Creating an insightful summary of scientific knowledge: the unique organisation of the IPCC

Metaphorically speaking, the world was created from a blank slate. The rescue operation in which humanity is engaged is based on the opposite approach, mobilising and evaluating the scientific knowledge available at a given moment, in all its diversity, to produce a consensus-based synthesis that can inform decision-making. While the IPCC reports are intended to provide an overview of the causes and effects of climate change, their primary aim is to inform action. The IPCC, an international political initiative created in 1988, mobilises hundreds of researchers from all countries in the quest for a balance between scientific and political consensus and the relevance of messages. Its reports play a key role in the battle against climate change. The organisation behind them is an essential component of the success of the enterprise, in a context of tensions around these issues that have been constantly evolving.