ABSTRACT The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has completed its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). Here, we explore the social scientific networks informing Working Group III

(WGIII) assessment of mitigation for the AR5. Identifying authors’ institutional pathways, we highlight the persistence and extent of North–South inequalities in the authorship of the

report, revealing the dominance of US and UK institutions as training sites for WGIII authors. Examining patterns of co-authorship between WGIII authors, we identify the unevenness in

co-authoring relations, with a small number of authors co-writing regularly and indicative of an epistemic community’s influence over the IPCC’s definition of mitigation. These co-authoring

suggest that the idea that broader geographic participation may lead to a wider range of viewpoints and cultural understandings of climate change mitigation may not be as sound as previously

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support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS BACK TO BASICS FOR THE IPCC: APPLYING LESSONS FROM AR6 TO THE SEVENTH ASSESSMENT CYCLE Article Open access 14 June 2024 THE PARADOX OF

COLLECTIVE CLIMATE ACTION IN RURAL U.S. ECOVILLAGES: ETHNOGRAPHIC REFLECTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES Article Open access 26 March 2024 ‘IS CLIMATE SCIENCE TAKING OVER THE SCIENCE?’: A CORPUS-BASED

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors acknowledge the assistance provided by M. Calvet-Mir in data collection and J. L. Molina in data analysis. E.C. and L.C.-M. acknowledge the financial support of

the Biodiversa Framework Project INVALUABLE: Values, Markets, and Policies for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (PRI-PIMBDV-2011-1072). E.C. has also received support from the Spanish

Research, Development and Innovation Secretariat through a ‘Ramón y Cajal’ research fellowship (RYC-2010-07183). AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * Hannah Hughes Present address: Present

address: Department of Politics and International Relations, Cardiff University, Law Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK., AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Universitat Autònoma de

Barcelona, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/de les Columnes s/n Bellaterra, Barcelona 08193, Spain, Esteve Corbera * Universitat Oberta de Catalunya,

Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, Av. Carl Friedrich Gauss, 5 Castelldefels Barcelona 08860, Spain, Laura Calvet-Mir * Via Roma 36, Mezzolombardo, 38017 Trentino, Italy Hannah Hughes *

University of Ottawa, School of Political Studies, 120 University Avenue Ottawa K1N 6N5, Canada, Matthew Paterson Authors * Esteve Corbera View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Laura Calvet-Mir View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Hannah Hughes View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Matthew Paterson View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS E.C. and M.P. had

the original idea for the article. L.C.-M. and M.P. developed the social network analysis for training and co-authoring patterns. E.C. analysed the authors’ disciplinary backgrounds. H.H.

provided important background concerning the existing literature on the sociology of the IPCC, and contributed to data collection and analysis. M.P. and E.C. developed the first draft of the

article, and all four authors extensively revised and edited the text. E.C. completed and edited the final version of the article and all Supplementary Information. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR

Correspondence to Esteve Corbera. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION (PDF 1370

KB) SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION (XLSX 398 KB) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Corbera, E., Calvet-Mir, L., Hughes, H. _et al._ Patterns of

authorship in the IPCC Working Group III report. _Nature Clim Change_ 6, 94–99 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2782 Download citation * Received: 01 April 2015 * Accepted: 03 August

2015 * Published: 07 September 2015 * Issue Date: January 2016 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2782 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read

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