Climate Change-Does the IPCC Model Provide the Foundation for a Potential Global Technology Assessment Framework?

Abstract

This chapter explores the structure, practises and methods of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a legitimate scientific institution and its interplay with the global political decision-making forum of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). By examining the successes and shortfalls of the IPCC process and comparing these with Technology Assessment (TA) theory and practice, we investigate whether such an institutionalised process of co-design between governments and researchers could serve as a potential global TA model. We identified four central challenges including: (a) a lack of impact through initiating action based on current government commitments, (b) the pursuit of consensus-based and situated knowledge, (c) reporting inaccuracies leading to mistrust, and (d) accessibility of information across different scales. We suggest there is potential for each of these deficiencies to be addressed using existing analytical and impact TA frameworks, resulting in more authentic and accepted outcomes from a global governance perspective. Highlighting that this may also help to build trust in science advice at the country and community level. By applying a critical lens to the IPCC process as one potential global TA model, we argue that with the addition of grassroots participatory TA, alongside traditional governance and reporting frameworks, there is potential to deliver holistic solutions on a range of global challenges.