation of Climate Change.

The National Climate Assessment summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future.

A team of more than 300 experts guided by a 60-member Federal Advisory Committee produced the report, which was extensively reviewed by the public and experts, including federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences.

Summarized here are 18 statements from two recent scientific reports on global warming and climate change.  The reports are:

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States (2009)

Presenting the latest scientific consensus report on U.S. climate change impacts, this report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program presents inter-agency findings by a long list of experts enlisted by the U.S. Government (cited here as “US Impacts, 2009”).  All quotes below from this report are from “Key Findings,” pg. 12.

Copenhagen Diagnosis Updating the Latest Global Climate Science (2009)

This was written for policy-makers, stakeholders, the media and the broader public to synthesize the most policy-relevant climate science.  It relies on the 100s of papers published since the editorial cut-off for the Nobel-Prizing-Winning “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) (2007).”  All quotes below from this report are from the “Executive Summary,” (cited here as “Copenhagen Diagnosis 2009”).