Fight over climate science intensifies at COP31

The European Union vowed Friday to "fight" for science at the UN climate summit after accusing some countries of seeking to undermine the world's leading authority on global warming.

A long-running dispute over when to publish the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) next major reports is spilling into the COP31 talks in Turkey, threatening to complicate negotiations toward a final deal.

Dozens of countries in Europe, Africa and the Pacific want the next set of IPCC reports available to inform a crucial stocktake of global carbon-cutting efforts at the 2028 climate summit.

But a smaller number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, China and India, are pushing for the IPCC's "seventh assessment report" to be delayed until 2029.

The IPCC suspended its last meeting after failing to break the impasse and hopes for a resolution at its next session in December.

But there is growing pressure to address the standoff in Turkey by inserting the issue in the final COP31 decision, elevating tensions as the climate negotiations approach the midway point.

"We will fight for this outcome to be there," senior EU climate official Diana Acconcia told reporters, cautioning it would "not be so easy" to bridge the gulf on the issue.

"There are some parties that are trying to undermine what science is telling us because they don't want to do what it takes to address climate change," Acconcia said.

"It is as simple as that," she added, lamenting the "polarised" nature of the debate.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday praised the "remarkable" work of the IPCC and said he hoped for its next report to be published "ideally before the next stocktake".

Drive decisions

The IPCC publishes a series of reports every seven years that provide the definitive scientific assessment of climate change and inform global policy responses to the crisis.

Pierre Friedlingstein, a climate scientist from the University of Exeter and author of previous IPCC assessments, said it was "always best for policy decisions to be based on the most up-to-date science".

"Updated figures are more appropriate than figures that are seven years old," he told AFP in Antalya.

"Presenting new evidence can help drive political decisions forward. That said, it is clear that this does not suit certain countries. They would prefer to stay where we were before."

Some countries fear updated findings could expose the gap between climate action and what is needed to limit warming at the 2028 global stocktake, several negotiators in Antalya told AFP.

"It's no secret that IPCC faces operational challenges and reputational risks from the current impasse on the timeline," IPCC chairman Jim Skea said in a speech on the first day of COP31.

Skea urged delegates to "use your influence here to prepare for a successful outcome" at the December meeting, reminding them that IPCC scientists volunteer their time to draft the reports.

Observers are not optimistic of resolving the dispute at COP31, where decisions must be taken by consensus among the nearly 200 nations that participate.

But there is a push to recognise the "central role" of IPCC science in any final COP31 deal.

Those arguing for a delay say more time is needed for developing countries in particular to digest the thousands of pages of technical scientific findings.

But the Alliance of Small Island States and the Least Developed Countries group -- two blocs representing more than 70 developing nations -- have already expressed support for publishing the report in 2028.

"We would like to have it as soon as possible, and as detailed as possible," Abou Bamba, environment minister of Ivory Coast, told AFP.