From 4–6 March 2026, around 70 researchers from across the international tipping points community came together at the University of Tokyo, Japan, for the third TIPMIP General Assembly. Bringing together PhD researchers, postdocs and senior scientists, including several IPCC authors and TIPMIP domain leads, the meeting marked an exciting milestone for the Tipping Points Modelling Intercomparison Project.
Following previous General Assemblies in Europe and North America, this year’s meeting brought TIPMIP to Asia for the first time. More importantly, it came at a particularly exciting stage of the project: with simulations following the TIPMIP protocols now underway or completed across a growing number of Earth System Models, participants were able to share and discuss first results—from detailed analyses of individual models to emerging multi-model comparisons.
Over three packed days, presentations and discussions spanned the different TIPMIP domains, including the icesheets, ocean, permafrost and biosphere. A central focus was the assessment of tipping likelihoods across these systems, alongside the potential impacts of tipping and interactions between different tipping elements.
The programme also looked beyond individual model experiments towards the bigger picture. Sessions explored how TIPMIP results can contribute to forthcoming scientific assessments, including the next IPCC assessment cycle and the Global Tipping Points Report, and how the project can provide robust, coordinated evidence on tipping risks and their consequences across policy-relevant as well as longer time scales.
Breakout sessions created space for more focused exchanges between researchers, including discussions on the development of protocols for standalone domain models and their use of outputs generated by Earth System Models. Plenary sessions brought these different strands back together, taking stock of TIPMIP’s progress and identifying shared priorities for the next stages of the project.
The General Assembly concluded with a look ahead to 2026 and 2027, as TIPMIP moves further from coordinated simulations towards analysis, comparison and synthesis of results. With first multi-model findings beginning to emerge and important assessment deadlines approaching, the Tokyo meeting provided plenty of momentum for the work ahead.
A big thank you to our hosts and co-organizers at the University of Tokyo, and to everyone who travelled from near and far to present results, exchange ideas and shape the next steps of TIPMIP!