The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ended its 65th session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, without agreeing on when its seventh assessment report (AR7) will be published. It was the sixth consecutive failure to settle the timeline, and the meeting was suspended on Friday evening. IPCC chair Jim Skea called the outcome a "profound disappointment" and described it as one of the most difficult IPCC meetings.
The core dispute is whether all three working group reports—covering climate science, impacts and adaptation, and mitigation—should be ready in time for the UN's second global stocktake in 2028. A coalition of developed nations and small-island states wants that alignment, while India, Kenya, Russia and Saudi Arabia argue developing countries need more time to review and approve the reports. The meeting considered up to seven timeline options before narrowing to four, but no consensus emerged.
The deadlock also left the IPCC's budget for the rest of the AR7 cycle unresolved, creating what the body described as a "serious funding crisis." The IPCC has pledged to reconvene at the earliest opportunity, but has not yet indicated when. A climate envoy from a Pacific island state called the delay a "travesty," warning that missing the stocktake would undermine global climate action.