Policy Relevance and Neutrality
Martin Mahony
Abstract
This chapter reviews the history of the efforts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to achieve and maintain policy relevance while remaining policy-neutral and staying far away from 'policy prescriptiveness'. The chapter argues that the boundaries between policy relevance, neutrality and prescriptiveness are a practical achievementthey must be constantly negotiated as the science and politics of climate change evolve. The chapter uses historical case studies to illustrate this point, such as the controversy over the so-called 'burning embers' diagram. It ends by discussing recent debates about the IPCC's new role in the post-Paris Agreement policy landscape. While IPCC actors call for greater policy relevance, observers and critics contend that the IPCC will always and inevitably be policy-prescriptive, even if on a tacit and unintentional level. Achieving even greater policy relevance may therefore mean jettisoning or modifying the aspiration to be policy-neutral.