Upholding 1.5°C and the Integrity of the IPCC

7 NOVEMBER 2026

As the world gathers for COP31 and the second Global Stocktake (GST2) begins, the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) reaffirms its commitment to the best available science, the integrity of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the 1.5°C survival threshold at the heart of the Paris Agreement.

We welcome the growing recognition of the need to align the IPCC's Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) with GST2, including the delivery of all three Working Group reports and their Summaries for Policymakers before the stocktake concludes in 2028. This is a position Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have consistently championed, and one that PICAN firmly supports.

We equally recognise the importance of equity, inclusivity and greater representation in the production and assessment of climate science. The inequalities that shape who produces scientific knowledge, whose research is funded and whose perspectives are represented have developed over generations. Addressing them requires sustained investment, institutional reform and a long-term commitment to transforming how climate science is produced and assessed. We acknowledge the significant progress already made in AR7, including stronger representation from developing countries and the meaningful inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge and diverse knowledge systems.

Progress on equity and the timely delivery of science must advance together. These longstanding structural inequalities cannot be resolved through scheduling decisions alone, nor should their resolution become a precondition for delivering the scientific assessments that frontline communities urgently need. Addressing structural inequities requires sustained, systematic reform from within the institutions and processes that shape climate science. AR7 is already taking steps towards embedding greater equity within this assessment cycle, laying the groundwork for progress that can carry forward into future cycles and the wider research community. A longer assessment cycle does not, in itself, address the underlying disparities in research funding, capacity or representation. For Pacific peoples, delaying the science needed to inform global climate action risks deepening the very inequities we are collectively seeking to overcome and eroding our right to science, as recognised under Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). 

The second Global Stocktake must be informed by the latest evidence on climate impacts, adaptation, loss and damage, and mitigation. The International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion has further reinforced the legal significance of the best available science and the centrality of 1.5°C to States' climate obligations.

Our Pacific Climate Justice Demands are grounded in this same commitment to science, equity and accountability. They reflect our conviction that climate action must protect the rights, sovereignty and futures of Pacific peoples, guided by evidence that is rigorous, inclusive and available when it is needed.

As COP31 gets underway, with the second Global Stocktake (GST2) opening alongside it, PICAN will continue working with civil society partners and governments to defend the integrity of the IPCC and support the progress AR7 is making on addressing equity in its own processes. We will keep contributing to the systemic change needed in how knowledge is produced and remain firm in our call for all three AR7 Working Group reports to be approved in 2028, in time to inform GST2.

The Pacific has a right to science, and a right to have that science inform the decisions that determine our future.

Developed in the lead-up to IPCC-65 in Addis Ababa, PICAN's position paper sets out our network's position on the AR7 timeline, scientific integrity and equity. We are now making this paper publicly available as these discussions continue, reaffirming our commitment to the timely delivery of the best available science and its central role in informing the second Global Stocktake.

Read PICAN's full position paper: IPCC AR7 Timeline

Explore the Pacific Climate Justice Demands: https://www.pican.org/pacific-demands 

ENDS

About PICAN

PICAN is a regional alliance of 320+ non-government organisations, civil society organisations, social movements and not-for-profit organisations from the Pacific Islands region working on various aspects of climate change, disaster risk and response, and sustainable development.

Media Contact:

Dylan Kava, Strategic Communications Lead, PICAN (on the ground in Antalya)

dylan.kava@pican.org | +679 9061989 (Antalya / GMT+3)