Climate change 2009, faster change and more serious risks

This document reviews and synthesises the science of climate change since the publication of the IPCC’s AR4, with an emphasis on rapidly changing areas of science of direct policy relevance. In that regard, the report is selective; it highlights a small number of critical issues rather than attempting to be comprehensive across the full range of climate science. The report is focused more strongly on issues of importance to Australia, although it places these in a global context.

The synthesis is based primarily on scientific papers published since the IPCC’s AR4, along with selected earlier papers required to provide context to the synthesis.