BANGKOK (AFP): UN climate experts wrapped up a tense meeting on Friday, with the session in Bangkok marked by disagreements between countries over the timetable for the group's next major report.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes reports every five to seven years whose conclusions on the environment are used as a reference by the United Nations.
But a request from Saudi Arabia and India to delay the next report's publication to 2029 -- after a crucial UN climate change conference, or COP, in 2028 -- risked derailing this week's working session, according to diplomatic sources.
"We use our best endeavours to achieve consensus," IPCC Chair Jim Skea told delegates at the closing session, according to a statement.
"Sometimes... we strive in slightly different directions. But I think the spirit of compromise and flexibility in IPCC was shown in the end," Skea added.
The divisions at the IPCC session mirror those that have long riven the COP conferences, which have seen disagreements between developed and developing nations over issues such as an end to fossil fuel use, compensation for the damage caused by climate change and funding to adapt to a warming planet.
Some countries wanted the next IPCC report to be published by 2028, in time for COP33, which will likely take place in India, so that policymakers have access to the most up-to-date science possible.
But others, including India, Saudi Arabia and China, argued that a 2029 release would allow more time to incorporate scientific data and research from scholars in developing countries.
"Some of the arguments are quite obviously quibbling," a government source from a developed country lamented in December.
A diplomat told AFP on Friday that the staggered timings would prevent COP33 from "having the latest recommendations from the science".
In a bid to put an end to the row, the IPCC said on Friday that "member governments clearly indicated that they want the timeline agreed at its next session", the dates of which have not yet been announced.
COP33 is due to produce a key "global stocktake" on nations' efforts to contain climate change since the landmark Paris Agreement. -- AFP
