IPCC opens second draft of Working Group III Sixth Assessment Report for government and expert review

GENEVA, Jan 4 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), currently working on its next comprehensive report, the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), will open the draft Working Group III contribution for a second review by experts from 18 January to 14 March 2021.  

The second order draft of the report includes the first drafts of the Summary for Policymakers and Technical Summary. All content builds on the First-Order Draft and the expert review comments submitted on that draft. 

Working Group III is responsible for assessing the mitigation of climate change – responses and solutions to the threat of dangerous climate change by reducing emissions and enhancing sinks of the greenhouse gases that are responsible for global warming. 

“Our authors worked tirelessly and under unique circumstances to prepare this draft for review. It is the first opportunity for governments to review the WG III contribution to the Sixth Assessment and we strongly encourage and welcome their comments on this draft,” said Jim Skea and Priyadarshi Shukla, the Co-Chairs of Working Group III.

“The report has a number of innovations, including a new chapter on demand, services and social aspects of mitigation, and a chapter dedicated to innovation, technology development and transfer. Comments from experts and governments on these and other parts of the report are an essential step in delivering a high-quality final draft,” they said in a joint statement.

Reviews ensure that IPCC reports cover the most up to date scientific, technical and socio-economic findings, and are representative of a broad range of independent expertise from developed and developing countries.

Authors will prepare a Final Draft based on the comments received during the second review. The Final Draft is distributed to governments at the time of the final government review of the Summary for Policymakers. The dates for the final government review of the Working Group III contribution to the AR6 are yet to be confirmed.

Experts interested in serving as Expert Reviewers and providing scientific comments on the Second-Order Draft of the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report can register until midnight CET on 7 March 2021 at https://apps.ipcc.ch/comments/ar6wg3/sod/register.php.

To register for the review, a self-declaration of expertise is required. Once the registration is complete, and before accessing the draft, reviewers agree to the terms of the review, including the confidentiality of the draft and review materials, which are provided solely for the purpose of the review. The drafts may not be cited, quoted or distributed. All expert reviewers will be acknowledged in the published report.

For more information contact:

IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit
Sigourney Luz (Communications Manager), e-mail: s.luz@ipcc-wg3.ac.uk

IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066, Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120


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 (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states. In the same year, the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC.

Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, IPCC scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.

The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group I, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.

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.

About the Sixth Assessment Cycle
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 6 to 7 years; the latest, the Fifth Assessment Report, was completed in 2014, and provided the main scientific input to the Paris Agreement.

The IPCC also publishes special reports on more specific issues between assessment reports.

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, it decided to produce three Special Reports, a Methodology Report and AR6.

Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius 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 launched in October 2018.

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 was launched in August 2019.

The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate was released in September 2019.

In May 2019 the IPCC released the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, an update to the methodology used by governments to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and removals.

The contributions of the three IPCC Working Groups to the Sixth Assessment Report are currently under preparation. The concluding Synthesis Report is due in 2022.

For more information visit www.ipcc.ch.

The website includes outreach materials including videos about the IPCC and video recordings from outreach events  conducted as webinars or live-streamed events. 

Most videos published by the IPCC can be found on our YouTube channel.