How to register as an IPCC Expert Reviewer for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities

05Nov

After the webinar hosted by the IPCC Focal Point for Italy on October 24, 2025, we provide some resource to those that are interested to submit for the Expert Review of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities have been preparing the First Order Draft (FOD) of the report, which will be available for expert review from 17 October to 12 December 2025 (midnight GMT +1).

The presentation by

Anna Pirani, IPCC Focal Point Alternate for Italy and CMCC
Rita Nogherotto, CNR-ISAC
Giulia Ulpiani, JRC

Download the pdf

Quick guide — how to register as an IPCC Expert Reviewer for the Special Report on Climate Change

and Cities. By IAP –InterAcademy Partnership.

Background information.

The IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities (SRCities) is the first IPCC report dedicated entirely to cities and urban areas. It will assess the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge on climate change in urban contexts, including impacts, adaptation, mitigation and resilience. The report aims to inform decision-making at local to global levels by linking climate science with the challenges and opportunities faced by cities worldwide.

The SRCities is the only Special Report planned in the Seventh Assessment Cycle (AR7) and its First-Order Draft (FOD) is now up for review.

The strength of the IPCC process lies in its objective, open, and transparent review by independent experts from around the world. A wide range of views, expertise, and geographical representation is essential to ensure the report is both comprehensive and balanced.

The publication of SRCities is scheduled for March 2027.

About this guide

Below is all the key information you need to contribute as an Expert Reviewer (where and how to register, timeline, requirements, what to expect, and practical tips). The dates and details of the process are pulled from the oﬃcial IPCC pages, please refer to those for further details.

In addition to the information below, you can also watch the video recording of the IAP webinar ‘How to participate as an Expert Reviewer in the First Draft of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities’ where Anna Pirani (IPCC National Focal Point for Italy and AR7 Lead Author) and Andrew Okem (Head of Science of the IPCC WGII Technical Support Unit) explained the entire process.

Is my background suitable to contribute as an expert reviewer?

Look at the report outline

When the Panel approves a Special Report, it also agrees on the outline (the list of chapters and sub-sections).
For the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, the outline was agreed on in 2024 and lists the main chapters.
Each chapter corresponds to certain expertise areas – e.g., urban climatology, architecture, transport, energy, health, disaster risk reduction, social equity, economics, Indigenous/local knowledge, etc.

By reading the outline, you can see where your background fits.

Understand the role of expert reviewers

The IPCC doesn’t expect you to cover the whole report. You are most valuable if you can critically review the parts closest to your expertise and suggest

corrections, missing references, or improvements. The IPCC explicitly says:

Expertise is self-declared: you don’t need to be a professor or senior scientist; practitioners, early-career researchers, and knowledge holders are welcome if they have relevant experience.
Breadth of expertise is valuable: they seek natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, economics, humanities, local and Indigenous knowledge, and sector- specific expertise (e.g., water, transport, energy, health, housing).

Key dates & timeline

Registration for Expert Review (FOD): registration opens 17 September 2025 and closes 30 November 2025.
Expert Review window (FOD – when you will review and submit comments): 17 October – 12 December 2025. See the IPCC webpage.
Expert Review of the Second-Order Draft (SOD): scheduled 8 May – 3 July 2026 (for this report cycle). See the IPCC document.

Note: If you plan to review, register as soon as possible (registration is now open) and reserve the necessary time in the review windows.

Where and how to register

Go to the Portal: Visit the IPCC comment portal for the SRCITIES report at apps.ipcc.ch/comments/srcities/.
Register: If you haven’t registered before, click the “Register” button on the page.
Fill Out the Form: Complete the registration form and accept the confidentiality agreement. With this form you complete a short self-declaration of expertise and select which chapter(s) you want to review.
Await Approval: The form is submitted for approval to the Technical Support Unit (TSU).
Receive Credentials: After approval, you will receive unique login credentials via email to access the First Order Draft (FOD). Check your spam folder to ensure the email is not missed.
Login and Review: Use your credentials to log in and access the draft for review.
The IPCC “Engage” / “How to participate” pages explain the participation routes and provide links and guidance.

Eligibility / requirements

Self-nomination / self-declaration: Expert reviewers self-register and complete a self-declaration of expertise. There is no formal nomination required for expert reviewers (diﬀerent from authors). Reviewers are generally accepted unless they fail to demonstrate relevant qualifications. The IPCC seeks broad participation. See the IPCC webpage.
No fee / voluntary work: reviewers are not paid, this is voluntary scientific input. This is a collective eﬀort that will enable you to greatly expand your scientific network and give you the opportunity to get to know IPCC authors and how they work.

What you will actually do as a reviewer

Read your preferred chapter(s) or the whole draft during the review period and submit comments via the online review form. The IPCC accepts comments from single reviewers or group reviews. See the IPCC document.
You don’t have to read the whole report to be a reviewer! You can comment on: paragraph; section; chapter of the report.
Each comment receives an author response; this can be challenging for authors, as the volume of comments received is very high. For this reason, it is important to fulfil your role as a reviewer in a thoughtful manner, in order to eﬀectively support the authors. Focus on providing substantive comments. Note that the final report will be copy-edited so do not spend time on editorial comments.

When to review

Avoid the temptation to wait until the SOD is available to provide comments.
Commenting on the FOD gives you a greater opportunity to contribute shape the report.
Commenting on the FOD aﬀords an opportunity to check whether your feedback has been actioned acceptably during SOD review.
By the time of the SOD, it is much harder to incorporate your suggestions.

Recognition & follow-up

After publication the review comments and author responses are made public alongside the drafts. Reviewer names and aﬃliations are acknowledged in the published report annex. See the IPCC document.

How to write effective review comments

Be specific – indicate chapter, page and line numbers (or section heading) and quote the text you are commenting on. See the IPCC document.
State the problem and suggest a fix – state if the issue is an error, omission, imbalance, or unclear wording, and suggest corrections or references. See the IPCC document.
Provide supporting evidence – cite published literature (full references or Digital Object Identifier) that authors can use. See the IPCC document.
Indicate the significance – mark whether the comment is substantive (aﬀecting conclusions) or editorial (typo/formatting/stylistic/clarity). See the IPCC document.

Practical tips

Take the IPCC reviewer training if new to the process – IPCC/UN resources and short online courses exist to explain how to review eﬀectively (Search “How to review IPCC reports” or the IPCC engage pages). See the UN e-learning platform.
Decide ahead which chapter(s) you are most qualified to review (e.g., framing, impacts, adaptation, solutions, regional/city types). The registration form asks you to select chapters of interest.

Links that may be useful to you: