This chapter describes the initiation of a new assessment cycle and identifies two events as central components of the IPCC’s practice of writing: the bureau election and the approval of the outline. In describing the steps informing the panel’s decision to repeat the assessment cycle, it becomes apparent that the content of the next assessment is in formation before the new bureau is elected and scoping and outlining begin. Once the formal decision to repeat the assessment is adopted by the panel, it is not just a new report that begins to take shape, the organisation itself undergoes a process of renewal as the leadership of the next assessment is elected and the technical and administrative units that will support its production are put in place. The bureau election has a considerable impact on the distribution of symbolic power in the panel and Wikileaks reveals the extent of backstage manoeuvring by countries to get their preferred candidate elected. Member government’s stakes in the newly emerging assessment increase further with the approval of the outline. The outline provides a guide to the authors in the form of titles and bullets that identify the topics to be assessed and governments are attentive to the language used in anticipation for the potential impact the final contents will have on how climate change is negotiated within the UNFCCC.