The IPCC – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – is the United Nations body responsible for assessing the science of climate change. It does not conduct its own research. Instead, it brings together thousands of scientists from around the world to review and synthesise the best available evidence, then presents its findings in reports that inform governments, policymakers, and international negotiations.
Think of the IPCC as the world’s climate fact-checker. When you hear a claim about how much the planet has warmed, how fast sea levels are rising, or what needs to happen to limit warming to 1.5°C, the most authoritative answer usually comes from an IPCC report. Its findings directly shaped the Paris Agreement, Ireland’s Climate Act, and the carbon budgets that underpin every sector of Irish climate policy.
Ireland has a direct connection to the IPCC from day one. James Dooge, former Professor of Engineering at UCD and a former Irish Minister, was instrumental in the creation of the IPCC in 1988. Irish scientists have contributed to IPCC assessments ever since, and the EPA-funded Irish Climate Change Assessment (ICCA) – published in 2024 – was explicitly modelled on the IPCC process, translating global findings into an Irish context for the first time.
🌿 What Does the IPCC Do?
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It has 195 member governments. The scientists who write its reports volunteer their time and are selected through a formal nomination process involving governments and observer organisations.
The IPCC’s main output is its Assessment Reports – comprehensive reviews of the global scientific literature on climate change, published every five to seven years. Each assessment cycle produces four major documents:
- 🌿 Working Group I – The Physical Science Basis. What is happening to the climate: temperatures, sea levels, ice sheets, ocean chemistry, extreme weather.
- 🌿 Working Group II – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. How climate change affects ecosystems, food, health, and economies, and what adaptation options exist.
- 🌿 Working Group III – Mitigation of Climate Change. Options for reducing emissions across energy, transport, buildings, industry, agriculture, and land use – everything covered by climate mitigation.
- 🌿 Synthesis Report – A summary integrating all three Working Groups, written for policymakers.
The IPCC also produces Special Reports on specific topics and Methodology Reports providing guidelines for how countries measure and report greenhouse gas emissions. Ireland’s EPA uses IPCC methodology when compiling the national emissions inventory that tracks progress against climate targets.
🌿 The Sixth Assessment Report – What It Found
The IPCC’s most recent completed work is the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), finalised in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report. The key findings were stark:
- 🌿 Human activities have unequivocally caused global warming. Global surface temperature has increased by approximately 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels.
- 🌿 Every fraction of a degree matters. Impacts at 1.5°C are significantly less severe than at 2°C, but limiting warming to 1.5°C requires global emissions to peak before 2025 and fall by 43% by 2030.
- 🌿 Current policies put the world on track for roughly 2.7°C of warming by 2100 – far above Paris Agreement targets.
- 🌿 The window for action is narrowing but is not yet closed. Deep, rapid cuts across all sectors can still limit warming.
The AR6 Synthesis Report fed directly into the First Global Stocktake at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 – the formal process for assessing collective progress under the Paris Agreement. Its conclusions drove the agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, the first time such language appeared in a COP outcome.
🌿 Irish Scientists and the IPCC
Ireland contributes to the IPCC in several ways. Irish scientists have served as authors and reviewers across multiple assessment cycles. For the current Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), Professor Gerald Mills from UCD and Professor Peter Thorne from Maynooth University’s ICARUS Climate Change Research Centre were selected from 1,201 global nominations to author the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, due in March 2027.
Ireland also contributes through climate modelling. The Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) at the University of Galway is part of a consortium of northern European countries that runs global climate models feeding directly into IPCC assessments. Using the EC-Earth climate model, ICHEC researchers have conducted centuries’ worth of climate simulations – from historical records to end-of-century projections – funded by the EPA, Met Éireann, and the Marine Institute.
Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station in County Galway is one of the world’s most important monitoring sites for greenhouse gases. Its CO2 measurements – running continuously since 1992 – are part of the global dataset that underpins IPCC conclusions about rising atmospheric concentrations.
In 2024, the EPA published Ireland’s first Climate Change Assessment (ICCA), a four-volume report produced by researchers from DCU, ICHEC, Maynooth University, Trinity College Dublin, and UCC. Modelled directly on the IPCC process, it translates global climate science into an Irish context. Its findings include that Ireland has already warmed by 0.9°C over the last 120 years, with 15 of the top 20 warmest years on record occurring since 1990. Under a delayed emissions reduction scenario, Ireland’s climate could become “increasingly unrecognisable as the century progresses”, with more frequent heatwaves, rising sea levels threatening Cork, Dublin, and Limerick, and increasingly unpredictable rainfall.
🌿 The Seventh Assessment Report – What Is Coming
The IPCC is now in its seventh assessment cycle, which began in July 2023 with the election of Chair Jim Skea. In February 2025, the Panel agreed on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions at its 62nd Plenary in Hangzhou, China.
In August 2025, 664 experts from 111 countries were appointed as authors – over half from developing countries, and 46% women (up from 33% in AR6). The first joint Lead Author Meeting took place in Paris in December 2025, marking the first time all three Working Groups drafted together in a single venue.
The AR7 timeline:
- 🌿 Special Report on Climate Change and Cities – March 2027
- 🌿 Methodology Reports on Short-lived Climate Forcers and on Carbon Dioxide Removal – 2027
- 🌿 Working Group reports – expected from mid-2028
- 🌿 Synthesis Report – late 2029
🌿 Why the IPCC Matters for Ireland
Ireland’s entire climate policy framework rests on IPCC science. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 – which sets the 51% reduction target and net zero by 2050 – draws directly on IPCC findings about what is needed to limit warming. Specific ways the IPCC shapes Irish policy include:
- 🌿 The Global Warming Potential values used to convert methane and other gases into CO2 equivalent – the basis of Ireland’s MtCO2eq reporting.
- 🌿 The methodology the EPA uses to compile the national greenhouse gas inventory and report to the EU and UN.
- 🌿 The emissions pathways showing what rate of reduction is needed to stay within 1.5°C or 2°C – which informed Ireland’s choice of a 51% target by 2030.
- 🌿 Evidence on land use, peatlands, and agriculture in both emissions and carbon removal – critical for a country where agriculture accounts for 38% of emissions.
When the EPA reports that Ireland is off track – projecting only a 23% reduction by 2030 versus the 51% target – the benchmark comes from IPCC science translated into national law.
🌿 How IPCC Reports Are Produced
IPCC reports go through multiple rounds of drafting and review. Author teams prepare initial drafts, which are reviewed by expert reviewers and then by both experts and governments. Every comment must be addressed. The Summary for Policymakers is approved line by line by all 195 member governments, ensuring the science is endorsed at the highest political level.
This process means IPCC reports are conservative – they represent what the scientific community can agree on, not the most alarming interpretation. When the IPCC states something with “high confidence” or “very likely”, it carries weight that no individual study can match. It is this rigour that makes IPCC findings the foundation for binding climate legislation in Ireland and across the EU.
🌿 Frequently Asked Questions
🌿 What does IPCC stand for?
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It is a UN body established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. It has 195 member governments and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Ireland’s James Dooge, a former UCD professor and government minister, was instrumental in its creation.
🌿 Does the IPCC conduct its own research?
No. The IPCC assesses existing peer-reviewed scientific literature. Thousands of scientists volunteer to review and synthesise the evidence, but the IPCC itself does not fund or carry out original research. Its role is to tell governments what the science says, not to prescribe policy. Ireland contributes to this process through scientists at institutions including UCD, Maynooth University, ICHEC, and TCD.
🌿 How often does the IPCC publish reports?
Major Assessment Reports are published every five to seven years. The Sixth Assessment Report was completed in 2023. The Seventh (AR7) is currently being drafted, with Working Group reports expected from mid-2028 and the final Synthesis Report due in late 2029. Special Reports and Methodology Reports are published between assessments – including a report on Climate Change and Cities due March 2027 with two Irish authors.
🌿 How does the IPCC affect Ireland specifically?
Ireland’s Climate Act, carbon budgets, sectoral emissions ceilings, and the annual Climate Action Plan all draw on IPCC science. The EPA uses IPCC methodology to measure national emissions. The 51% reduction target by 2030 is based on IPCC evidence about what is needed globally. Ireland’s own Climate Change Assessment (ICCA), published in 2024, was modelled directly on the IPCC approach and provides Irish-specific projections showing increased temperatures, more extreme weather, and rising sea level risk for coastal cities.