Posted on behalf of Quirin Schiermeier

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has announced [pdf] the names of experts who will over the next four years compile the panel’s fifth assessment report (AR5), due 2014.

The 831 coordinating lead authors, lead authors and review editors were chosen from about 3,000 nominations the IPCC had received from national governments, approved observer organizations, and from the IPCC bureau. For comparison, 559 authors and reviewers – from around 2,000 nominees – had participated in the fourth assessment report published in 2007.

The selected authors – 60 % of whom are new to the IPCC process, and 25 % of whom are female – comprise a broad range of expertise and disciplines, from physics to economics and ethics.

The IPCC points out that the proportion of experts from developing countries has increased relative to AR4 (but doesn’t say by how much). Even so, the three AR5 working groups – on the physical science basis, on adaptation to climate change, and on mitigation strategies – are dominated by experts affiliated with European and North American institutions (see chart).

Authors don’t get paid for work they do for the IPCC, which was awarded a fraction of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. More recently, the panel has been facing criticism for its handling of a few errors – such as on the rate of glacier retreat in the Himalayas – contained in its last assessment report. A review of the IPCC’s processes and procedures, carried out by the InterAcademy Council, is to be delivered to the United Nations by the end of August (see, ‘How to improve the IPCC’).