Scientists Form Academic Alliance to Support U.S. Climate Researchers
A Rutgers-led effort will help scientists aiming to participate in major global assessment
Eminent climate experts from United States academic institutions, including Rutgers University, have formed an alliance designed to provide coordinated support for research colleagues who wish to participate in preparing a comprehensive climate report for governmental leaders worldwide.
Members of the newly formed U.S. Academic Alliance for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (USAA-IPCC) have opened a call for U.S. researchers who are interested in being nominated to work on the Seventh Assessment Report being prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“This new alliance will help the U.S. maintain a preeminent position in global science policy assessments,” said Pamela McElwee, a professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and chair of the alliance’s steering committee. “The benefits to U.S. researchers from involvement in the panel are tremendous, and we want to ensure that our scientists continue to play an important leadership role internationally.”
The call for experts is aimed to ensure U.S. scientists will have opportunities to be nominated to the upcoming IPCC assessment cycle. The U.S. has been a leader in past climate assessments, supplying the largest number of experts of any nation in the last cycle.
“The IPCC plays a crucial role in informing both global climate negotiations and national and local climate policy and planning around the world,” said Robert Kopp, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and a member of the steering committee. “U.S. scientists have always been key players in the IPCC, and as registered observer institutions that are permitted to nominate panel authors, the USAA-IPCC members want to ensure that continues to be the case.”
Kopp and McElwee have played decisive roles in previous assessments and overviews. Kopp, who also is director of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub, was a lead author of the IPCC’s earlier Sixth Assessment Report. McElwee was a lead author of the Special Report on Climate Change and Land for the panel.
Recently, McElwee served as co-chair of another international report, the Nexus Assessment prepared by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The organization, a frequent partner of the IPCC, adopted its report in December 2024.
Experts in climate research and practice who are U.S. citizens or based at U.S. institutions and are interested in being nominated, are encouraged to submit applications to USAA-IPCC via the Alliance portal. Experts may be nominated by multiple organizations, and eligible individuals are encouraged to submit nomination materials through the U.S. government process as well as the USAA-IPCC.
USAA-IPCC will accept submissions through April 4 and host a webinar on Thursday, March 27, at 2 p.m. ET to allow prospective experts to learn more about the nomination process through USAA-IPCC.
When completed, the IPCC Seventh Assessment cycle will provide governments and policymakers with the most up-to-date scientific information on climate change, its impacts and potential response options. The final synthesis report will be completed and issued in late 2029.
In addition to Rutgers, founding institutions of the alliance include: Colby College; College of the Atlantic; Dickinson College; Indiana University; Princeton University; Washington University in St. Louis; University of California, San Diego; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and Yale University. These ten are the only U.S. academic institutions allowed to nominate experts due to their observer status with the IPCC. The American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest association of Earth and space scientists, will host the alliance.
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