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| Richard Black BBC Science correspondent |
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The meeting will be dominated by the election for chair, with the United States aiming to oust the incumbent, Robert Watson.
Environmental campaigners say the US position is due to lobbying from the oil company ExxonMobil.
Usually, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meetings are sedate affairs, as sober-suited scientists debate the techniques and methodologies of assessing global climate change.
But this year, it will be somewhat different. For the first time in the IPCC's history, the position of chair is being contested.
Big funding
Robert Watson, an American himself, has made no secret of his belief that President Bush's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol last year was wrong.
 Bob Watson says he is confident of winning
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Earlier this month, the US State Department declared its support for a rival candidate for IPCC Chair, the Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri, currently director of the Tata Energy Research Institute.
It announced its position shortly after the publication of a memo which went through the oil company ExxonMobil to one of President Bush's environmental advisors.
The memo asked whether it was possible to replace Dr Watson with a scientist who had a less "aggressive agenda".
The US Government maintains there is no link between the memo and its support for Dr Pachauri.
Robert Watson says he is confident of winning - but the US is one of the IPCC's biggest financial donors, and environmental groups fear that if Dr Watson does prevail, the Bush administration could withdraw its financial support for a body whose conclusions it disputes.