NZ Climate Change Centre

Apart from publishing scientific papers that could potentially be cited by the IPCC author teams in the AR5, one of the most important ways to contribute to the AR5 process is to become an expert reviewer of the Working Group chapter drafts.

With several rounds of review, it is necessary to understand at which stage you could potentially review a draft of a Working Group report. We have outlined the various stages below for your information.

1. First Order Draft: Expert Review

Author teams work for months drafting the First Order Draft.

When the First Order Draft is ready for review, a notice is sent out to a wide group of experts inviting them to register through the website of the appropriate Working Group for participation as reviewers. A notice is also placed on the IPCC website advising that review is underway. Experts who have not received an invitation but would like to review the draft are able to advise the Working Group Technical Support Units of this. Expert reviewers are issued with a username and password to access the first order drafts online.

Expert reviewer registration for Working Group I has now closed.  Expert reviewer registrations for Working Group II will be accepted from May 2012.

The NZCCC will update this page when further information is available regarding the Working Group II and III Expert Review.

Note that all drafts of IPCC reports are confidential; they are made available to expert reviewers solely for the purpose of providing comments that will assist the author teams in revising their drafts. Draft reports are ‘work in progress' that will (and should) necessarily change before they are finalised, and they must not be published or distributed in any other form to allow the authors to work through an orderly process in their writing task.

2. Second Order Draft: Government & Expert Review

The Second Order Draft is provided to governments for review, as well as being made available to those who have already provided expert review comments on the first order draft. This round of review includes a review of the draft ‘Summary for Policymakers' (SPM) document. The IPCC focal point for each member country is responsible for co-ordinating the review comments on behalf of its government. Therefore, IPCC member countries will often invite recognised experts to contribute to its Government review to comment on matters of national importance and/or significance. Some of these experts will also submit their comments (and potentially additional comments) on behalf of themselves as well.

3. Finalisation of the Summary for Policymakers

The final draft is sent out to IPCC member countries along with the draft of the Summary for Policymakers (SPM), several weeks before the IPCC Working Group Plenary meeting at which the SPM is finalised and approved. Governments can provide comments on this draft of the SPM, which are considered by the SPM author team in advance of the Plenary. The SPM undergoes line-by-line consideration at the Plenary. Suggested changes must be supported by the underlying Working Group material and agreed to by the Lead Author representatives present at the Plenary.

To view the dates by which drafts are available for review, click here.

New Zealand's focal point to the IPCC is based at the Ministry for the Environment.

IPCC author teams have to consider and provide a response to every review comment they receive explaining whether a comment was accepted, rejected or simply noted and the reasons for this action.

Acting as reviewer for the IPCC can make an important contribution to the correctness and balance of the final report. You will also be acknowledged as a reviewer in the final report.