IPCC Authors Begin Work on Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is gathering over 150 experts in Rome, Italy, this week to begin work on the 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage(CDRT-CCUS). The first meeting of authors of the Methodology Report is taking place from 14 to 16 April 2026 at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.

The 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies and Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage will equip governments with a robust, up-to-date scientific foundation for estimating CO₂ emissions and removals from these technologies.

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“This Methodology Report will serve as a fundamental reference for transparent and consistent reporting on climate action, strengthening the scientific basis for mitigation policies,” said Takeshi Enoki, Co-Chair of the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI).

The CDRT-CCUS Methodology Report will provide comprehensive guidance on a wide range of carbon dioxide removal and storage approaches, from CO₂ capture, utilisation, and long-term storage to emerging land-based and coastal solutions. It will offer updated scientific methods for assessing technologies such as direct air capture, soil and biomass-based removals, coastal ecosystem approaches, and the production of durable CO₂-derived materials.

“Together, these updates will strengthen countries’ ability to consistently estimate and report emissions and removals across the full spectrum of methods covered by the IPCC guidelines,” said Mazhar Hayat, Co-Chair of the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI).

The IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories is responsible for developing and improving internationally agreed methodologies and tools for estimating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and removals by signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement.

As other IPCC reports, this Methodology Report will be prepared through a structured and transparent IPCC process, with four Lead Author meetings where the report’s content will be developed and refined in line with approved guidance. It will undergo two formal review stages, first by experts and then by governments and experts jointly, before the final approval by IPCC member governments at the end of 2027.

What is the IPCC?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.

About the Seventh Assessment Cycle

Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Task Force Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi.

At its first Plenary Session in the seventh assessment cycle – the 60th Plenary Session in Istanbul, Türkiye, in January 2024 – the Panel agreed to produce in this cycle the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), namely the Working Group I report on the Physical Science Basis, the Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and the Working Group III report on Mitigation of Climate Change. The Synthesis Report of the Seventh Assessment Report will be produced after the completion of the Working Group reports and released by late 2029.

During its 62nd Plenary Session held in Hangzhou, China, in February 2025, the Panel has agreed on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).

At the Panel’s most recent Plenary Session in Lima, Peru, in October 2025, member governments agreed on the scientific content of the 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage. There, the Panel also agreed on the 2026 workplan for the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report.

The Panel decided already during the previous cycle to produce a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers during AR7.

At the IPCC’s 61st Plenary Session held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 27 July to 2 August 2024, the Panel agreed upon the outlines for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities scheduled for approval and publication in March 2027 and for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcers scheduled for publication in the second half 2027.

In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.

IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provided direct scientific input to the First Global Stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.

For more information visit www.ipcc.ch.