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Section 1 
Section 1
This Synthesis Report (SYR) of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) 
summarises the state of knowledge of climate change, its widespread 
impacts and risks, and climate change mitigation and adaptation, based 
on the peer-reviewed scientiﬁc, technical and socio-economic literature 
since the publication of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in 
2014.
The assessment is undertaken within the context of the evolving 
international landscape, in particular, developments in the UN 
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, 
including the outcomes of the Kyoto Protocol and the adoption of the 
Paris Agreement. It reﬂects the increasing diversity of those involved in 
climate action. 
This report integrates the main ﬁndings of the AR6 Working Group 
reports58 and the three AR6 Special Reports59. It recognizes the 
interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human 
societies; the value of diverse forms of knowledge; and the close 
linkages between climate change adaptation, mitigation, ecosystem 
health, human well-being and sustainable development. Building on 
multiple analytical frameworks, including those from the physical and 
social sciences, this report identiﬁes opportunities for transformative 
action which are effective, feasible, just and equitable using concepts 
of systems transitions and resilient development pathways60. Different 
regional classiﬁcation schemes61 are used for physical, social and 
economic aspects, reﬂecting the underlying literature.
After this introduction, Section 2, ‘Current Status and Trends’, opens 
with the assessment of observational evidence for our changing 
climate, historical and current drivers of human-induced climate 
change, and its impacts. It assesses the current implementation of 
adaptation and mitigation response options. Section 3, ‘Long-Term 
Climate and Development Futures’, provides a long-term assessment of 
climate change to 2100 and beyond in a broad range of socio-economic 
58 
The three Working Group contributions to AR6 are: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis; Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; and Climate 
Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, respectively.