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The IPCC work is shared among three Working Groups, a Task Force and a Task Group.
The activities of each Working Group and of the Task Force are
coordinated and administrated by a Technical Support Unit.
The IPCC Working Group I (WG I) assesses the
physical scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change.
The main topics assessed by WG I include: changes in greenhouse gases and aerosols in
the atmosphere; observed changes in air, land and ocean temperatures, rainfall,
glaciers and ice sheets, oceans and sea level; historical and paleoclimatic
perspective on climate change; biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, gases and
aerosols; satellite data and other data; climate models; climate projections,
causes and attribution of climate change.
The IPCC Working Group II (WG II) assesses
the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change,
negative and positive consequences of climate change, and options for adapting
to it.
It also takes into consideration the
inter-relationship between vulnerability, adaptation and sustainable
development. The assessed information is considered by sectors (water resources;
ecosystems; food & forests; coastal systems; industry; human health) and
regions (Africa; Asia; Australia & New Zealand; Europe; Latin America;
North America; Polar Regions; Small Islands).
The IPCC Working Group III (WG III) assesses
options for mitigating climate change through limiting or preventing greenhouse
gas emissions and enhancing activities that remove them from the atmosphere.
The main economic sectors are taken into
account, both in a near-term and in a long-term perspective. The sectors include
energy, transport, buildings, industry, agriculture, forestry, waste management.
The WG analyses the costs and benefits of the different approaches to
mitigation, considering also the available instruments and policy measures. The
approach is more and more solution-oriented.
The Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories (TFI) was established by the IPCC to oversee the IPCC National
Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IPCC-NGGIP). The core activity is to
develop and refine an internationally-agreed methodology and software for the
calculation and reporting of national GHG emissions and removals and to
encourage its use by countries participating in the IPCC and by parties of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The NGGIP also
established and maintains an Emission Factor Database.
The
Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impacts and Climate Analysis
(TGICA) was established to facilitate co-operation between the climate modeling
and climate impacts assessment communities. It aims at facilitating wide
availability of climate change related data and scenarios for climate analysis
and impacts, adaptation, vulnerability, and mitigation research. The TGICA does
not develop itself any emission, climate, or other types of scenarios, not does
it make any decision regarding the choice of scenarios in the preparation of
the IPCC reports. It does not undertake any modeling or research. One of its
main activities is the coordination and oversight of the IPCC Data Distribution Centre (DDC), which provides
timely information and data to the international climate research community, in
particular consistent data sets and guidance material. |