Embed the social sciences in climate policy

摘要

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is becoming irrelevant to climate policy. By seeking consensus and avoiding controversy, the organization is suffering from the streetlight effect - focusing ever more attention on a well-lit pool of the brightest climate science. But the insights that matter are out in the darkness, far from the places that the natural sciences alone can illuminate. With the ink barely dry on the IPCC's latest reports, scientists and governments are planning reforms for the next big assessment. Streamlining the review and writing processes could, indeed, make the IPCC more nimble and relevant. But decisions made at February's IPCC meeting in Nairobi showed that governments have little appetite for change.