[citation needed] NIPCC traces its beginnings to an informal meeting held in Milan, Italy, in 2003, organized by S. Fred Singer and the Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP).

The purpose was to produce an independent evaluation of the available scientific evidence on the subject of carbon dioxide-induced global warming in anticipation of the release of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).

[citation needed] To highlight such perceived deficiencies in the IPCC’s AR4, in 2008, SEPP partnered with the Heartland Institute to produce “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate”, a summary of research for policymakers that has been widely distributed and translated into six languages.

In 2013, the Information Center for Global Change Studies, a division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, translated and published an abridged edition of the 2009 and 2011 NIPCC reports in a single volume.

[7] In November, 2015, the three lead NIPCC authors – Craig Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer – wrote a small book titled Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming: The NIPCC Report on Scientific Consensus stating that no survey or study shows a consensus on important scientific issues in the climate change debate, and that most scientists do not support the claims of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Heartland distributed approximately 100,000 copies of Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate in 2008, and the booklet has been translated into French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

This short book is a preliminary version of Chapter 2 of the forthcoming and final volume in the Climate Change Reconsidered II series, to be subtitled "Benefits and Costs of Fossil Fuels" which was published in 2017.

As a retired professor of environmental science, he travels the world meeting with fellow scientists, discussing NIPCC’s research, and recruiting new members to the group.

Craig D. Idso, founder and chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, leads the research and writing effort for NIPCC publications.