Specialists collaborate on UN climate report despite resistance from the US

Approximately 600 specialists convened near Paris on Monday to begin work on the upcoming major UN climate assessment, amid skepticism about global warming voiced by US President Donald Trump. The 2023 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had indicated that the world was on track to exceed the 1.5C warming threshold by 2030. The United Nations now warns that this limit could be crossed even sooner, potentially triggering catastrophic storms, floods, and droughts.

Delegates from over 100 nations are meeting in a high-rise building in Saint-Denis for a five-day session, marking the start of the process that will lead to the IPCCs Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), scheduled for release in 2028 or 2029. This gathering brings together the reports lead authors in a single location for the first time, aiming to address complex, interdisciplinary climate issues.

The experts efforts may encounter challenges given the US administrations position. President Trump has previously referred to climate change as the greatest con job ever and a hoax in a speech at the United Nations last September. A French ecological transition ministry official, speaking anonymously, said: The statements, for example, from the American administration on the origin of climate change, the fact that it's a hoax, we still find quite surprising. Climate scientist Robert Vautard added during a video press briefing on Friday: If any country opposes the text, the report cannot be approved. Every country has a sort of veto.

Disagreements have already emerged over the timing of the reports release. The High Ambition Coalition, which includes EU nations and climate-vulnerable developing countries, advocates for a 2028 publication to align with the global stocktake under the 2015 Paris Agreement, assessing progress in limiting climate impacts. In contrast, some emerging economies and major fossil fuel producers argue for a 2029 release, citing the need for additional time.

This division mirrors disputes observed at the recent COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, which concluded without an explicit mandate to phase out fossil fuels. Nevertheless, IPCC chairman Jim Skea assured AFP in March: I don't think the IPCC is in crisis. We will resolve this issue about the timeline.

Author: Sophia Brooks