Press Conference for the Working Group I contribution to Sixth Assessment Report

GENEVA, Aug 5 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will hold a press conference to present the Summary for Policymakers of the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, subject to approval by the Panel. The press conference is scheduled at 10.00 CEST on 9 August 2021.

The press conference follows the 54th Session of the IPCC and 14th Session of Working Group I that are currently considering the report. The meetings started on 26 July and are scheduled to end on 6 August.  

The press conference will be streamed live on the IPCC YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/IPCCLIVE and on the IPCC Facebook page.  

Journalists who registered to take part in the press conference will receive details on how they can submit questions during the live stream.

After the press conference, Working Group I authors and Bureau Members will be available for interviews. Requests for interviews should be made using this form. Click on “List of Authors” on the top left of the form to see the list of experts available for interview.

Please note that only interviews arranged via this process will be considered as confirmed for 9 August. Any arrangements made directly with IPCC experts may be subject to cancellation. All interview requests should be submitted by 18.00 CEST on 6 August 2021.

For more information contact:
Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int  
Jonathan Lynn, + 41 22 730 8066, Werani Zabula, + 41 22 730 8120 and Nina Peeva, + 41 22 730 8142.

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. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.

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 II, 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. 

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. 

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

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, and 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 for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, an update to the methodology used by governments to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and removals. 

Following the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report currently under consideration, the Working Group II and III reports will be finalized in February and March 2022 respectively. The concluding Synthesis Report is due in 2022.

For more information visit www.ipcc.ch.

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