Climate News

IPCC talks in Ethiopia end without a report timeline, for the sixth time running

Governments meeting at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have again failed to agree when the panel's next set of major climate reports should be published. Carbon Brief reports that this is the sixth time running that countries could not settle the timeline, and describes the outcome as a "profound disappointment". The plenary session ran from 12 to 16 October, according to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, which published a day-by-day record and a final summary of the meeting.

The IPCC does not carry out new research itself. It brings together thousands of studies into assessment reports that governments use as their shared scientific basis in climate talks. That is why the date of the next reports matters: if they arrive late, governments may have to review their progress on climate action without the latest summary of the science.

"IPCC: Plenary session ends with many unanswered questions." — headline, via Table.Media

How each outlet framed it

• Carbon Brief — a detailed Q&A on why the meeting ended in "profound disappointment" and what a sixth failure means for the IPCC's work.
• Table.Media — the Berlin-based policy outlet focused on what is still unresolved after the plenary closed.
• Earth Negotiations Bulletin — the neutral record: what was discussed on each day of the 12–16 October session.

What we don't know yet: when governments will return to the timeline question, and whether the delay will push the next IPCC reports past the moment when countries formally take stock of their climate pledges.