IPCC's 65th session suspended without AR7 timeline or budget deal
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suspended its 65th Plenary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 16 October 2026 without fixing the timelines for the three Working Group reports of its Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) or its budget. Chair Jim Skea halted the overrunning meeting after many least developed and small island delegations had left.
Syllabus: Prelims · Current Affairs & IR; Prelims · Environment & Ecology; GS3 · Environment & Conservation
Why this matters for UPSC
GS3 environment and GS2 international institutions: Prelims can ask who set up the IPCC, what its three Working Groups cover and what Article 14 of the Paris Agreement provides; Mains, about inclusive yet timely climate science.
Why it matters
A district officer drafting a heat action plan, or a State revising its climate action plan, depends on climate projections that governments take from IPCC assessments. If the new reports arrive after the next global review of the Paris Agreement, countries will set their next climate pledges on older science, and cities, coasts and farms will plan against outdated risk estimates. India sits on both sides of the quarrel: it wants its own scientists to have time to contribute, yet it is among the countries most exposed to heat, floods and erratic monsoons. A thin Trust Fund adds to the strain, because it pays for experts from poorer countries to travel to meetings, so a cash shortage narrows the very inclusivity the delay is meant to protect.
Prelims pointers
- IPCC: created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); the UN General Assembly endorsed it the same year.
- IPCC membership is open to all member countries of the WMO and the United Nations; the IPCC does not conduct its own research.
- Working Group I: Physical Science Basis; Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; Working Group III: Mitigation of Climate Change.
- Principles Governing IPCC Work (1998): if consensus fails on a procedural issue, it is decided under the General Regulations of the WMO.
- IPCC reports must be policy-neutral, and review of IPCC documents involves both expert peer review and government review.
- Article 14 of the Paris Agreement: the first global stocktake in 2023 and every five years after, in the light of equity and the best available science.
- The IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report ended with its Synthesis Report in March 2023, which fed the first Global Stocktake at COP28, Dubai.
- The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), consider the following statements:
1. It was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the World Bank.
2. The UN General Assembly endorsed its joint establishment in the same year.
3. Participation in it is open to all member countries of the WMO and the United Nations.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only. The IPCC's founders were the WMO and UNEP, not the World Bank.
Statement 1: incorrect. The IPCC was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Statement 2: correct. The UN General Assembly endorsed the action of the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC in 1988.
Statement 3: correct. The Principles Governing IPCC Work open participation to all WMO and UN member countries.
Eliminate: Statement 1 names the wrong co-founder, so every option with 1 goes. Out: (a), (c), (d).
Trap: Swapped attribution. The year 1988 and the WMO are right, so the statement looks safe, but UNEP is replaced by the World Bank.
Remember: IPCC, 1988: WMO plus UNEP, endorsed by the UN General Assembly.
Explainers on this topic
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