National delegates in Bonn rejected a proposal by UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to stop funding science reports from its core budget

Researchers in Antarctica. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change brings together the work of thousands of climate scientists from around the world. (Photo: Antarctic Photo Library, US Antarctic Programme)

Indignant countries at climate talks in Bonn have demanded that the UN climate convention continues funding the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate science.

A draft 2018-19 budget from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) proposes to eliminate its funding for the IPCC, asking countries to support the body with direct voluntary payments.

But according to several sources present at a budget discussion on Wednesday evening, countries rounded on the UN secretariat.

Shifting the onus of the funding from the core budget of the UNFCCC, which is funded by compulsory contributions from member states, to individual country donors, would allow some to free-ride.

Rarely so united at these talks, the majority of parties rejected the secretariat’s proposal.

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