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More than 100 leading scientists from 56 countries are meeting in Bhopal, India, from August 3 to 7, 2026, for the Fourth Lead Author Meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. The meeting is hosted by the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) with support from the government of India.

The Special Report on Climate Change and Cities will provide a timely assessment of the latest science, including climate impacts and risks for urban areas, as well as adaptation and mitigation options. Authors of the report are meeting to prepare the final draft of the report, which is IPCC’s only special report in the seventh assessment cycle. It is scheduled for completion in March 2027.

Co-Chairs of IPCC Working Group II: Winston Chow (top) and Bart van den Hurk

The Special Report was extensively scoped in early 2024, and its outline was agreed by the IPCC Panel at its 61st Session (Sofia, Bulgaria, July 2024). The report has five chapters and is drafted with a diverse author team of 97 experts from 56 countries, with four authors from India.

IPCC reports are drafted through multiple review stages. The First Lead Author Meeting (Osaka, Japan, March 2025) allowed selected authors to kickstart the drafting process. The Second Lead Author Meeting (Mombasa, Kenya, July 2025) advanced work on the First Order Draft, that was then open for experts to review from mid-October to mid-December 2025. The First Order Draft received over 32,000 comments from more than 1,300 expert reviewers. During the Third Lead Author Meeting (Oslo, Norway, January 2026) authors worked on the comments received to prepare a second draft.

This meeting saw the inclusion of Review Editors, who ensure that all substantive review comments are addressed – a critical step in ensuring the integrity of the IPCC review process. The Second Order Draft just completed its Government and Expert Review in July 2026. It received over 25,000 comments from 960 government and expert reviewers from 102 countries.

In the India meeting, authors will address review comments on the Second Order Draft and will work to prepare a final draft which will be circulated to governments before it is finalised through a final meeting between scientists and governments before its publication.

“This is a crucial meeting for the production of our Special Report, as authors meet to resolve critical matters and finalize the draft. Based on the large volume of review comments received, we recognise that the report is of significance to many around the world and we want to ensure that their views are considered as we prepare for our final draft,” said Bart van den Hurk, Co-Chair of Working Group II. 

“We are grateful to be hosted in the verdant campus of IIFM at Bhopal for this meeting. Our report aims to be an important resource for inhabitants of diverse cities around the world for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, and we are looking forward to a productive and meaningful meeting this week.” said Prof Raman Sukumar, National Science Chair at the Centre for Ecological Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and also Vice-Chair of the IPCC Working Group II.