Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Three institutional pathways to envision the future of the IPCC

Nature Climate Change volume 13, pages 877–880 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

The IPCC has been successful at building its scientific authority, but it will require institutional reform for staying relevant to new and changing political contexts. Exploring a range of alternative future pathways for the IPCC can help guide crucial decisions about redefining its purpose.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Carraro, C. et al. Science 350, 34–35 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lee, H. Science 350, 1007 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hulme, M., Zorita, E., Stocker, T. F., Price, J. & Christy, J. R. Nature 463, 730–732 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Stocker, T. F. & Plattner, G.-K. Nature 513, 163–165 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. De Pryck, K. & Hulme, M. A Critical Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022).

  6. Bak-Coleman, J. et al. Nature 617, 462–464 (2023).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. De Pryck, K. Glob. Policy 12, 80–89 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Borie, M., Mahony, M., Obermeister, N. & Hulme, M. Glob. Environ. Change 68, 102261 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Earth Negotiations Bulletin—Summary of the 57th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IISD, 2022); https://go.nature.com/43UtH9E

  10. Schipper, E. L. F., Dubash, N. K. & Mulugetta, Y. Climatic Change 168, 18 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Chen, D. et al. in Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) Ch. 1 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021).

  12. Pielke, R. A. The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007).

  13. Klinsky, S. et al. Glob. Environ. Change 44, 170–173 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Jebeile, J. Soc. Epistemol. 34, 453–468 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Raman, S. & Pearce, W. WIREs Clim. Change 11, e672 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Beck, S., Forsyth, T. & Mahony, M. One Earth 5, 586–588 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Hartz, F. WIREs Clim. Change 14, e814 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Fazey, I. et al. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 40, 54–70 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. O’Neill, S. J., Hulme, M., Turnpenny, J. & Screen, J. A. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 91, 997–1002 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Victor, D. G. Nature 520, 27–29 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work partly originates from a workshop organized by National Institute for Environmental Studies in April 2023, where S.A., K.D.P. and M.H. participated. S.A. acknowledges the financial support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists [20K20022]. M.H. acknowledges the financial support from the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan

    Shinichiro Asayama

  2. Institute for Environmental Sciences (ISE), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Kari De Pryck

  3. Department of Science, Technology and Society, School of Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Silke Beck

  4. Centre for the Sociology of Innovation (CSI), Mines Paris, PSL University, i3 CNRS (UMR 9217), Paris, France

    Béatrice Cointe

  5. Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Paul N. Edwards

  6. Centre Alexandre Koyré, CNRS, Aubervilliers, France

    Hélène Guillemot

  7. Environmental Sociology Section, School of Humanities, Educational and Social Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

    Karin M. Gustafsson, Rolf Lidskog & Adam Standring

  8. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Friederike Hartz & Mike Hulme

  9. International Politics Department, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK

    Hannah Hughes

  10. TIK Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Bård Lahn

  11. Centre de Théorie et Analyse du Droit (UMR 7074 CTAD), CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre, Ecole Normale Supérieure – PSL, Nanterre, France

    Olivier Leclerc

  12. Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

    Jasmine E. Livingston

  13. School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Irene Lorenzoni & Martin Mahony

  14. Joanna Petrasek MacDonald Consulting, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Joanna Petrasek MacDonald

  15. Institute of Geosciences, Department of Science and Technology Policy, State University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Jean Carlos Hochsprung Miguel & Marko Monteiro

  16. Department of International Studies, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Jessica O’Reilly

  17. iHuman, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Warren Pearce

  18. Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy, University College London, London, UK

    Arthur Petersen

  19. Ecological Economics Group, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

    Bernd Siebenhüner

  20. Department of Development Studies, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa

    Bernd Siebenhüner

  21. Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Tora Skodvin

  22. Centre for Urban Research on Austerity, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

    Adam Standring

  23. Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Göran Sundqvist

  24. Institute of Oceanic Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Renzo Taddei

  25. School of Geography, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Bianca van Bavel

  26. Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Bianca van Bavel

  27. Criminology Department, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

    Mark Vardy

  28. Centre for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Yulia Yamineva

Authors
  1. Shinichiro Asayama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kari De Pryck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Silke Beck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Béatrice Cointe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Paul N. Edwards
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hélène Guillemot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Karin M. Gustafsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Friederike Hartz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Hannah Hughes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Bård Lahn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Olivier Leclerc
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Rolf Lidskog
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Jasmine E. Livingston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Irene Lorenzoni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Joanna Petrasek MacDonald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Martin Mahony
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Jean Carlos Hochsprung Miguel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Marko Monteiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Jessica O’Reilly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Warren Pearce
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Arthur Petersen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Bernd Siebenhüner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Tora Skodvin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Adam Standring
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Göran Sundqvist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  26. Renzo Taddei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  27. Bianca van Bavel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  28. Mark Vardy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  29. Yulia Yamineva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  30. Mike Hulme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shinichiro Asayama, Kari De Pryck or Mike Hulme.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Asayama, S., De Pryck, K., Beck, S. et al. Three institutional pathways to envision the future of the IPCC. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 877–880 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01780-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01780-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing