IPCC or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is an international body, which assesses increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the worlds and passes that information on to policymakers through its reports.
Why it was it set up
The World Meteorological organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the IPCC in 1988 to assess scientific and socio-economic information relevant to increasing our understanding about climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Functioning of IPCC
It is an intergovernmental body that is open to all member countries of the UNEP and of WMO. The Panel meets in plenary sessions about once a year where it decides on the IPCC's structure, procedures, work programme and elects the IPCC's Chair (In 2002, Rajendra K Pachauri, Head of Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) and one of India's foremost policy-makers in the environmental field was elected as the IPCC Chairman.)
Panel does not carry out research nor does it monitor climate related data. The reports for the panel are written by teams of authors, nominated by governments and international organisations and selected for a specific task according to their expertise from more than 100 countries. In addition, several hundred experts participate in the review process.
