The Science-Policy Nexus in Climate Change: Lessons from the Paris Agreement, #SR15 and COP24

The IPCC Special Report on Global Warming at 1.5 deg C (#SR15) is widely acknowledged to be a landmark event in the 30-year history of the organisation.  We will provide a brief introduction on how the report came to be prepared, outlining some key features of the IPCC's method of preparing its reports in general. We describe some of the key findings of the report and then turn to a critical commentary on its policy conclusions. We will consider the implications for future climate action, both in terms of climate mitigation and climate adaptation, as well as the ongoing negotiations on the implementation of the Paris Agreement.  We will briefly outline the impact of the report on the negotiations at COP24 at Katowice, Poland.

We point out why, in our view, the report raises some serious and troubling questions regarding the IPCC's handling of the science-policy nexus and how these questions, which have always bedevilled the IPCC process, have come to a head in this case. We also comment, in particular, on how the report writing and approval process of this report has reflected the political fault lines, especially with reference to the North-South divide and intra-South divisions, that characterise the negotiations currently.