The focus of this meeting was on the future of the IPCC, in particular the scoping of the 5th Assessment Report. The Panel was also invited to consider the outcome of the Scoping Meeting for a possible Special Report on "Extreme events and disasters: managing the risks", and of the Expert Meeting on "Alternative common metrics to calculate the CO2 equivalence of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases".

Different speakers addressed the Panel. Among other issues, the Eighteenth Session of the IPCC decided that its work must continue to maintain its high scientific and technical standards, independence, transparency and geographic balance, to ensure a balanced reporting of viewpoints and to be policy relevant but not policy prescriptive or policy driven.

In the context of this agenda item discussion took place on the management plan for the AR4 SYR. The Panel agreed that further consideration will be given by the Bureau to aspects of arrangements for management of the AR4 SYR, and progress reported to the Panel.

The meeting highlighted recent progress in the work of the IPCC, in particular the completion of the two Special Reports on Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System (SROC), and on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (SRCCS) and the preparations for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Among other speakers, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Mr Klaus Töpfer addressed the Session on the linkages between science and climate change policy and the increasing need for information from the IPCC. He reaffirmed UNEP's commitment to the IPCC and supported early planning for the period beyond AR4. The Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), also addressed the Panel on the importance of the principles of impartiality, transparency, scientific authority and integrity for the past success of the IPCC, the linkages of WMO programmes and IPCC assessments, and WMO's commitment to the IPCC.

The main actions of the Panel includes acceptence of revised 1996 IPCC guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, the election of the Chairman-elect, and approval of the program and budget for 1997.

The Panel approved various draft reports including the draft report of the 12th session. The Panel noted the draft decision paper (introduced by Dr. Watson) on the TAR, and after extensive discussions and amendments, the panel approved the decision line by line. The panel deferred the decision on the adoption procedure for the the report underlying the summary for policymakers of the synthesis report.