IPCC opens session to consider 2019 Refinement

KYOTO, Japan, May 8 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) opened its 49th Session on Wednesday in Kyoto, Japan, where it will consider an update to the methodology used by governments to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and removals.

The Panel will consider the methodology report 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories during the session held on 8-12 May and hosted by the Government of Japan.

The IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI) develops and refines an internationally agreed methodology and software for the calculation and reporting of national greenhouse gas emissions and removals, and encourages the use of this methodology by countries participating in the IPCC and by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This methodology supports the transparency and reporting under UNFCCC processes, such as the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.

“The 2019 Refinement will improve this transparency and reporting process by ensuring that the methodology used to determine these inventories is based on the latest science,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee.

Besides considering the 2019 Refinement the IPCC will also transact other business, including consideration of a report from the IPCC Task Group on Gender. A full agenda of the meeting can be found here.

For more information contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int

 

Notes for Editors

About the IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (now UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and potential future risks, and to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states.

IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.

The IPCC assesses the thousands of scientific papers published each year to inform policymakers about the state of knowledge on climate change. The IPCC identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community, where there are differences and where further research is needed. It does not conduct its own research.

To produce its reports, the IPCC mobilizes hundreds of scientists. These scientists and officials are drawn from diverse backgrounds. Only a dozen permanent staff work in the IPCC’s Secretariat.

The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I (the physical science basis of climate change); Working Group II (impacts, adaptation and vulnerability); and Working Group III (mitigation of climate change). It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for estimating anthropogenic emissions and removals of greenhouse gases. All of these are supported by Technical Support Units guiding the production of IPCC assessment reports and other products.

IPCC Assessment Reports consist of contributions from each of the three working groups and a Synthesis Report. Special Reports undertake a shorter assessment of specific cross-disciplinary issues that usually span more than one working group.

IPCC Methodologies
The IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI) develops and refines an internationally agreed methodology and software for the calculation and reporting of national greenhouse gas emissions and removals, and encourages the use of this methodology by countries participating in the IPCC and by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Parties to the UNFCCC regularly report greenhouse gas emissions and removals to the UNFCCC. By communicating information on greenhouse gas emissions and actions to reduce them, this transparency and reporting system helps Parties understand ambition and progress on climate action.

About the Sixth Assessment Cycle
At its 41st Session in February 2015, the IPCC decided to produce a Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). At its 42nd Session in October 2015 it elected a new Bureau that would oversee the work on this report and Special Reports to be produced in the assessment cycle.

At its 43rd Session in April 2016, the IPCC accepted an invitation from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to provide a special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, and decided to produce two other Special Reports, a Methodology Report and the Sixth Assessment Report.

Global Warming of 1.5°C, An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty was released on 8 October 2018.

Besides the methodology report 2019 Refinement, the IPCC will finalize two Special Reports in 2019:

  • Climate Change and Land, an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems in August 2019
  • Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate in September 2019.

The three working group contributions to AR6 will be released in 2021, and the AR6 Synthesis Report will be finalized in the first half of 2022.

For more information go to www.ipcc.ch