GENEVA, May 28 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has rescheduled next year’s approval sessions for the Working Group II and Working Group III contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) and for the Synthesis Report.
The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed scientific work, including the preparation of scientific literature to be assessed in AR6. The work of the IPCC authors has also been disrupted. As a result the IPCC has had to make several changes to the timing of milestones in the preparation of the AR6 reports.
The approval session for the Working Group II report, which assesses climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, will now take place on 14-18 February 2022, and the approval session for Working Group III, which assesses the mitigation of climate change, will now take place on 21-25 March.
The approval session for the Synthesis Report, which will integrate the findings of the three Working Groups and the three Special Reports already released in this assessment cycle, will take place on 26-30 September 2022.
These changes are based on the premise that the approval plenaries will take place in person. The final dates are provisional and will be determined subject to suitable venue availability.
On the basis of these provisional dates, the Working Group II report would be released on 21 February 2022, the Working Group III report on 28 March 2022, and the Synthesis Report on 3 October 2022.
The Panel also made several changes to the review periods for the reports. The Government Review of the Summary for Policymakers of the Working Group III report will now run from 29 November 2021 to 30 January 2022, the Government and Expert Review of the Synthesis Report will run from 10 January to 20 March 2022, and the Government Review of the Summary for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report will now start take place from 13 June 2022 to 7 August 2022.
These changes do not affect the approval session for the AR6 contribution of Working Group I, which assesses the physical science basis of climate change. As announced recently, this will take place in the 14 days from 26 July 2021, with the report released, subject to approval and acceptance by the Panel, on or around 9 August. The modalities for this meeting are still under consideration.
For more information, please contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066, Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
Working Group II Technical Support Unit: Sina Löschke, sina.loeschke@ipcc-wg2.awi.de
Working Group III Technical Support Unit: Sigourney Luz, s.luz@imperial.ac.uk
Synthesis Report Technical Support Unit: Noemie Leprince-Ringuet, noemie.leprinceringuet@ipcc-syr.org
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 estimating emissions and removals of greenhouse gases.
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.
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.
For more information please 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 the IPCC YouTube channel.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is currently looking for the services of a web developer to work on the web pages of its upcoming Sixth Assessment Report.
Developer specifications
The IPCC is currently working on its Sixth Assessment Report which comprises of three volumes and a Synthes Report. The first, being worked on by Working Group I is on the physical science basis for climate change. The second is on impacts, adaptation and vulnerabilities and it is being worked on by the Working Group II of the IPCC. Working Group III is working on the third contribution on mitigation. The Synthesis Report as the name suggests integrates the three Working Group contributions to the assessment and any Special Reports prepared in that assessment cycle.
The AR6 will have three dedicated report microsites, one for each of the three Working Group contributions and the Synthesis Report. These report microsites will be developed using a Static Site Generator, preferably Gatsby. They will need to be integrated to the main IPCC website (ipcc.ch) therefore will need to have the same look and feel as the already existing report microsites (built on WordPress), see example here: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15.
The designs including example HTML and stylesheets for these templates will be provided.
General scope of work
Deliverables
Website developed with the Static Site Generator including
1. Templates:
– Landing page
– Download pages (2)
– Figure page
– Generic page template
2. Components:
– Frequently Asked Questions
– Figures
– Plus addition where possible
Deliverables due dates
Mode of Work
Interested candidates
should submit a quotation or simple
offer to ipcc-sec@wmo.int with the following
details:
· Email subject line: Web development for the AR6
microsites
· Email contents:
Deadline: 31 May 2021.
For any inquiries email wzabula@wmo.int
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is currently looking for the services of a User Interface Designer for the web pages of its upcoming Sixth Assessment Report. Deadline Extended till 31 May 2021.
The IPCC is currently working on its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) which consists of three volumes and a Synthes Report. The first, being worked on by Working Group I is on the physical science basis for climate change. The second is on impacts, adaptation and vulnerabilities and it is being worked on by the Working Group II of the IPCC. Working Group III is working on the third contribution on mitigation. The Synthesis Report as the name suggests integrates the three Working Group contributions to the assessment and any Special Reports prepared in that assessment cycle.
The AR6 will have three dedicated report microsites, one for each the Working Group contributions and the Synthesis Report. These report websites will be developed using a so-called static site generator and the designs will be based on already existing report websites, see example here: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15.
The base assets for the new designs will be provided and are based on an export from the current report website built with WordPress.
General scope of work
The design work to be conducted will be have the following main components:
Deliverables
Deliverable due dates
Mode of Work
Interested candidates should submit a quotation or simple offer to ipcc-sec@wmo.int with the following details:
Deadline extended till 31 May 2021
For any inquiries, please email wzabula@wmo.int.
Updated the Notes to Editors section on 5 May to correct the title of the “2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.” It previously was “2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.”
GENEVA, May 4 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has circulated the final draft of the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) to governments for comment on the Summary for Policymakers, in one of the final stages before plenary consideration of the report.
The Final Government Distribution, running to 20 June 2021, will allow governments to check whether the draft Summary for Policymakers reflects the underlying report of Working Group I, which assesses the physical science basis of climate change. The authors of the report have already addressed 23,462 comments provided by expert reviewers of the report’s First-Order Draft, and 51,387 comments from expert reviewers and 42 governments on the Second-Order Draft.
Working Group I and the IPCC are expected to hold plenary sessions for two weeks from 26 July to consider the Summary for Policymakers for approval and the full report for acceptance as an IPCC assessment. The modalities for these approval sessions are still under consideration. On this timetable, the Working Group I report would be released on or around 9 August.
“Thanks to the commitment of our authors, contributors and reviewers, with the help of our Bureau members and Technical Support Unit, we have prepared this comprehensive and rigorous assessment of climate science in a timely manner,” said Panmao Zhai, Co-Chair of Working Group I.
During the Final Government Distribution, Working Group I is planning a series of dialogues to help governments prepare their written comments on the report.
Working Group I will run an online Q&A forum for governments’ IPCC Focal Points and their registered delegates, who will also be able to submit clarification questions for response by Working Group I Bureau members and authors. These questions and answers will be visible to all registered participants.
It will hold a series of informal webinars on the major themes of the report in which the authors will present key concepts of the report and how they are treated in the Summary for Policymakers, including in figures, and how the synthesis elements are grounded in the detailed underlying assessment.
And it will hold informal live Q&A sessions for delegations to join to ask clarification questions.
The webinars and Q&A sessions will be repeated twice so that participation is comfortable for those from all time zones, and presentations by authors will be recorded so that delegates can watch them when convenient.
“We are making these innovations to support and strengthen the written review process and facilitate inclusive participation despite the challenging circumstances,” said Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair of Working Group I.
The timing of the approval sessions next year for the other two IPCC working group reports and for the AR6 Synthesis Report is still under consideration.
For more information, please contact:
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. 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 estimating emissions and removals of greenhouse gases.
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.
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.
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 please 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 the IPCC YouTube channel.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has learned with shock and sadness of the death of long-time IPCC author Bob Scholes, who died aged 63 on 28 April 2021 while on a hike in Namibia. Professor Scholes was an author of the Third, Fourth and Fifth IPCC Assessment Reports.
Scholes also led many aspects of the expert work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), including co-chairing the Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment. Recently, together with the Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II, Hans-Otto Pörtner, he co-chaired the Scientific Steering Committee of the IPCC-IPBES co-sponsored workshop on climate change and biodiversity that was held in December 2020.
He was Distinguished Professor of Systems Ecology and Director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. In a statement the University said it was “shocked and saddened by the sudden loss of such a giant in the field of climate science, not only in South Africa, but in the world.”
“He was among the top one per cent of environmental scientists worldwide, based on citation frequency, and published widely in the fields of savanna ecology, global change, and earth observation,” it said.
In tribute, Working Group II Co-Chair Debra Roberts, the IPCC Bureau Member from South Africa, said: “We have lost one of our very best. Bob was a pioneer in all that he did. He was a commanding intellect and never allowed anyone to be complacent about science.”
“He was generous with his knowledge, a mentor to many and someone who cared deeply about Africa, its ecosystems and its people. He committed his life to understanding the way the planet works and how we might find ways of dealing with its challenges. As a result he played leading roles in the IPCC and IPBES assessments, and both communities will be poorer without him. There is no doubt in my mind that he lives on through his work – a lasting legacy to this generation and many more to come. Hamba kahle Bob,” she said.
Bob Scholes had over three decades of field experience in many parts of the African savannas and the world. Among his other international commitments, Scholes was a member of the steering committees of several Global Earth Observation (GEO) bodies including chair of the Global Terrestrial Observing System and the Group on Earth Observation Implementation Planning Task Team.
Born in 1957, Bob Scholes was a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, Member of the South African Academy and a winner of South Africa´s National Science and Technology Forum Lifetime Contribution to Science Award.
He is survived by his wife Professor Mary Scholes and a son.
Picture courtesy of University of Witwatersrand
Statement to YOUNGOs Unite Behind the Science
IPCC Chair, Hoesung Lee
22 April 2021 (Earth Day)
Check against delivery
Thank you very much for this opportunity to join you on Earth Day at Unite Behind the Science.
Young people are helping to fight climate change and build a low-carbon society. Climate change concerns, voiced in your group, have become one of the most important factors awakening the citizens around the world to the urgency of climate action.
Your event today is titled “Unite Behind Science.” I support 100%.
Science can provide you a basis for the optimum mix of policies to tackle climate change while pursuing other essential goals such as eradicating poverty and improving health. The IPCC is at the core of this nexus.
The IPCC works with hundreds of scientists, both natural and social science, from all over the world volunteering their time and expertise to examine the thousands of pieces of scientific research related to climate change.
Our goal is to evaluate scientific evidence regarding climate change and assess the state of scientific knowledge on this issue.
We inform governments, 195 member countries of the IPCC, about the state of knowledge of climate change so that they can make sound policies and negotiate for climate treaty based on the evidence.
We bring together scientists and governments because IPCC reports are tools that governments will work with. And IPCC reports are a valuable resource for civil society and the public too. I encourage you to use our reports for your work.
In August this year, we plan to release the report on the state of climate science.
Many nations now proclaim the goal of achieving carbon net-zero 2050. The science behind this policy action is the IPCC Special Report on the global warming of 1.5 degrees Celcius, released in 2018.
This report concluded that the window of opportunity for climate solution is closing rapidly, thus
Subsequent to the release of the special report on the global warming of 1.5 degrees, we had also two other special reports released which examined land, oceans, glaciers, and ice sheets in a changing climate.
They are components of the earth system, along with the atmosphere that support life on this planet. These reports confirmed that climate change is overtaking us and there is no time to lose for climate action.
I said that “every choice matters” and this is where you and your families, indeed all of us, can make a difference in how we travel to school or work, what we eat, how we heat our homes and contemplate our consumption patterns.
But the most important thing is to inform yourselves about the science on climate change, talk to your friends and family about it and push for ambitious policies based on science to create a low-carbon society. I believe that Unite Behind the Science starts from you, yourself, and the people around you.
Thank you and have a great day Unite Behind the Science.
GENEVA, April 12 – Experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will meet virtually from 19 to 23 April 2021 to continue their work on the Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, which assesses the mitigation of climate change.
The meeting, hosted by the Government of Italy, will draw together 280 experts from around 70 countries as they start to prepare the final draft of the report and second draft of the Summary for Policymakers.
“Despite the ongoing pandemic, we have made a lot of progress since our third Lead Author Meeting, the IPCC’s first virtual Lead Author Meeting, in 2020,” said Working Group III Co-Chair Jim Skea.
“Our authors went the extra mile to deliver the Second-Order Draft, which received over 30,000 comments from more than 850 government and expert reviewers. This upcoming meeting will give them the opportunity to take stock of this vital feedback and persist in their preparation of a relevant and thorough final draft,” he said.
IPCC 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.
“We would like to thank the many reviewers of the Second-Order Draft, who reflect both the significance of this report and the interest in it from many sectors and aspects of society,” said Working Group III Co-Chair Priyadarshi Shukla.
“We would also like to thank the Government of Italy for its support during this virtual meeting and engagement with the associated outreach activities, which hold importance not only for Working Group III, but also a broader global audience,” he said.
The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) will assess mitigation options in sectors such as energy, agriculture, forestry and land use, buildings, transport and industry, and consider these in the context of sustainable development. For the first time, it will examine the link between greenhouse gas emissions and themes such as consumption and behaviour, and the role of innovation and technology.
The report will also assess the connection between short to medium-term actions and long-term emission pathways that will limit global warming.
The final draft of the report will be circulated to governments later in 2021 for their comments on the Summary for Policymakers. The IPCC Panel is currently due to consider the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report at a plenary session in early 2022, although dates remain subject to revision because of the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agreed outline of the report can be found here. The list of authors of the report can be found here.
Virtual outreach event (open to the public)
A virtual outreach event will be held by the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE) in partnership with IPCC Working Group III, and with the support of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Government of Italy.
‘Climate change and our future – driving the transition’
14:00-16:00 BST/15:00-17:00 CEST on Wednesday 28 April.
This interactive online event will provide members of the public with the opportunity to engage with scientific experts, young leaders and artists, and government representatives in the midst of an official IPCC meeting on the topic of climate change.
The event will include two parts:
A Q&A will allow guests to submit their own questions to the panel/speakers, and we are pleased to announce the following guests and speakers:
The full programme and list of speakers/guests will be announced shortly.
This event will be held in English with real-time Italian interpretation.
Event details and registration: https://ipcc-ch.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NCvjf8tMTn2MH-jJETpDgA
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
Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066, e-mail: 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 (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 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 and Vimeo channels.
It is with great sadness that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has learnt of the death of one of its Lead Authors on the Sixth Assessment Report, Dr Cristóbal Díaz Morejón. Cristóbal Díaz Morejón was a Lead Author on Chapter 17 of the Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report: accelerating transition in the context of sustainable development. He has been a contributor and Lead Author of IPCC reports since 2004.
He represented Cuba in many international meetings on water resources and sustainable development. He was also a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
After his first degree in Havana, he went on to the Polytechnic of Milan for his Masters degree followed by a PhD in Bulgaria. Over the course of a successful career during which he lead a number of projects including on the salinity of soils, water resource management, environmental strategy, desertification and droughts, and energy efficiency, Cristóbal Díaz Morejón published four textbooks for the Agricultural University of Havana as well as several papers in national and international scientific journals.
In 1994 Dr Díaz Morejón was awarded a Medal by the Academy of Sciences of Cuba on its 30th Anniversary and in 2004, the “Juan Tomas Roig” Medal for 25 years dedicated to research.
Dr Díaz Morejón died on 29 March 2021. He will be sorely missed by the IPCC community and the wider scientific community both in Cuba and the rest of the world.
GENEVA, March 22 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has opened a meeting to consider essential business as work on the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) advances amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Representatives of the IPCC’s 195 Member countries, meeting in the 53rd (bis) Session of the Panel, will convene via electronic means, as a face-to-face meeting remains impossible.
Amongs other urgent business matters the Panel will discuss the IPCC strategic planning schedule for the remainder of the AR6 cycle and the review of the IPCC principles and procedures.
“I wish to express my gratitude to our member Countries, Bureau members, observers and above all authors for their support and dedication to the IPCC,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee. “Thanks to their immense contribution and commitment the work of the IPCC continues to run smoothly even in these exceptional circumstances.”
The heads of the IPCC’s two parent organizations, Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, and Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, will address the meeting.
The Panel is meeting as members of the IPCC Bureau and authors continue to advance work on the Sixth Assessment Report. The pandemic has led to delays of 3-4 months in some of the milestones for the preparation of AR6 this year, and the release dates of the report remain under review.
The IPCC meeting will run from 22 to 26 March.
For more information, please contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066
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 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.
It is with great sadness that the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has learnt of the death of one of its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) authors, Gemma Teresa T. Narisma. Dr Narisma passed away on 5 March 2021. She was one of the Coordinating Lead Authors of the Atlas of the Working Group I contribution to AR6.
Born on 12 April 1972, Gemma was the 12th Director of the Manila Observatory, the scientific research institution founded by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in the Philippines.
“During her term, she made sure to execute the strategic plans of the Observatory and ensured its maximum impact and sustainability for the coming years,” said Antonio Gabriel La Viña, the Officer in Charge of the Manila Observatory.
“Gemma was our leader, a mentor, and close friend to many of us. As an active member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Gemma was a world class scientist. And as many of us witnessed in the last few years, and especially the last few months when she battled against serious illness, she was also a woman of deep faith,” he said.
She was also a physics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University and a member of the Board of Trustees of various Jesuit institutions. In 2013 she received the Philippines Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) award.
IPCC Working Group I has decided to dedicate the AR6 Working Group I Atlas to Gemma Narisma in her honour.