The IPCC and the Politics of Writing Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is one of the most significant global environmental assessment bodies ever established, providing the most authoritative and influential reports on climate change knowledge. This book examines the history and politics of the organisation and how this shapes its assessment practice and the climate knowledge it produces. Developing a new methodology, this book focuses on the actors, activities and forms of authority shaping the IPCC’s constructions of climate change. It describes how social, economic and political dynamics influence all aspects of the organisation and its work. This book contributes to understanding the place of science in politics and politics in science and also offers important insights for designing new knowledge bodies for global environmental agreement-making. It is indispensable for students and researchers in environmental studies, international relations and political science, and science and technology studies. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Hannah Hughes is a senior lecturer in International Politics and Climate Change at Aberystwyth University. Her research is focused on questions of knowledge and power and global asymmetries in how we know and collectively address global environmental degradation. Through her research, collaborations and publications, she hopes to shape central sites and processes of global environmental agreement-making. In 2023, she published another book with Cambridge University Press on Conducting Research on Global Environmental Agreement-Making that she co-edited with Alice Vadrot.