The IPCC’s Climate Scientists Share the Nobel Peace Prize

In December 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, sharing the honor with former United States Vice President Al Gore. The award recognized their extensive efforts to build and disseminate knowledge concerning human-driven climate change and to establish foundations for measures needed to counteract it. This distinction came months after the IPCC published its Fourth Assessment Report, which declared warming of the global climate system to be unequivocal, bringing broader public prominence to decades of coordinated scientific evaluation.

Founded in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, the IPCC was created to provide policymakers with comprehensive evaluations of the scientific literature surrounding climate risks, potential consequences, and response strategies. Unlike research institutes, the panel does not collect field data or conduct original laboratory experiments. Instead, it organizes thousands of volunteer scientists from around the world to review published literature, synthesize findings, and develop methodological guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories.