Science of Climate Change

IPCC FOURTH ASSESSMENT REPORT

The IPCC will release its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) in four volumes over the course of this year. The completion of this report will be the culmination of six years of work. The first volume of the AR4 to be completed was that of Working Group I (WGI) of the IPCC. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis assesses the current scientific knowledge of the natural and human drivers of climate change, observed changes in climate, the ability of science to attribute changes to different causes, and projections for future climate change. The major conclusions from this report were made public in the Summary for Policymakers released ON February 2. The results of the Working Group II (WGII) contribution on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability will be made public on April 6. The Summary for Policymakers from Working Group III (mitigation options) will be released on May 4 this year. In addition, a Synthesis Report covering key findings of all three working groups will be released in November.

CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS

To access the Summary for Policymakers of this report go to the IPCC web site. The full WGI report, including 11 chapters and a Technical Summary should be available by mid-2007 in book form and online from the IPCC Web site.

CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: IMPACTS, ADAPTATION, and VULNERABILITY

To access the Summary for Policymakers of this report go to the IPCC web site. The full WGII report, including 20 chapters and a technical summary should be available by mid-2007 in book form and online from the IPCC Web site.

CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: MITIGATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE

To access the Summary for Policymakers of this report go to the IPCC web site. The full WGIII report, including 13 chapters and a technical summary should be available by mid-2007 in book form and online from the IPCC Web site.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

This fact sheet describes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its activities, particularly the process used in developing IPCC Assessment Reports.

This brochure provides an overview of the basic science of the natural and enhanced greenhouse effect.

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