The Intergovernmental Panel on Art and Climate Change (IPACC) is a fictional institution which refers to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations’ body assessing the science related to climate. Acknowledging that both the impacts of and solutions to climate change are deeply mediated by culture, the IPACC explored a stronger integration of the arts, social sciences and humanities within the interface between science and global policymaking. The project spanned two discursive events in consecutive years, happening in parallel to the unfolding IPCC’s 6th Assessment Cycle, a comprehensive review of the latest climate science instrumental to inform climate protocols.

In the first three-day event in 2021, the prospects and challenges of the IPACC were discussed in a speculative role-play between professionals enacting the Present and the Future, seven generations ahead. The group of the Present departed from the fictional scenario that the IPCC wished to include arts and culture in their workings and thought prospectively on how such a collaboration could come about. The Future, 140 years ahead, gave a retrospective evaluation on the IPACC’s importance, shortcomings, and impact on future societies. After separate round-tables, both groups joined forces in speculating how arts and culture could gain further traction in the discussion and action on the climate crisis.

The second event gave continuity to these reflections and departed from the IPCC’s structure of 3 Working Groups (WG), imagining a 4th group within the IPACC. The IPACC WG IV occurred after the publishing of the reports by the IPCC’s three Working Groups, which constituted the 6th Assessment Report (AR6). The event opened spaces for discussion to react, reflect and add to this on-going process which culminates with the publishing of the AR6 Synthesis Report, completing the IPCC’s 6th assessment cycle and bringing key information to global policymakers.