Background What is the IPCC?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (IPCC 2007; Leggett 2007). The IPCC consists of scientists and experts from United Nations countries around the world.

What Does the IPCC Do?

The IPCC collects the best available natural and social scientific information on climate change from around the world. It periodically issues reports predicting future climate change levels, expected problems caused by this predicted climage change, and ways to reduce (or mitigate) climate change and its related problems. Most news and scientific articles rely on IPCC information as the best source of information in the world available on climate change.

This chart shows how emissions from carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas, have risen in the last 50 years.
(Image: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce. Used with permission.)