Royal Society climate change briefings

The Royal Society has produced a series of briefing documents on the implications of a variety of aspects of climate change for UK policymakers, drawing from special reports produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC is the United Nations body assigned with the task of providing policymakers with regular assessments on climate change and its implications. It utilises the expertise of scientists around the world to produce comprehensive assessment reviews every 8 years or so, and a number of more focused ‘special reports’ in between. 

Starting with the 2018 special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C, the Royal Society has produced short briefings on the most recent IPCC special reports outlining the key findings and identifying what these mean for the UK and UK policymakers. 

In 2019, the IPCC published two special reports, for which the Society has produced briefings: one on the connection between climate change and land and another one on how climate change is interconnected with the ocean and cryosphere (the frozen parts of the Earth).

Find out more

Learn more about the Royal Society's work on climate.