IPCC and AGU Unlock Full AGU Publications Library for AR7 Authors to Bolster Global Climate Science

IPCC and AGU Unlock Full AGU Publications Library for AR7 Authors to Bolster Global Climate Science

(IN BRIEF) The IPCC and AGU have formed a partnership granting AR7 authors complete, free access to AGU’s 24 journals, four book series, and open archive, removing subscription hurdles for researchers—particularly those in developing countries. IPCC Chair Jim Skea and AGU President Brandon Jones lauded the decision as a means to enhance scientific inclusivity and strengthen the upcoming reports. With the outlines for Working Groups I–III already approved and author appointments underway, this initiative supports the drafting of the Seventh Assessment Report—due in late 2029—by ensuring all authors can consult the full body of AGU’s climate-related scholarship.

(PRESS RELEASE) GENEVA, 20-Jun-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) have agreed to grant all authors contributing to the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) full access to AGU’s complete portfolio of journals and books. This unprecedented collaboration removes paywalls for developing-country researchers and others who face subscription barriers, enabling them to draw on the latest peer-reviewed studies across Earth and space sciences.

IPCC Chair Jim Skea welcomed the move, noting that “providing unrestricted entry to AGU’s publications is a powerful boost to our authors’ ability to assess and integrate cutting-edge climate science. We urge additional publishers to take similar steps at this critical juncture for global climate research.”

AGU, a non-profit scholarly organization, publishes 24 high-impact journals, four active book series, and maintains the Earth and Space Science Open Archive. Its titles cover a spectrum of disciplines—from atmospheric physics and oceanography to geophysics, planetary science, and climate studies—serving as vital conduits for research dissemination and interdisciplinary collaboration worldwide.

AGU President Brandon Jones emphasized the importance of equitable information access: “IPCC reports inform decision-makers in governments, industry, and civil society. By opening AGU’s content to AR7 authors, we bolster the scientific rigor and inclusivity of the upcoming reports, ensuring that findings truly reflect the best available global research.”

Following agreement on the outlines for the three Working Group contributions at the IPCC’s 62nd Session in Hangzhou, China, in February 2025, the Panel has completed its call for Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors, and Review Editors. Hundreds of scientists from diverse regions, career stages, and disciplines will now volunteer to draft, review, and refine the Working Group I, II, and III reports.

The AR7 cycle—launched in July 2023—will produce three detailed assessments on (I) the physical science basis, (II) impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, and (III) mitigation of climate change, culminating in a Synthesis Report by late 2029. This new AGU-IPCC arrangement ensures that all contributors, regardless of institutional subscriptions, can fully engage with the peer-reviewed literature needed to deliver comprehensive, balanced, and transparent assessments.

Notes for Editors

What is the IPCC?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.

Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, scientists and experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.

The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.

IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.

What is AGU

The American Geophysical Union (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million scientists, advocates, and professionals in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.

About the Seventh Assessment Cycle

Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Task Force Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi.

At its first Plenary Session in the seventh assessment cycle – the 60th Plenary Session in Istanbul, Türkiye, in January 2024 – the Panel agreed to produce in this cycle the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), namely the Working Group I report on the Physical Science Basis, the Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and the Working Group III report on Mitigation of Climate Change. The Synthesis Report of the Seventh Assessment Report will be produced after the completion of the Working Group reports and released by late 2029.

During its 62nd Plenary Session held in Hangzhou, China, in February 2025, the Panel has agreed on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).

The Panel decided already during the previous cycle to produce a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers during AR7.. Scientists have also been asked to deliver a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage.

At the IPCC’s  61st Plenary Session held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 27 July to 2 August 2024, the Panel agreed upon the outlines for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities scheduled for approval and publication in March 2027 and for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcers scheduled for publication in the second half 2027.

In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.

IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provided direct scientific input to the First Global Stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.

The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.

The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (September 2019).

For more information visit www.ipcc.ch.

The website includes outreach materials including videos about the IPCC and video recordings from outreach events conducted as webinars or live-streamed events.

Most videos published by the IPCC can be found on our YouTube channel.

Media Contacts:

IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int;
Andrej Mahecic, +41 22 730 8516; Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
AGU contact: Josh Weinberg, news@agu.org

SOURCE: IPCC