The IPCC is currently preparing its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). During this cycle, the Panel has produced three Special Reports, a Methodology Report on national greenhouse gas inventories and is now working on the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). More information on the sixth assessment cycle is available here.
The Sixth Assessment Report consists of contributions from each of the three IPCC Working Groups and a Synthesis Report (SYR), which integrates the Working Group contributions and the Special Reports produced in the cycle.
The meeting to draft the outline of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) took place in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in May 2017. The draft outlines were approved by the 46th Session of the Panel in September 2017.
The First Order Draft of the Working Group II contribution to AR6 underwent an expert review (18 October – 13 December 2019). Read more.
The Second Order Draft will be available for expert and government review from 4 December 2020 to 29 January 2021. Read more.
The Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report is scheduled to be finalized in 2021.
Approved outline of the Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report
Timeline for the Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (updated: 16 June 2020)
On 15 September 2017, a call for nomination of authors was sent to governments, Observer Organizations and IPCC Bureau Members. They were asked to submit their nominations via their Focal Point before Friday 27 October 2017 (midnight GMT +1).
The Bureaus of the three IPCC Working Groups met to select the author teams from the list of nominations on 29 – 30 January 2018.
Statistics about author nominations can be accessed on the public portal.
Lead Author Meetings
All IPCC reports undergo two stages of review. A First Order Draft is reviewed by experts. Following the expert review, authors develop a Second Order Draft based on the comments received. This draft then undergoes a second review by both governments and experts. 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 Second Order Draft of the Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report will be available for Expert and Government Review from 4 December 2020 to 29 January 2021.
The scoping meeting for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) took place in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 1 to 5 May 2017. The draft outlines were approved by the Panel when it met in September 2017
In order to determine robust areas of consideration, participants in the Scoping Meeting needed to have a broad understanding of climate change and related issues, and collectively had expertise in the following areas:
Working Group II
Regional expertise
Africa
Europe
Asia
Australasia
North America
Central and South America
Polar regions
Small islands
Ocean
On 21 September 2016, the IPCC Secretariat sent out a pre-scoping questionnaire to governments and observer organizations to identify policy relevant questions and scientific and technical topics to be addressed in the Sixth Assessment Report (deadline: 30 November 2016, extended to 12 December 2016). The responses received were synthesized and made available to the participants of the AR6 Scoping Meeting and the Panel.