Delegates from more than 100 nations gather near Paris to launch the U.N.’s next climate assessment as debate over policy and evidence continues worldwide.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Delegates and researchers from over 100 countries convened this week in Saint-Denis, just outside Paris, to begin work on the United Nations’ next major climate assessment. The meeting marks the start of the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scheduled for release later this decade.
French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut addressed the opening session, describing the participants’ work as “extremely precious” and warning that international cooperation on environmental issues has weakened. “There is also something that should concern us all: the rise of climate-related disinformation on our social media, in our newspapers and even at the heart of our political institutions,” Barbut said, according to AFP.
Barbut also noted growing public doubt toward climate research, telling the assembled scientists, “Too many people deny the results of your work.”
The meeting follows September remarks by President Donald Trump, who during a United Nations address described climate change as “the greatest con job ever” and a “hoax.” The administration’s position has drawn attention within the scientific community, particularly as former NASA chief scientist Katherine Calvin—removed from her post earlier this year—joins the new IPCC writing team.
A French ministry official, speaking anonymously, said the United States’ statements on climate origins remain “quite surprising” to European observers.
The discussions in France come just weeks after the COP30 summit in Belém, Brazil, where more than 50,000 attendees signed a declaration calling for a “collective effort” to address environmental challenges. That agreement proposed tripling climate spending within the next decade, developing voluntary progress indicators, and creating a “Global Implementation Accelerator” to support energy transition projects.
However, participants at COP30 did not reach consensus on how to reduce fossil fuel use globally. The issue will be revisited at the next climate conference in Turkey in 2026.
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