4 February 2010: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released an information note on its role and key elements of the assessment process.

The information note stresses that the role of the Panel, which is an intergovernmental body, is to “assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.” The note further elaborates on the stages of the IPCC assessment process, namely: scoping of the report; selection of authors; writing process; review; and approval, acceptance and adoption of the report and their summaries. It also underlines a special focus on communicating uncertainties in the Panel’s assessments and clarifies IPCC budget and financing issues. [IPCC Information Note]