A squabble over the publication timetable for several climate reports has turned into one of the burning issues of this year\u2019s United Nations climate conference, as some warn that fossil fuel interests might be interfering with the world\u2019s pre-eminent climate science organization.<\/p>\n
The U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change produces landmark reports that generally come out every five to seven years. The next round of reports would take on topics like physical changes to the earth and greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n
Timing is critical because in 2028 nations are supposed to assess their progress and then ramp up their efforts to do more, based on the best science. That process, known as a stocktake and occurring every five years, is the engine of the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, India and Russia are among those pushing to delay the reports so that at least two of them come out after 2028.<\/p>\n
The fact that those nations rank among the largest fossil fuel exporters or importers has led to accusations that coal, oil and gas interests might be interfering with science.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaudi Arabia is trying to destroy the I.P.C.C. in order to prevent the next global stocktake from using the accurate scientific data on fossil fuels,\u201d said former Vice President Al Gore, who is in Turkey for the talks.<\/p>\n
At COP31, the United Nations climate talks being held this year in Antalya, Turkey, a handful of world leaders warned that the United Nations\u2019 climate science body is being undermined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am deeply troubled\u201d by the impasse, said Prime Minister Feleti Teo, of Tuvalu, whose island nation lies barely six feet above sea level. \u201cOur survival demands collective actions to be guided by science and not by politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many small developing nations, as well as the European Union, want all three I.P.C.C. reports to come before this next assessment period so the science can inform new policies. The United Nations secretary general, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, said on Friday that he, too, was in favor of that timetable.<\/p>\n
But that group is facing big pushback.<\/p>\n
The nations that have sought a delay, which also include China and Kenya, have said they want to ease pressure on government reviewers, according to meeting accounts<\/a> from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, an independent research organization. Smaller countries without resources have a harder time managing this workload, they say, and faster turnaround time could compromise scientific rigor.<\/p>\n Representatives from Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, China and Iran did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Patricia Nying\u2019uro, a meteorologist who is Kenya\u2019s lead representative to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said that Kenya\u2019s position \u201ccomes down to capacity, not politics.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2023, countries agreed to transition away from coal, oil and gas. It was the only time a United Nations climate agreement has explicitly referenced fossil fuels.<\/p>\n This year, the Trump administration announced it was withdrawing from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and dozens of other international organizations and treaties, calling them \u201ccontrary to the interests<\/a>\u201d of the United States.<\/p>\n