IPCC lets anyone read climate change report early, naturally it leaks

The members of the IPCC who received the Nobel Prize on behalf of the group.

LBL.gov

The next report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change isn't due until the end of next year. The fifth Assessment Report (AR5) is currently in review and not yet in its final form. But the review process is open, and anyone can sign up to be a reviewer, provided they agree to keep the documents confidential. Someone who doesn't believe the conclusions of most climate scientists has done just that—and then turned around and leaked the report. In the process, he's demonstrated a severe lack of scientific reasoning.

The IPCC's fourth Assessment Report was released more than five years ago. Since then, we've made significant progress on a variety of fronts, gathering more data, refining models, and getting a better grip on some of the processes that force changes in the climate. Various indications are that AR5 would generally predict similar changes in temperatures as previous reports, but significantly improve over past uncertainties on things like sea level rise.

But the report is still in the midst of the review process. Although the rough outlines aren't likely to undergo significant changes—we're long past the deadline for new research to be included now—the precise wording is certainly subject to change.