The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suspended a critical meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 16 October without reaching an agreement on the publication date for the seventh assessment cycle (AR7) results. Russia is seeking to postpone the release of the AR7 climate report.
Saudi Arabia argues that low-income nations require additional time to review the IPCC findings before they are made public. Bob Watson stated, "Those countries that want action fundamentally want these reports before this global stocktake. Those countries that don't want action... they don't want to see those reports because they know what they'll say is we're not on target for 1.5°C or even 2°C."
Watson also described the move as "obviously a delaying tactic." Gareth Redmond-King of the UK think tank the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit called the situation "an unhelpful fracturing of the process."
Richard Allan at the University of Reading, UK, noted that the delay "impedes global ambition." Jim Skea announced he will reconvene the meeting at the earliest opportunity.
A UN-led global stocktake is scheduled for 2028, following the previous one held in 2023. The COP28 summit in Dubai established an international commitment for nations to transition away from fossil fuels.
New global targets from COP28 aim to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency improvement rates by 2030. The science of climate change report might arrive in May 2028.
