24 March 2026, Bangkok, Thailand

Check against delivery

Your Excellency, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Dr. Raweewan Bhuridej,

Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation, Ko Barett,

Distinguished delegates, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to welcome you all – the government delegations, representatives of observer organisations and members of the IPCC Bureau – to the sixty-fourth plenary session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And I am very pleased to see that everyone has been able to make it, in spite of the current geopolitical challenges that we all face.

We are gathered in Thailand, a country with strong scientific institutions and prominent scientists making significant contributions to science, technology and medicine globally. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank UNESCAP management and staff, the Royal Thai Government, and the City of Bangkok for their warm hospitality and support in organising this meeting.

We meet in this Plenary for the fifth time in the seventh assessment cycle. We are now well over two and a half years into it. It has been a period of great progress and some complex and new challenges. So far, despite testing times, the Panel has proven its strength as an important multilateral forum and a unique science-policy interface able to carefully build and foster international consensus – a precious commodity in today’s world.

Our job is to assess the most up-to-date climate science, a cornerstone for any sound policymaking. Here, I stress the key role of the IPCC Bureau, and I thank its members for their exceptional scientific guidance provided to the Panel and for maintaining our momentum.

We have now clearly entered a busy phase of the assessment cycle. Here’s a brief resume of where we are now:

With further Lead Author meetings and reviews, as well as expert meetings and workshops, 2026 is shaping up to be the most active year of the current cycle.

The years to follow – 2027, 2028 and 2029 – will be very busy and demanding for both the governments and scientists, starting with approval plenaries for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and two methodology reports, followed by the three Working Groups’ contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report and the Synthesis Report.

Given this, I believe we have a window of opportunity at this plenary session to address ways of working and the important issue of how we actually conduct IPCC business.

In that regard, I would like to bring to the Panel’s attention that the IPCC Principles stipulate that they be reviewed every five years. The principles and procedures governing our work are vital in safeguarding IPCC’s ability to deliver comprehensive, neutral, objective, transparent, inclusive, and scientifically robust assessments. The Panel can seize the opportunity presented at this plenary to give this important business matter its full and undivided attention. Bureau members, whose task is to implement the procedures, have identified ways in which some aspects could be clarified, and the Panel may wish to consider these.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I also invite the Panel to take a close, in-depth look at the state of IPCC’s finances at this plenary. IPCC’s ability to meet its mandate and deliver the most up-to-date, rigorously reviewed assessments of climate science rests on the sustainability of its Trust Fund, with a continuous and adequate flow of voluntary contributions from our member governments that match our expenditures. The IPCC Trust Fund is a vitally important mechanism for supporting participation by developing-country governments and scientists.

I am confident the Panel will be thorough in its consideration of the full spectrum of options for the long-term sustainability of the IPCC Trust Fund, noting that multi-year funding commitments are especially valuable for planning future activities and expenditures.

Lastly, before we move into the working part of the session, I would like to acknowledge that this week’s plenary will be the last one for our colleague and friend Abdalah Mokssit as the Secretary of the IPCC before his retirement. We will come back to this later, but for now, allow me to express our collective thanks to Abdalah. His long and diverse engagement with the IPCC spans over four cycles. For the past decade, Abdalah has led the Secretariat that manages the technical, logistical, and administrative support for our work.

I invite you to join me in congratulating Abdalah on his achievements as the Secretary of the IPCC and wish him all the best for the next chapter.

And, as I turn the floor back to you, thank you, Abdalah, for your rich contribution and genuine commitment to the work of the IPCC!

Thank you.

1 December 2025

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Madame la Ministre, Monsieur le Maire, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for your warm welcome and for your support of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As Chair of this UN body mandated with assessing climate science, I am grateful for the excellent organisation and hospitality provided by the French government and the city of Saint-Denis.

Next week marks the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement—an extraordinary achievement made possible by global ambition and by France’s diplomatic leadership. With ten years of hindsight, Madame la Ministre, I believe a simple “Chapeau!” expresses our admiration for France´s role in enabling this landmark treaty.

We are nearly 700 participants gathered here this week. Saint-Denis, home to the French national football and rugby union teams at nearby Stade de France, is well prepared for crowds of this size. In the spirit of this place, as we “kick off” our work and your author “teams” move through many “huddles” to “tackle” key scientific questions, perhaps a few more rugby metaphors will find their way into IPCC language.

The Fifth Assessment Report laid the scientific foundations for the Paris Agreement—an example of how IPCC assessment reports underpinned global climate policymaking. It is symbolic that this anniversary coincides with our First Lead Author Meeting for the Seventh Assessment Report. For the first time, authors from all three Working Groups are gathering to launch the Seventh Assessment Report.

It is also my first opportunity to meet all of you—experts from over 100 countries. I congratulate you on your appointments. Selected from several thousand nominations, you bring exceptional expertise across many disciplines. As you look around the room,  your presence here clearly reflects our commitment to diversity, gender balance, and greater participation from developing countries and economies in transition.

This meeting is an invaluable opportunity to strengthen interdisciplinarity, to build bridges across Working Groups, and engage deeply with the complex scientific questions ahead. Today marks the moment when our preparations end and assessment of scientific work truly begins.

Let me outline three themes that guide my vision for this assessment cycle: inclusivity and diversity, interdisciplinarity, and policy relevance.

First: Inclusivity and diversity:  We have made progress in three areas. Access to literature: Through the Social Responsibility Committee of the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, developing-country authors now have guaranteed access to leading scientific journals through 2028. We are optimistic about bringing additional publishers on board.

Gender, diversity, and inclusion: In September we held an Expert Meeting led by Vice-Chair Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, resulting in a broad set of recommendations to strengthen equity and inclusivity throughout the IPCC to be considered by the Panel at future sessions. Through the Secretariat we have procured training services on Gener, Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity, which will be launched at this meeting. You will learn more about this training later today.

Since the start of the cycle we have also secured meaningful support for Chapter Scientists from developing countries across all Working Groups.

Second: Interdisciplinarity: Our Working Groups are collaborating more closely than ever, including on the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and on this week’s meeting. Each IPCC Vice-Chair works directly with one of Working Groups and helps facilitate cooperation. Externally, Vice-Chairs are strengthening ties with UN scientific bodies including IPBES, the International Resources Panel, and the World Climate Research Programme. IPBES has invited us to co-sponsor a workshop on biodiversity and climate change, and we continue to explore other opportunities for joint work.

Third: Policy relevance: IPCC findings remain central to global climate policymaking at all levels. They are durable and stand the test of time. At COP30 in Belém, the Mutirao decision refers to the findings of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report on what does it take to limit global warming to 1.5 degree. The decision underscores the centrality of equity and the best available science for effective climate action and policymaking, as provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Let me turn to our the products of the 7th assessment cycle. This cycle includes seven reports, each at different production stage. The Special Report on Climate Change and Cities is underway, with its First Order Draft under expert review and the next Lead Author Meeting scheduled in Oslo in January. It is scheduled for release in early 2027.

The Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories is preparing two methodology reports due in 2027, including one on Short-Lived Climate Forcers and another on Carbon Dioxide Removal, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage.

Your work this week begins the drafting of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report. These reports will start to appear in 2028. The cycle will conclude with the Synthesis Report, scheduled for release in late 2029, for which I am responsible.

We are also preparing several expert meetings and workshops, including on Diverse Knowledge Systems, Methods of Assessment, Climate Impacts and Adaptation Metrics, Earth System Tipping Points, Climate and Agriculture, Health and Climate Change, and Regional Climate Information and Atlas and Science of Communicating the Science. These efforts will support your work.   .

Ladies and gentlemen, the significance of our next assessment report cannot be overstated. You embark on this work in a time of geopolitical uncertainty and new challenges to science and its integrity. Our mission remains clear: to provide governments with rigorous, policy-relevant, and neutral scientific information. IPCC reports continue to shape climate policies and climate action at every level, including international negotiations, as demonstrated at COP conferences under UNFCCC auspices.

The IPCC’s strength lies in its scientific depth, its rigorous processes, and its ability to achieve consensus among 195 member governments. Your expertise allows us to synthesize an ever-growing body of knowledge and to identify actionable pathways to solutions addressing the climate change challenges.

I want to thank you for your commitment and for volunteering your time and knowledge. It is an honour to begin this work with you. I am looking forward to getting to know you and working with you and wish you a productive and collegial First Lead Author Meeting—rich in insight, collaboration, and respect.

Thank you.

10 November 2025, video address

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Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – I would like to thank you for the invitation to address the opening of the Earth Information Day at COP30.

Although I am not with you in person, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about the status of our seventh assessment cycle and our work assessing the latest science related to climate change.  

Following the Panel’s 63rd Plenary Session two weeks ago in Lima, the scientific content of all six reports for this cycle has been agreed. These include the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report, respectively covering physical science, adaptation and mitigation; the 2027 Special Report on Cities and Climate Change; the 2027 Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers; and the 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. The critical knowledge gaps that these reports will address have been identified.

The reports are in different stages of production:

Since the start of the current cycle two years ago, significant progress has been made in expanding access to scientific literature for authors from developing countries, in securing support for Chapter Scientists from developing countries, and successfully delivering an Expert Meeting on Gender, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity. These efforts confirm our commitment to inclusivity, diversity and equity across IPCC.

At this stage of the cycle, we can now bridge between the knowledge base established in the past cycle with the key questions and prospective scientific findings of the current one. And of course, observational data is foundational for IPCC’s work, including in the context of overshoot of 1.5 degrees warming.

Now to illustrate all this, allow me to expand on three topics: attribution, adaptation, and sustainable development and equity.

So regarding attribution, the Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report clearly states that “human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming”.

There is high confidence that some impacts, such as observable increases in hot extremes, can be attributed to human activities. Human activities are likely the principal driver of intensifying heavy precipitation. Yet there is lower confidence regarding human influence on agricultural and ecological drought. The Seventh Assessment Report will address these lower-confidence topics with a view, if its supported by the evidence, to reaching robust conclusions.

We will be addressing the attribution of specific weather events to global climate change. The Working Group I report will extend the attribution of large-scale changes in the global and regional climate systems to the attribution of local-level changes and extremes. Working Group II will extend the assessment of attribution to observed and projected impacts.

We are going to place greater emphasis on adaptation in the current cycle, while not, of course, neglecting mitigation. Adaptation has lacked the means to measure progress. It simply isn’t easy to separate adaptation investment from wider infrastructure investment and patterns of development. Working Group II will address that by revising and updating the 1994 Technical Guidelines on assessing impacts and adaptation, including indicators, metrics and methodologies. The Working Group II report will, for the first time, include a chapter on finance, an indispensable precondition for successful adaptation.

Regarding sustainable development, the IPCC will pay closer attention to the role of climate action, including progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Regional and thematic chapters of the Working Group II report will address distributional aspects, including human rights, equity and justice, and impacts on vulnerable groups. The report also includes a chapter focused on responses to losses and damages, which are disproportionately experienced by vulnerable communities and groups.

An entire chapter of the Working Group III report is dedicated to sustainable development and mitigation, covering the distributional consequences of mitigation actions, synergies and trade-offs with sustainable development, and implications for biodiversity and ecosystems, conservation, and restoration.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The broader scientific community is already hard at work on these topics and others. Our unique role is to assess and synthesise the vast and exponentially growing body of knowledge on climate change, its impacts, and available response options. During testing times, and facing complex challenges, IPCC will continue to reach for consensus on a shared and trusted evidence base. This is essential for underpinning effective action on the truly global challenge of climate change.

Thank you.

10 November 2025, video address

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Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for the invitation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – to address the opening of COP 30. As the Chair of the UN body mandated to assess the scientific knowledge related to climate change, we are grateful for the opportunity to deliver this video message.

Allow me to start by congratulating the government of Brazil and the city of Belém on hosting this year’s COP, the first in Brazil since the 1992 Earth Summit. The “Rio Conventions” stand as a testament to a global commitment to tackling environmental and development issues.

Since then, the challenges posed by climate change to both human and natural systems have become both more acute and more evident.

The World Meteorological Organization has shown that 2024 was the warmest year on record, reaching 1.55 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, with the long-run trend standing at between 1.34 and 1.42 degrees Celsius.

UNEP’s 2025 Emissions Gap Report, released last week, shows that even if countries fully implement their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), global temperatures could still rise by 2.3 to 2.5°C this century.

Based on the evidence in the most recent IPCC reports, it is now almost inevitable that 1.5°C of global warming will be exceeded in the near term. This is unambiguously due to insufficient climate action over the last few years, and the consequent continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

But, returning global warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century may still be possible. This would involve immediate, deep and sustained reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the removal of substantial amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Though there are important knowledge gaps around the feasibility of doing the latter.

In that regard, I am pleased to inform you that two weeks ago, the IPCC member governments agreed on the scientific content of the 2027 Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage at the Panel’s 63rd Plenary session, in Lima, Peru.

With the Panel’s latest decision, the scientific content of all planned reports for the IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle has been agreed, and this clears the way for their production and publication starting from 2027.

IPCC reports have unequivocally established that climate-related risks, losses and damages, and adaptation needs increase with every increment of global warming. The Seventh Assessment Report, while certainly not neglecting mitigation, will place greater emphasis on climate resilience and adaptation. For the first time in IPCC history, we will have chapters on adaptation finance and responses to losses and damages.  

As the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report shows, we have agency over our collective future, through both adaptation and mitigation actions. We have the know-how, the resources, and the tools to address the climate change challenge.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The IPCC’s capacity to assess and synthesise the vast and continually growing body of scientific knowledge on climate change, its impacts, and available responses is unique.

The key findings of our reports are durable. The many adaptation and mitigation options identified in our reports can be implemented right now. The IPCC is going to continue to deliver clear, authoritative, timely and actionable scientific findings that can support UNFCCC processes.

I wish you all fruitful and constructive discussions in Belém. I will be following your work closely and contributing to several events remotely.

Thank you.

ENDS

SBSTA 62,Bonn, Germany, 17 June 2025

Thank you SBSTA Chair (SBSTA Chair, Adonia Ayebare)

Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, thank you for the invitation to deliver the keynote address at this 17th Meeting of the Research Dialogue.

As the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – I will also take this opportunity to bring you up to date on the Panel’s work since the seventh assessment cycle began almost two years ago.

It is somewhat ironical that recent IPCC reports have communicated the need for urgency in responding to the manifest risks posed by climate change. Because, as we move from one assessment cycle to another, there is an inevitable hiatus while we prepare our new reports. Where is our sense of urgency? It’s a fair question to ask. We indeed may appear to be the El Niňo of the scientific assessment world – appearing every two-to-seven years.

But unlike El Niňo, we know when our reports will start to appear. We also know their scope, and the key scientific issues and knowledge gaps that they will address. So, let me first of all set out where we are in terms of plans for the seventh cycle, then reflect more on scientific issues linked to attribution, different warming levels and aspects of temperature overshoot, the measurement of impacts and adaptation, and the treatment of sustainable development and equity issues. For a wider take on the Seventh Assessment Report – or AR7 – let me advertise tomorrow’s IPCC side event where representatives of the Working Groups and the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories – the TFI – will be setting out their plans.

So, in terms of work under way [SLIDE 2] a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Repot on Short Lived Climate Forcers have been scoped, the authors have been selected and the first Lead Authors meetings have been held. We plan our first and only special report of the cycle to be approved and released in less than two years, in early 2027 and the Methodology Report in late 2027.

The member governments have agreed upon the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the AR7 at the Panel’s last plenary in Hangzhou China. We have yet to settle the precise timeline for their production, but they could start appearing in mid-2028, while the Synthesis Report that will conclude the entire cycle must be approved by late 2029.

Alongside the Working Group II report, revised and updated technical guidelines on the assessment of impacts and adaptation will be produced as a distinct product, with a special emphasis on metrics and indicators. And here’s another quick IPCC advert, this matter will be discussed in depth at the mandated event on Friday morning.

And finally, the Panel has yet to agree on the scope of two reports: a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal and Carbon Capture and Storage, and the Synthesis Report. We have almost completed work on the Methodology Report in Hangzhou, but have some residual issues to resolve on carbon dioxide and water bodies. The Synthesis Report will be scoped later in the cycle.

Now, turning to the specific scientific topics I mentioned.

For each, I will first set out the state of knowledge from the Sixth Assessment Report, or AR6, then I will show how these issues and knowledge gaps will be treated in the forthcoming reports.

On attribution [SLIDE 3], the very first sentence of the Summary for Policymakers of the AR6 Synthesis Report is a relevant high-level statement: “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming”. It couldn’t be clearer. We have high levels of confidence that some type of impacts can be attributed to human activities.

For example, we are highly confident [SLIDE 4] that human activities have caused observable increases in hot extremes. We have concluded that it is likely that human activities [SLIDE 5] are the main driver of the intensification of heavy precipitation. But we have lower confidence regarding human influence on agricultural and ecological drought [SLIDE 6]. And some of that lower confidence is due to lower levels of agreement in the assessed literature. The Seventh Assessment Report will address these lower confidence topics with a view, if it is supported by the evidence, to reaching robust conclusions.

But more work needs to be done to establish whether specific weather or climate events can be attributed to human activities. That’s why the forthcoming Working Group I report [SLIDE 7] will extend the attribution of large-scale changes in the climate system at the global and regional levels to the attribution of local changes and extremes such as tropical cyclones. Working Group I will explore cloud-resolving climate simulations down to the kilometre scale, the greater use of climate emulators and the use of artificial intelligence. Working Group II will extend the assessment of attribution to observed and projected impacts.

Turning to current and projected levels of warming [SLIDE 8], the World Meteorological Organisation, one of our parent organisations, has established that the annually averaged global mean near-surface temperature for the single year of 2024 was 1.55 °C above pre-industrial levels. This does not imply that the 1.5 °C warming level mentioned in the Paris long-term temperature goal has been breached. That is based on the mid-point of a 20-year long-run average. Estimates of current long-run warming averaged over multiple years vary between 1.34 and 1.41 ºC. But there is a 70% chance that average warming over the years 2025-2029 will exceed 1.5 ºC.

Looking forward, a communication challenge remains. There are plausible temperature pathways that can both “exceed” and “limit” warming to 1.5 °C [SLIDE 9]. This slide, based on work by Carbon Brief, shows that a pathway can exceed a given warming level in the short-medium term but still limit warming to that same level by the end of the century.

But to be clear, GHG emissions are still rising, and we are not on track to limit warming to 1.5 °C. This slide [SLIDE 10], from our other parent organisation, UNEP, is based on methods used in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report combined with updated information. It shows that, even if all the current National Determined Contributions and net zero pledges were to be met in full, warming would at best be just below 2 °C by the end of the century.

The consequences and means of managing so-called overshoot – which means exceeding a specified global warming level, before returning to or below that level through net removals of CO2 from the atmosphere – will be covered in the Seventh Assessment Report. Here, there are significant knowledge gaps. What irreversible impacts, such as species loss, may we suffer if we surpass a given threshold? How will the Earth system, including the biosphere, respond to lower CO2 concentrations and a cooling climate? How well do adaptation options planned today function under conditions at higher levels of global warming?

What techniques and approaches can plausibly result in removals of CO2 from the atmosphere at scale? [SLIDE 11] What might be the wider social, economic and ecological consequences of deploying these options? In the sixth cycle, Working Group III, developed a taxonomy of carbon dioxide removal options, but more exploration is needed.

The scientific challenges cut across all of the IPCC Working Groups. In the seventh cycle, the Working Group I report will be assessing Earth system responses to overshoot [SLIDE 12]. Working Group III will assess a wide range of carbon dioxide removal methods [SLIDE 13]. Working Group II will assess the implications for human and natural systems of deploying these options. And the TFI will be developing methods for estimating emissions and removals associated with Carbon Dioxide Removal.

The seventh cycle will have an enhanced emphasis on impacts and adaptation [SLIDE 14]– though we will certainly not neglect mitigation. Compared to mitigation, adaptation to climate change has lacked the means to measure progress. Adaptation actions are more difficult to separate from wider infrastructure investment and patterns of development. We will shortly start work on revising and updating Technical Guidelines on assessing impacts and adaptation to help to fill that gap, and support the Global Goal on Adaptation. The guidelines will encompass goal setting, risk assessment, planning, implementation, and learning, monitoring and evaluation. And the Working Group II report will, for the first time include a chapter on finance, an indispensable precondition for successful adaptation.

And, overall, we will be paying much more attention to the role that climate action plays in advancing and promoting sustainable development, including and beyond the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. In the sixth cycle [SLIDE 15], we showed that those who are most vulnerable to climate change have generally contributed the least of GHG emissions. We also showed [SLIDE 16] that across a range of human and natural systems, options for climate action, both adaptation and mitigation, have more synergies than trade-offs with the SDGs.

In the seventh assessment cycle, there will be a substantial treatment of equity, just transition and the distributional consequences of climate action across the Working Group contributions. Working Group II has a bullet point that is common to all regional and thematic chapters concerning the distributional nature of effects, covering human rights, equity and justice, and impacts on various vulnerable groups. There will also be a chapter devoted to responses to losses and damages disproportionately experienced by vulnerable communities and groups. It will also include ways of categorising and measuring losses and damages.

Working Group III [SLIDE 17] has an entire chapter devoted to sustainable development and mitigation. This comprehensive chapter will include distributional consequences for mitigation actions, synergies and trade-offs with sustainable development objectives, and implications for biodiversity and ecosystems, conservation, and restoration. In addition, the chapter addressing “futures”, which will contain the assessment of published scenarios at different temporal and geographical scales, will focus on both sustainable development and mitigation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The relevant scientific communities are already working on these topics, and more. So, what does IPCC add? [SLIDE 18] Let me emphasise our unique capacity to assess and synthesise the vast and exponentially growing body of knowledge on climate change, its impacts, and available responses. Every individual scientific paper matters, but it’s only when individual papers are placed in the context of the overall body of evolving knowledge that the entire picture becomes clear. We know how to establish the level of confidence in key findings, draw out different perspectives and strands of thinking, and identify knowledge gaps. The findings in our existing reports are durable, and can be updated by others using methods from approved IPCC reports in light of new and emerging data. And, let me underline that the IPCC findings that are most durable actually concern climate action. I recall our message that every fraction of a degree of warming matters. The many adaptation and mitigation response options we have identified, explored and laid out for policymakers can be implemented now, and in the future, at any level of warming.

And, finally, and very importantly, we forge consensus between representatives of the scientific world and policymakers, the prerequisite for informed and effective policy-making.

It’s a unique and highly successful model – our rigorous assessment methods have paid off in terms of scientific credibility and user acceptance. Indeed, IPCC methods have been used as a model by other bodies, including IPBES. The IPCC – as well as our colleagues in the policy world – faces unprecedented and complex challenges in a turbulent world. But we are confident that our tried and tested ways of working will allow us to rise to these challenges and deliver clear, authoritative, timely and actionable findings for policymakers and other decision-makers over the next few years.

Thank you.

24 February 2025, Hangzhou, China

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Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished delegates, excellencies, dear hosts,

As Chair of the IPCC – allow me first to welcome government delegations, representatives of observer organizations, and IPCC Bureau members attending the Panel’s 62nd Plenary Session.

I also take this opportunity to welcome the staff of the IPCC Secretariat and the Technical Support Units as well as media representatives joining us for the opening ceremony.

I am pleased to greet our dear colleagues and friends. We are honoured that China’s Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin, Administrator of the China Meteorological Administration Chen Zhenlin and Li Yanyi, Vice Governor from Zhejiang Province, will address our opening ceremony this morning.

We will also see recorded video messages from the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Inger Andersen, and the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Simon Stiell. I am particularly delighted that our former Vice-Chair and the current Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation Ko Barret is with us for the duration of this plenary.

I also wish to express our special gratitude to the government of China, the authorities of the Zhejiang province and the City of Hangzhou for their warm welcome, exceptional setting and exemplary support and facilitation of this critically important Panel session. We are genuinely impressed by the outstanding organisation of this Plenary. Our hosts have spared no effort to ensure the best possible working environment and conditions for the Panel to deliver in an efficient and timely manner the ambitious programme of work planned for this session.

Since the start of this seventh assessment cycle just 18 months ago, we have made important and steady progress. Six months ago, the Panel gave the green light to the outlines of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, and the Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers, opening up the process for nominating and selecting authors. With selected authors on board, the first Lead Author Meetings for both reports will take place next month.

Now turning to the impacts of IPCC’s work, it is evident that our timely, policy-relevant and actionable assessment reports have never been more pertinent. Our relevance for policymakers was manifestly reaffirmed and acknowledged in the key decisions of COP29 in Baku.

Specifically – in decisions on the new collective quantified goal on climate finance and UAE Dialogue on the implementation of the Global Stocktake, there were prominent references to the findings from the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.

The Decision on the Global Goal on Adaptation welcomed IPCC’s own decision to revise and update the 1994 Technical Guidelines for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations and invited the IPCC to organise a special event at the next session of Subsidiary Bodies in June this year.

Lastly, I would like to highlight the COP29 decision on Research and Systematic Observation which noted with appreciation, and welcomed, the statements delivered by the IPCC and welcomed the ongoing work of the IPCC in the seventh assessment cycle.

This week we have a rich and demanding agenda to cover. It is a pivotal session for the cycle, and we will be focused on the science.  We will be agreeing outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report. The Bureau and selected scientists who met at the Scoping Meeting for the Seventh Assessment Report in Kuala Lumpur in December have done their utmost to bring scientifically strong and well-structured drafts to this plenary.

We will also consider the draft outline of the Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage, a report scheduled for release in 2027.

I’d like to finish by acknowledging the strong and steady support that IPCC member countries have demonstrated in sustaining every aspect of our work. Both support for the science that powers our assessments and generous voluntary contributions. Government support ensures the scientific integrity and continuity of the IPCC as the most authoritative and policy-relevant voice on climate science globally.  

Thank you.

COP29, Baku, Azerbaijan, 18 November 2024

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Yours excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentleman, it is my privilege as Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – to address this important session. I recall participating in the same session at COP 27, and I very much appreciate this further opportunity to contribute.

I want to focus most of my remarks on the opportunities – and indeed the benefits – of near-term action. But first, a few words on urgency. We are perilously close to 1.5ºC warming, and indeed it may be that this level is exceeded, albeit temporarily, in 2024. Beyond this point many of the risks associated with climate change escalate from what we have called “moderate” risks – those that are detectable and attributable to climate change – to “high risks”, that is risks that are severe and widespread. And, if carry on as are, we could reach 3 ºC warming during this century which will see severe impacts, significant irreversibility and a limited ability to adapt.

Carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere; every incremental tonne adds to global warming. If we continue with currently implemented policies,  we are likely, by 2030, to have placed limiting warming to 1.5ºC with low or no overshoot, even in the long run, beyond reach. Even the most ambitious emission reductions beyond 2030 may not allow us to recover lost ground. The emissions pathway matters, not just targets for individual years.

So that, in short, is the scientific case as to why near-term ambition matters. Now let me turn to opportunities.

The argument proceeds like this. First, it has been demonstrated that options are available in the near-term to reduce emissions. Second, the potential co-benefits of these options far exceed trade-offs with other development goals. Third, we have the policy tools and means to exercise these options.”

On the tangible options, I risk repeating some of my remarks from two years ago, but the IPCC identified many options in all sectors that could halve global GHG emissions in 2030 at costs of less than $100/t CO2eq. More than half of that potential costs less than $20/tCO2eq and some measures would pay for themselves. The largest contributions to the potential lie in energy, and agriculture, forestry and land use (AFOLU).

Within energy, by far the largest potential lies with renewable energy, particularly wind and solar each of which have an emissions reduction potential of around 4 Gt CO2eq per year or 7 per cent of total emissions. The costs of both have fallen dramatically in recent years. A substantial part of that renewable potential can be achieved at a negative cost. Take-up so far has been concentrated in Europe, North America and China. Significant take-up in other parts of the world requires strengthening power grids and lowering the cost of capital.

There is a further significant potential from reducing fugitive methane emissions from fossil fuel systems.  Given that methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas, sign-up to the Global Methane Pledge could bring rapid results in terms of avoided warming in the near-term. Other context-specific opportunities with a smaller potential in the near-term include more longer-established renewable energy technologies, nuclear for those countries which choose to use it, and carbon capture and storage.

AFOLU has a similarly large near-term potential.  The biggest opportunities lie in: reduced conversion of forests and other ecosystems; ecosystem restoration, afforestation and reforestation; and carbon sequestration in agriculture, for example through soil management. Within the food system, dietary shifts and the reduction of waste could also pay a role, though the costs cannot be characterised.

There are also opportunities across the demand sectors,buildings, transport and industry. For buildings, and even more so for transport, options are available at a negative cost. Enhanced efficiency, and switching to alternative energy carriers, notably electricity are the key measures.  The industrial potential comes at a higher cost and in the near-term is dominated by energy efficiency, materials efficiency through circular economy approaches, and fuel switching.

The pre-2030 period is also a time to prepare for measures required in the longer term as innovations emerge and existing capital stocks of equipment that supply and use energy – power stations, vehicles, space heating and cooling equipment – come to be replaced.

In terms of co-benefits, the IPCC has identified multiple synergies between mitigation actions and the sustainable development goals. They are varied and depend on local circumstances, but let me mention just a few: air quality and consequent health benefits from electrification of transport; more affordable energy by investing in energy efficiency; decent jobs and sustainable growth from the expansion of new industries; more sustainable cities and communities though investment in blue and green infrastructure; and more sustainable agriculture and land use through better management of agricultural activities and soils.

The evidence is that we do actually know how to bring about these outcomes. Policies already implemented have avoided emissions of several Gt CO2eq, have resulted in sustained emissions reductions in some countries, and have “bent the curve” globally. Emissions may continue to rise but, without policies already in place, would have been even higher.

Climate legislation now covers more than half of global emissions; more than 20% of global emissions are covered by some form of carbon pricing. Carbon pricing has a role to play in sectors such as power generation and industry, but there is a wider policy toolset available. In sectors such as buildings and transport, where there are millions if not billions of actors, markets are less efficient and different instruments – regulations, standards, sunset requirements on obsolete technologies, information, advice and education, and interventions addressing skills, training, and supply chains – will be needed. The same considerations apply to agriculture and land use given the predominance of smallholders in many parts of the world.

And, of course, aspirations will not be achieved unless financial flows reflect ambition. Investment gaps for mitigation are larger in developing countries. But we have demonstrated that there is sufficient global capital to close investment gaps, and that there are means to redirect capital to climate action in the context of economic vulnerabilities and indebtedness facing developing countries.

Let me conclude with some wider remarks. Paragraph 1 of the principles governing IPCC’s work require us to concentrate our activities, inter alia, on actions in support of the UNFCCC. With that in mind, I have constantly reminded IPCC authors that the Paris Agreement has three goals – the long-term temperature goal, the goal on adaptation and resilience, and the goal on financial flows. These goals are interlocking – no single goal can be realised unless there is progress on them all. I will continue to press this case as we scope out the content of the Seventh Assessment Cycle report, as we recruit authors, and as the reports are drafted.

We will be emphasising adaptation and resilience in this cycle – there will be revised and updated technical guidelines on impacts and adaptation, emphasising indicators, metrics and methodologies. And our mitigation work must be framed holistically in the context of all three goals of the Paris Agreement, notably, that on financial flows.

Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. Once again it has been a privilege to address you. Let me conclude with an assurance that the IPCC stands ready to support you in your work and to generate actionable findings in support of your work to combat climate change and alleviate the worst effects.

Thank you.

Baku, Azerbaijan

12 November 2024

Your Excellencies, Dear delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen

As the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – it is an honour to address the High-Level Segment of COP 29.

Climate change is no longer an abstract threat for a distant future. It has been unfolding in front of our eyes.

In the 12 months since the last COP in the UAE, people across Asia and in the Sahel have endured extreme temperatures; communities in the Americas have fought against devastating wildfires; and flood defenses were put to the test in Central Europe when confronted with intense rainfall, not to mention more recent events in Valencia. These are only a few examples. Many people have lost their homes, their livelihoods – and their lives. Communities have been shaken to their core. And global warming is unequivocally caused by human activities, through emissions of greenhouse gases that arise from unsustainable energy use, land use and land-use change, and lifestyle patterns.

The extremes we are witnessing have been aggravated by human-induced climate change. This is the new normal. Imagine what is in store in the coming decades, if we do not act swiftly and decisively. With every fraction of a degree of global warming, we face greater threats. Children born today will not know a world without climate change. The IPCC has shown that we, and furthermore they, will live in a world marked by more intense storms, exceptional heatwaves, devastating floods and droughts, a world where food chains are disrupted, and where diseases reach new countries.


Today, our chances of limiting warming to 1.5 °C are hanging on a very slender thread. The recent UNEP Gap Report concluded that global emissions would need to fall by 7.5 per cent per year through to 2035 to return us to a 1.5 °C pathway. If we delay more ambitious action to 2030, this becomes an unprecedented 15 per cent per year. Even limiting warming to 2 °C is at risk.

This does not have to be the case. As the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report demonstrated, we have the know-how, tools and financial resources to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. A world where transport is no longer polluting, our cities are green, and we have transitioned away from fossil fuels. We have shown that carbon pricing, regulations and other interventions have already resulted in gigatonnes of avoided emissions. More can be achieved if policies and measures are scaled up and deployed more widely. Furthermore, we have shown that climate action can contribute to other development goals, such as improving air quality and human health.

With climate change already on us, we must address adaptation. The IPCC will be paying particular attention to this in the coming cycle. Most adaptation so far is fragmented, small in scale, incremental, sector-specific, and focused more on planning rather than implementation. Hard limits to adaptation, as well as soft limits caused by lack of resources and institutional capacity, are being reached in some sectors and regions. But we can take measures to address the triple planetary crisis of climate, biodiversity and pollution. We can increase our resilience to the impacts of climate change by leveraging decision-support tools and implementing more early warning systems.

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished excellencies, the IPCC will continue to provide timely, robust, policy-relevant information to support accelerated adaptation efforts and cuts in emissions. But, the resolution of this global crisis is now in your hands.

Decisions made here at COP 29 will shape the legacy we leave behind to our children and grandchildren, and for the billions of people who deserve a livable planet.

Thank you.

11 November 2024, Baku, Azerbaijan

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Dear delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen

As the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – I am pleased to make a few remarks at the opening session of Earth Information Day to speak about the connection between Earth Observations and the IPCC.

As the impacts of climate change become increasingly visible, Earth observation plays a foundational role in advancing climate science, which is at the core of IPCC assessments.

In the Sixth Assessment Cycle which concluded 18 months ago, our Working Group I report on the physical science basis included chapters on: the Changing State of the Climate System; the Earth’s Energy Budget, Climate Feedbacks, and Climate Sensitivity; and Human Influence on the Climate System; as well as several others, all of which were driven by observational data. Observation is one of the pillars on which rests our striking conclusion that “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land”.

Yet, Earth Observation goes beyond Working I on the physical science basis; it is also relevant for: Working II on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; Working Group III on the mitigation of climate change; and, the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories, or the TFI.

The scoping meeting for the Seventh Assessment Cycle which will take place in Malaysia next month will propose the outlines of the three Working Group reports, to be agreed by governments in February 2025.  While ahead of the scoping meeting it is not possible to talk about the content of the reports, assuredly, it is certain that Earth Observation will play a critical role in the assessed literature.

Turning to Working Group II, observation systems can support vulnerable regions and communities, particularly in coastal regions, and address developments in land use, agriculture, and human settlement. The upcoming IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, already scoped, will cover Urban observation and modelling tools for monitoring and evaluation for sectors and unaccounted sources within a chapter on Actions and solutions to reduce urban risks and emissions. Local-scale studies, in-situ and remotely sensed observations, high-resolution model outputs, and databases providing city-relevant data on emissions, impacts and hazards are available to support this report.

Importantly, Working Group II will also produce revised and updated technical guidelines on impacts and adaptation, including adaptation indicators, metrics and methodologies. This will help progress work on the Global Goal on Adaptation. Earth Observation can indeed play a unique role in monitoring progress. When the revised and updated guidelines are scoped at next month’s meeting in Malaysia, giving consideration to the observability of adaptation indicators and metrics will be essential. And Earth Observation also underpins Early Warning Systems which play a critical role in effective adaptation strategies.

Turning to the world of emission inventories and mitigation, the TFI will produce a Methodology report on short-lived climate forcers by late 2027. This report will cover nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, non-methane volatile organic compounds, sulphur dioxide, ammonia, black carbon and organic carbon, as well as primary particulate matter relevant for radiative forcing, though not methane. Earth observation has a potentially critical role to -play in monitoring emissions of short-lived climate forcers. The Methodology Report will be developed in the context of recent improvements in observations of the composition of the atmosphere through expansions of existing surface observation and through in situ measurements such as aircraft campaigns.

In September 2022 the IPCC convened an Expert Meeting on The Use of Atmospheric Observation Data in Emission Inventories.  It considered: the potential for using atmospheric observations to verify GHG inventories; comparisons of national inventories and reverse-modelled emission estimates based on atmospheric observations that have led to improvements in bottom-up inventories; emerging observational datasets that could be used to test and verify IPCC default emission factors; and spatial and temporal gridding of national greenhouse gas emission inventories to allow comparison with atmospheric observation data. The very useful report of the Expert meeting is available on the TFI website. This is an emerging area and will receive continuing attention within IPCC.

The TFI has also been mandated by the Panel to produce a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage by late 2027. The role of Earth observations in estimating relevant emissions and removals is within its scope. 

To conclude, it is obviously beyond IPCC’s remit to conduct Earth Observation, but Earth Observation activities remain intimately connected to IPCC’s core mission.

I thank you for the opportunity to make a few remarks here today and look forward to further engagement.

Thank you.

Sofia, 27 July 2024

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Distinguished Delegates, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,

As the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – it is my great pleasure to offer a warm welcome at the beginning of the IPCC’s 61st plenary to all government delegations, representatives of observer organizations and IPCC Bureau members, as well as distinguished guests!

We are immensely grateful to the Bulgarian government and the city of Sofia for hosting this important meeting and ensuring excellent facilities and working conditions for the successful conduct of our plenary.

I must mention that I also had the great privilege of visiting the Bulgarian Academy of Science day before yesterday, where I addressed the “International Scientific Conference on Climate risks in the Black Sea region” and witnessed the strength of the scientific capacity in this region.

This is why I am particularly pleased that the Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water, Petar Dimitrov, is here with us.

We will also hear this morning from the Mayor of Sofia, Vassil Terziev and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nevyana Miteva.

I would also like to welcome the President of the World Meteorological Organization Abdulla Al Mandous.

We also screen the special video messages from the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, and from the Director of the Adaptation Division at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Youssef Nassef.

Special thanks are due to our Secretariat led by Abdalah Mokssit for all the hard work they did to ensure the smooth running of this session and the excellent training and pre-briefing sessions held yesterday.

This is the second plenary of the seventh assessment cycle. Building on the decisions made at the cycle’s inaugural plenary in Istanbul in January, we will continue laying down the critically important and very specific foundational building blocks for our upcoming work.

With many thanks to the IPCC Bureau members for preparing the materials for this session, I stress that our agenda over the next seven days is both complex and testing.

Based on successful scientific scoping meetings in February and April, we have the draft outlines of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and the Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers on our agenda.

As the Panel decided in Istanbul, these two reports are to be released in 2027. The Panel’s careful consideration and agreement on the two outlines will give an important impetus to initiate their production and ensure their timely release.

As the Chair, I also must highlight the importance of the discussion about the IPCC´s strategic planning schedule for this cycle.

This has far-reaching implications in terms of the timeliness of our products, and the inclusivity of both our own processes the the science that is being assessed.

In addition to the progress reports and a few other items deriving from the decisions the Panel took at the previous sessions, over the coming days we will also examine a document prepared by the Ad-Hoc Group on lessons learned from the past cycle. Careful consideration of how to take forward the many topics covered in that document can help us shape an improved cycle in virtually every aspect of the work ahead of us.

The importance of our work over the coming days merits the full attention and commitment of delegates. I am confident that the far-reaching decisions will empower the IPCC to deliver its best and most relevant work yet.

As the individual responsible for chairing our proceedings and our complex search for consensus, I must impress upon all of us the need to uphold the highest standards of debate and ensure a constructive, solution-oriented and respectful spirit throughout this plenary. When we work together, we deliver.

Thank you.