Talk:Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change/Archive 13

Do we really want to use excerpts for all six assessment reports?
In the section about the six assessment reports, we have six excerpts: one for each assessment report. So far, these excerpts take the first paragraph of the lead of the respective sub-article. This makes it a bit repetitive and tedious to read. We could edit those leads of the other articles to make it less repetitive for us, but in the logic of the other articles, those wordings make sense. However I wonder now if we really need to have those six excerpts. They take up quite a bit of space are a bit boring to read. Perhaps we change the structure to this: Or we condense it in some other way. We could group it by: "Assessment reports prior to 2014" (i.e. reports 1-4), "Assessment reports since 2014" (i.e. report 5 and 6). Having the six excerpts is perhaps not really elegant (they are also available through the table of reports). Another option is to always take the second paragraph of the lead of the sub-article and ensure that the second paragraph is a list of bullet points with the main messages of the report (although excerpts don't work that great for bullet point lists, I find). EMsmile (talk) 09:56, 10 November 2022 (UTC)
 * First assessment report --> with excerpt
 * Second to fifth assessment reports --> without excerpts
 * Current assessment report: Sixth report --> with excerpt

Readability and broken links
I'm planning to review the introductory section (lead) of the article for readability. Also checking and fixing any broken links in the whole article. Does anyone object? Jonathanlynn (talk) 13:16, 5 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks, that's useful. EMsmile (talk) 09:59, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

Proposal to convert to long reference style
I am proposing to convert the references style in this article to long references. Currently it uses a mixture: most are in the long ref style but then there are some sources in the short ref style. It would also make it easier for new editors who want to add new references. Does anyone object? I've just checked through the sources and many were obsolete: I deleted those. They were probably left over from a time when text was moved to sub-articles or deleted. EMsmile (talk) 21:36, 4 October 2022 (UTC)
 * OK done. This article now uses only long ref style. EMsmile (talk) 10:31, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

Editing the lead for readability
For the last few weeks I've been editing the article on the IPCC, mainly for readability but also updating it. I've now worked on the lead and am posting my draft here before editing it in the article in case anyone has any comments or objections. Please note the text below has lost some Wikilinks and references in editing and these will be restored: what is posted here for comment is the text. For readability I have used several tools mainly Hemingway Editor. The aim is to get the text to a state that a high-school student or non-native speaker can understand. I aim to shorten sentences, use simple words, and avoid passive voices and adverbs. Most of the changes I have made to the lead are for readability rather than changes in substance.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities.[1] The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the IPCC in 1988. The United Nations endorsed the creation of the IPCC later that year.[2] It has a Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by the WMO. It has 195 member states, who govern the IPCC.[3] The member states elect a bureau of scientists to serve through an assessment cycle. A cycle is usually six to seven years. The bureau selects experts to prepare IPCC reports.[4] It draws them from nominations by member governments and observer organisations. The IPCC has three working groups and a task force, which carry out its scientific work.[4]

The IPCC informs governments about the state of knowledge of climate change. It does this by examining all the relevant scientific literature on the subject. This includes the natural, economic and social impacts and risks. It also covers possible response options. The IPCC does not conduct its own original research. It aims to be objective and comprehensive. Thousands of scientists and other experts volunteer to review the publications. They compile key findings into "Assessment Reports" for policymakers and the general public.[4] Experts have described this work as the biggest peer review process in the scientific community.[6]

The IPCC is an internationally accepted authority on climate change. Leading scientists and all member governments endorse its findings.[7][6] Media, governments, civil society organizations and businesses cite its reports. Its reports play a key role in the annual climate negotiations held by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).[8][9] The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report was an important influence on the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015.[10] The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for contributions to the understanding of climate change.[11]

In 2015, the IPCC began its sixth assessment cycle. It will complete it in 2023. In August 2021, the IPCC published its Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC AR6) on the physical science basis of climate change.[12] The Guardian described this report as the "starkest warning yet" of "major inevitable and irreversible climate changes".[13] Many newspapers around the world echoed this theme.[14] In February 2022, the IPCC released its Working Group II report on impacts and adaptation.[15] It published Working Group III's "mitigation of climate change" contribution to the Sixth Assessment in April 2022.[16] The Sixth Assessment Report is due to conclude with a Synthesis Report in March 2023.

During this period of the Sixth Assessment Report, the IPCC has released three special reports. The first and most influential was the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) in 2018. In 2019 the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) came out. It also updated its methodologies in 2019. So, the sixth assessment cycle is the most ambitious in the IPCC's history.[17]

Jonathanlynn (talk) 15:44, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

Updating the article on the IPCC
For the past few weeks I've been reviewing and updating the article on the IPCC, as part of the Wikipedia SDG 13 Phase 2 project. EMSmile has supported me in this work. Besides generally updating with recent developments and removing some historical detail that is less relevant than it was in past years, this work has involved the following: 1. A new section on Challenges and controversies, highlighting recent and continuing topics; 2. replacing excerpts (usually first paragraphs) from Wikipedia articles about individual IPCC articles with short summaries of each report; 3. adding a table listing all reports, with Wikilinks where available or references (some outstanding); 4. rewriting the entire article after these changes to improve readability, e.g. splitting sentences, avoiding jargon, using tools such as Hemingway.

This work is complete for now and the article is up to date. In the coming months I hope to add a further image, from a past or the next IPCC approval session. In 2023 I will further update the article with details of the Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report, now due to be approved in March 2023, and the new Bureau, due to be elected later in the year.Jonathanlynn (talk) 13:48, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for all your work on this, Jonathanlynn, much appreciated! EMsmile (talk) 21:11, 15 December 2022 (UTC)