150 International Affairs:End Funding for the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
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201610
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201710
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201810
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201910
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202011
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202111
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202211
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202311
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202412
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202512
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2016-202051
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2016-2025108
Sources
Savings are expressed as budget authority based on the FY 2014 estimated spending levels as found on page 177 of the “Fiscal Year 2015 Congressional Budget Justification: Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.” This estimated level has been increased at the same rate as discretionary spending in the CBO’s most recent baseline spending projections.
×Technical Notes on Scoring
CBO Baseline
Unless otherwise noted, calculations for savings for each recommendation relies on the most recent Congressional Budget Office baseline, as found in “An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024,” published August 27, 2014, has been used.
Savings “Totals”
While totals for the five and 10 year savings are provided by section and for the complete set of recommendations, there are two reasons they should not be viewed as representing total savings for The Budget Book.
First, as noted in the introduction, The Heritage Foundation would recommend that the savings realized in the Function 050 Defense section would stay within the Department of Defense to strengthen the nation’s defense capabilities.
Second, the numbers cannot be deemed to represent the realized savings if every single recommendation were adopted because policy changes made in one program can impact spending levels in other programs. Thus, the numbers in the table do not reflect any potential interactions between the various policy changes affecting spending or savings.
×Heritage Recommendation:
End contributions to the IPCC. This proposal saves $10 million in 2016, and $108 million over 10 years.
Rationale:
The IPCC is charged with the “preparation of comprehensive Assessment Reports about the state of scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge on climate change, its causes, potential impacts and response strategies. The IPCC also produces Special Reports, which are an assessment on a specific issue and Methodology Reports, which provide practical guidelines for the preparation of greenhouse gas inventories.” ((Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Activities: Fifth Assessment Report,” November 2014, (accessed December 15, 2014).))
These studies have been subject to bias, manipulation, and poor data. In recent years, the U.S. House has voted to eliminate funding to the IPCC, but funds have been included in the final appropriations bills enacted into law.
Contributing Expert

Brett D. Schaefer is the Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs at Heritage's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.
Schaefer analyzes a range of foreign policy issues, focusing primarily on the United Nations and affiliated funds and programs. He frequently speaks and publishes on issues related to the world body and its activities.
See publications by Brett D. Schaefer

Brett D. SchaeferJay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs at Heritage's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom
Heritage Experts

Nicolas (Nick) Loris, an economist, focuses on energy, environmental and regulatory issues as the Herbert and Joyce Morgan fellow at The Heritage Foundation.


Nicolas (Nick) LorisHerbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow

Steven Groves works to protect and preserve American sovereignty, self-governance and independence as leader of The Heritage Foundation's Freedom Project.


Steven GrovesBernard and Barbara Lomas Senior Research Fellow

David W. Kreutzer, Ph.D.is the Research Fellow in Energy Economics and Climate Change at The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis.


David R. BurtonResearch Fellow in Energy Economics and Climate Change
Additional Reading
- David W. Kreutzer, “A Cure Worse than the Disease: Global Economic Impact of Global Warming Policy,” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2802, May 28, 2013.
- Brett Schaefer and Nicolas Loris, “U.S. Should Put U.N. Climate Conferences on Ice,” Heritage Foundation Issue Brief No. 3792, December 5, 2012.
- David Kreutzer, “If IPCC Sea Level Numbers Aren’t Bad Enough, Try Tripling Them,” The Daily Signal, July 22, 2011.