Pacific Civil Society Demands Timely Delivery of IPCC AR7

Pacific Activists at SB62 in Bonn, Germany

The Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN), representing more than 290 member organisations across the region, is calling on governments meeting at the 65th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-65) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 12–16 October 2026, to ensure that all three Working Group reports of the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) are delivered in 2028.

After five consecutive sessions without agreement on a timeline, proposals to delay critical reports on climate impacts, adaptation and mitigation until 2029 threaten to leave the second Global Stocktake (GST2) without the latest scientific evidence needed to inform global climate action.

For Pacific communities already living with the accelerating impacts of climate change, these delays carry profound consequences. The second Global Stocktake will shape the next generation of national climate commitments, and decisions about our collective future must be informed by the best available science.

PICAN’s Statement also addresses the importance of equity and representation within the IPCC, the integrity of climate science, and the growing legal significance of scientific assessments following the International Court of Justice’s historic Advisory Opinion on climate change.

While recognising the longstanding inequalities within global scientific processes, PICAN maintains that genuine equity requires greater investment, meaningful inclusion of Indigenous and Global South knowledge, and institutional reform. Delaying the delivery of critical science does little to address these structural challenges.

Our position is clear. All three AR7 Working Group reports must be delivered in 2028, with September representing the latest acceptable deadline.

As governments prepare for COP31, the Pacific is calling for decisions that uphold scientific integrity, strengthen accountability and ensure that the communities most vulnerable to climate change are not left behind.

When you deny us the science, you deny our future.

Read full PICAN Statement on IPCC-65 here >

For any questions, please email us at secretariat@pican.org. For media inquiries, contact Dylan Kava at dylan.kava@pican.org.