IPCC working group 2 - fifth assessment report

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently released the second part of its latest report on climate change, “Working Group 2, Fifth Assessment Report”. The fifth assessment since 1990, on the causes, impacts and potential mitigations of climate change, this report is the first update in seven years and compiled work of over 309 scientific experts from universities and research institutes in 70 different countries around the world.

The summary for policymakers document highlights an explosion in the scientific body of evidence underpinning the assessment since the last report in 2007. With a two fold increase in the number of scientific publications on the observed impacts and future risks of climate change between 2005 and 2010, the report was based on more than 12000 peer-reviewed scientific studies. The report describes the effects of climate change as a series of risks, to encourage governments to prepare for the full range of consequences under climate change, and also emphasises the global scale at which these consequences need to be considered.

For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/united-nations-intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change-report-published