University of California International and Area Studies

Policy relevant scientific information is increasingly sought after in the climate regime. Yet little analysis has been done exploring what this phrase means. Implicit in the policy demand for both an objective and relevant science, lies a paradox. In this paradox is the suggestion that scientific experts make judgments about what is objective but judgments about what is relevant lie with policy ‘users’. The implication here is that science policy interaction is required in order to produce information that is neither entirely science nor policy but is a hybrid of the two. Yet interaction between these two communities is generally perceived as a blurring of boundaries that results in the politicization of science.

The mandate of the IPCC to remain ‘policy relevant but not policy prescriptive’ has resulted in two hybrid products – the IPCC Working Group Summary for Policymakers (SPM) and the Synthesis report (SYR). Using a constructivist approach to examine the formal and informal processes that produce the former, the final SPM document, provides a more nuanced account of what it means to produce policy relevant scientific information.