The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is calling on its member governments and observer organizations to nominate experts to the meeting that will draft the outline of the Methodology Report on the Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. The meeting is being organized by the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI) and is tentatively scheduled for the second half of October this year.

Nominated experts for the meeting should have relevant expertise about the estimation of sinks or sources from:

• Direct air carbon dioxide capture and storage (DACCS)
• Bioenergy carbon capture and storage
• Carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage
• Concrete carbonation
• Enhanced weathering
• Ocean alkalinity enhancement
• Blue carbon management in coastal wetlands
• Soil carbon sequestration in crop and grasslands
• Peatland and coastal wetland restoration 
• Biochar
• Ocean fertilization
• Wastewater treatment/ wastewater alkalinity
• Forestry
• Other carbon dioxide removal technologies not specified above

On carbon capture, utilization and storage expertise, those to be nominated should have expertise in relation to the estimation of sources or sinks from:

• Carbon dioxide capture
• Carbon dioxide transport
• Carbon dioxide injection
• Carbon dioxide storage
• Carbon dioxide use:

a. Enhanced oil, gas, coal bed methane recovery
b. Production of chemicals
c. Production of other products

The Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report found that “the deployment of carbon dioxide removal to counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions is unavoidable if net zero CO2 or GHG emissions are to be achieved. The IPCC noted that a review of its 2006 Guidelines for the preparation of national inventories is timely and at its 60th Session requested its Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories to develop a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. This scoping meeting will draft the outline for this Methodology Report to be considered by the Panel in early 2025. The Methodology Report itself is expected to be finalized by the end of 2027

More information on the preparation of IPCC reports, including the scoping process is available from the IPCC Principles and Procedures.

Those interested in being nominated as an expert for participation in the scoping meeting should contact the relevant Focal Point. A list of Focal Points for IPCC member governments and observer organizations is available here.

Focal points are expected to submit nominations by midnight CEST on Friday, 19 July 2024.

Nominations are submitted through a dedicated online nomination tool by Focal Points only.

For more information contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int

The Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Jim Skea, received today one of the highest honours in the United Kingdom. 

King Charles III, the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, conferred the honour of Knighthood upon Prof. Jim Skea – a prestigious recognition usually granted to those who have made a significant contribution to their field. 

The King´s Birthday Honours List 2024 was published this morning in London as a Supplement of The Gazette No. 64423.

IPCC Chair Sir Jim Skea said:

“I am humbled and honoured for this royal recognition. I receive this honour with a great sense of professional and personal pride. As the Chair of the IPCC, I am grateful for the privilege to lead and work with thousands of the world´s best scientists on delivering the most authoritative scientific reports about climate change, empowering policymakers at all levels to understand our climate system, climate change and how to tackle it. 

This honour comes in the middle of the critical decade for climate action. It is a powerful recognition for the voice of science. Climate change has confronted humanity with unprecedented challenges. But science and the IPCC’s work have shown that we have the knowledge, means and tools to address them. We have agency over our future if we choose to use it.”

Jim Skea was elected IPCC Chair for the Seventh Assessment cycle in July 2023. 

From 2015 to 2023, Jim was Co-chair of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, focusing on climate change mitigation. He was part of the scientific leadership for the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C.

Jim Skea was a Professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College London from 2009 to 2023. His research interests include energy, climate change and technological innovation.

He was the Chair of Scotland’s Just Transition Commission from 2018 to 2023, and was a founding member of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change, acting as its Scottish champion.

Between 2012 and 2017 Professor Skea was Research Councils UK’s Energy Strategy Fellow and was President of the Energy Institute between 2015 and 2017. He was Research Director of the UK Energy Research Centre from 2004-2012.

Born in Scotland, Jim Skea read Mathematical Physics at Edinburgh University, followed by a PhD in energy research at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory. In 1981, he moved to Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to work on emerging US energy and environment policy. He then worked at the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University (1983-1998), where he moved through the ranks, becoming a Professorial Fellow in 1994. He was subsequently Director of the Policy Studies Institute (1998-2004).

He was awarded an OBE in 2004 and a CBE in 2013 for his work on sustainable transport and sustainable energy, respectively.

For more information contact:

IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int 

Notes for editors

What is 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, experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors 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 Seventh Assessment Cycle

Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Taskforce Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi. 

At its 69th Session (January 2024, Istanbul), the Panel agreed to produce the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report, a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers. During this cycle, the Panel will also deliver a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage.

In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.

IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provides direct scientific input to the first global stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.

The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.

The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate (September 2019).

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.  

GENEVA, June 1 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be taking part in the 60th session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SBs) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Taking place in Bonn from 3 to 13 June it is also known as the Bonn Climate Conference.

In the lead-up to the Conference, on 2 June, the IPCC Chair, Jim Skea, will address the opening of the Dialogue on the importance of Just Transition pathways to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.

On 3 June, the first official day of the Conference, the IPCC Secretary Abdalah Mokssit will speak at the opening of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).

The next day, 4 June, the IPCC Chair will address the opening of the Research Dialogue.

Over the next week, the IPCC will also participate in the expert dialogue on children and climate change, expert dialogue on mountains and climate change, and the in-session workshop on progress in implementing the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan and on future work to be undertaken under gender and climate change.

The IPCC Task Force on Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), together with the UNFCCC Secretariat, will host a side event on the IPCC Inventory Software as a tool to support the Enhanced Transparency Framework Implementation under the Paris Agreement on 5 June.

At another side event scheduled for 6 June, the IPCC Chair and Bureau Members will present the scientific foundations of the products that will be produced in the IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle and plans to enhance engagement with IPCC Focal Points.

In addition to these, IPCC experts will also be taking part in other side events and activities.

Further details about the events in this media advisory and other activities with IPCC involvement will be available here.

For interview requests with the IPCC experts that will be in Bonn, please email ipcc-media@wmo.int.

For more information contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int

Notes for editors

What is 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, experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors 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 Seventh Assessment Cycle

Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Taskforce Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi. 

At its 60th Session (January 2024, Istanbul), the Panel agreed to produce the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report and its Synthesis Report, a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers. During this cycle, the Panel will also deliver a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage.

In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.

IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provides direct scientific input to the first global stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.

The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.

The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate (September 2019).

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.  

The office of the IPCC Chair located in the International Institute for Environment and Development, UK, is filling the position of

Scientific Advisor to the IPCC Chair

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is a policy and action research organisation promoting sustainable development and linking local priorities to global challenges. We are based in London and work on five continents with some of the world’s most vulnerable people to strengthen their voices in the decision-making arenas that affect them. With more than 150 members of staff working with associates and partners around the world, IIED has been at the forefront of evidence-based policymaking in sustainable development for over 50 years.

IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change and climate change action. Jim Skea was elected Chair of the IPCC in July 2023 and presides over Plenary sessions and meetings of the Bureau and the Executive Committee, and has overall responsibility for guiding the work of the IPCC and its three Working Groups. These cover the physical aspects of climate change, impacts, adaptation and vulnerability and climate change mitigation.

We are currently seeking a Scientific Advisor to the IPCC Chair to join our team on a full-time basis for a four year fixed term contract with the possibility of extension over the life of the IPCC Seventh Assessment Cycle (planned for 5-7 years).

The Benefits

– Salary of £54,438 – £67,692 per annum, depending on experience, plus benefits
– Closure between Christmas and new year with additional paid holiday
– 7.5% employer’s pension contributions (applicable to those based in UK)
– An employee protection scheme offering a flexible menu of benefits
– An interest-free season-ticket loan
– A cycle-to-work scheme offering tax savings on the cost of purchasing a bike for travel to and from work
– An employee assistance programme
– Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption policies
– Enhanced sick pay entitlements, increasing with length of service
– Flexible working options
– Support for learning and development
– Compassionate leave up to ten days per annum
– Dependents leave
– Eye tests and glasses
– Therapy treatment

This is an unmissable opportunity for a climate change expert with an excellent grounding in climate science to join our vital organisation.

What’s more, we’ll prioritise your wellbeing and work/life balance from day one through an exceptional selection of benefits that will ensure you can thrive in and out of the office.

The Role

As a Scientific Advisor to the IPCC Chair, you will advise the IPCC Chair of key developments in scientific literature related to climate change and climate action.

Specifically, you will lead the development and delivery of selected cross-cutting IPCC activities including Expert Meetings and Workshops; liaise with international scientific networks, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and sister environmental assessments. Promoting collaboration on linked environmental challenges, you will gather information to support the Chair in the preparation of presentations and speeches working closely with the IPCC Secretariat in Geneva to ensure alignment with IPCC findings and participate in IPCC meetings.

You will also take the lead scientific role in the Technical Support Unit (TSU) that will be established to manage the synthesis of the Seventh Assessment Cycle working with the Chair to build out the team from 2025. The TSU works at the unique IPCC interface between science and policy in the provision of climate knowledge and information that is relevant for policy needs and decision making.

About You

To be considered as a Scientific Advisor to the IPCC Chair, you will need:

– A PhD in a discipline relevant to climate change, climate action and/or development or equivalent experience in Climate Science
– Experience and recognised achievement in a field highly relevant to climate change
– Experience and demonstrated success delivering research results
– Extensive knowledge of climate change issues

The closing date for this role is 30th May 2024 and interviews will take place on Tuesday 11th June 2024.

IIED is a hybrid working organisation and you are welcome to work from home, although for this role you will be required to come into the London office at least once per week to meet in-person regularly with the IPCC Chair and the team. When you are working away from the office you will need a suitable place to work and a reliable, fast internet connection.

Other organisations may call this role Climate Change Advisor, Environmental Advisor, Scientific Research Advisor, Climate Change Research Manager, or Environmental Researcher.

Webrecruit and the International Institute for Environment and Development are equal opportunities employers, value diversity and are strongly committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees and all applicants for employment. Equal opportunities are the only acceptable way to conduct business and we believe that the more inclusive our environments are, the better our work will be.

Please apply on the IIED website here.

This vacancy is being advertised by Webrecruit. The services advertised by Webrecruit are those of an Employment Agency.

Deadline extended till 23.59 CEST on Wednesday 12 June 2024

The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) is calling on its member governments and observer organizations to nominate experts who will draft the outline of the Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report. Nominations should be submitted by midnight CEST on 7 June 2024.

The IPCC decided to prepare a Seventh Assessment Report during its 60^th Session in January 2024. The Seventh Assessment report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution is on the physical science basis of climate change, Working Group II deals with impacts, adaptation, and vulnerabilities, and Working Group III looks at the mitigation of climate change.

For this scoping meeting, IPCC is seeking participants with a broad understanding of climate change and related issues. They should collectively have expertise in the following areas:

Working Group I

• Observation, monitoring of climate variables, reanalyses (ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere, land, freshwater, coasts), process understanding (water cycle, short-lived climate forcers and air quality, other climate system processes).
• Climate modeling (global, Earth System Models, regional, coupled, ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere, land, hydrology, chemistry and biogeochemistry) and model evaluation.
• Statistical climatology (trends, extremes, attribution, downscaling and bias correction, observation constraints, AI, …), recent global and regional trends.
• Near-term and long-term ensemble projections, storylines, emulators, uncertainties, carbon budget.
• Climate services and decision-support tools (experience working with stakeholders).
• High-impact climate outcomes and abrupt changes including tipping points, compounding and cascading events.
• Physical aspects of renewable resources (Energy, Water, …).

Working Group II

• Impacts, losses and damages on, and vulnerability and risk for natural (e.g. land, freshwater, biodiversity and oceans), human (e.g. human safety, mobility and migration, health, economic sectors, poverty, livelihoods, and cultural heritage), and managed human-natural systems with implications for climate resilient development.
• Evaluating climate change adaptation: Methods for monitoring, setting indicators, metrics and targets, measuring observed and projected policy effectiveness at multiple temporal and spatial scales.
• Scenarios and assessments of integrated adaptation, mitigation and development policies at multiple governance levels (local to multi-national) accounting for gender, equity, justice and/or Indigenous Knowledge, and local knowledges. 
• Aggregation of information on impacts, vulnerability, adaptation and risks to settlements (rural, urban, cities, small islands), and infrastructure and systems (e.g. sanitation and hygiene, water, food, nutrition, economic and energy security, industry, health and well-being, mobility). 
• Adaptation needs, options, opportunities, constraints, limits, enabling conditions, policy impacts and influencing factors including contributions from governance, finance, law, psychology and sociology.
• Global dimension of adaptation responses: financial incentivization, responding to losses and damages, equity, justice, finance and governance, etc. 
• Socio-cultural, psychological, political and legal drivers of making and implementing decisions.

Working Group III

• Mitigation responses in energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture, forestry, land use and waste; Energy systems planning (including energy storage, demand side management, energy supply technologies, etc.).
• Cross-sectoral mitigation options covering land, coastal and ocean systems, including sector coupling, Carbon Dioxide Removal, Carbon Capture and Storage, Carbon Capture and Utilization, etc.
• Emission trends (consumption patterns, human behaviour and emissions trends, including economic, sociological and cultural aspects).
• Scenarios and transitions at the global, national, regional and local scales.
• Governance (policies, institutions, agreements and instruments) at the international, national and subnational levels, including just transitions of sectors and systems.
• Mitigation and sustainable development (capacity building; technology innovation, transfer and adoption; related enabling conditions; international cooperation).
• Economic and financial aspects of mitigation options.

Cross-cutting areas

• Integration of different forms of climate-related knowledge and data, including Indigenous Knowledge, local knowledge, and practice-based knowledge.
• Regional (including terrestrial, ocean, and coastal) and sectoral climate information.
• Carbon Dioxide Removal, Solar Radiation Modification and associated Earth System impacts/feedbacks.
• Scenarios and pathways, including physical climate, impacts and adaptation, mitigation, development, feasibility and socio-cultural considerations (equity, ethics, finance).
• Co-benefits, avoided impacts, risks and co-costs of mitigation and adaptation, including: interactions and trade-offs, technological and financial challenges, options and implementation and low regret options.
• Ethics and equity dimensions of climate change, sustainable development, gender, poverty eradication, livelihoods, health, and food security.
• Societal responses to spatial and temporal dimensions of risks and benefits of climate change, including sociological, financial, cultural and communication aspects.

Regional Expertise

• Africa
• Europe
• Asia
• Australasia
• North America
• Central and South America
• Polar regions
• Small Islands
• Ocean

The meeting to discuss the draft outline is tentatively scheduled for December 2024. The draft outline will be submitted to the panel for approval before author teams can be selected to work on the report.

More information on the preparation of IPCC reports, including the scoping process is available from the IPCC Principles and Procedures.

Those interested in being nominated as an expert for participation in the scoping meeting should contact the relevant Focal Point. A list of Focal Points for IPCC member governments and observer organizations is available here.

Nominations are submitted through a dedicated online nomination tool by Focal Points only.

For more information contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int

GENEVA, April 12 – Over 140 experts from 65 countries will meet next week in Riga, Latvia, to draft the outline of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. The scoping meeting, scheduled to run from 16 to 19 April, is the first step in production of the report. The draft outline developed by experts attending the scoping meeting in Riga will be considered by the Panel at its next Session at the end of July.

The Special Report on Climate Change and Cities is expected to be released in early 2027 and will be the only special report the IPCC produces in the seventh assessment cycle. It is being developed under the joint scientific leadership of Working Groups I, II, and III, with support by the Working Group II Technical Support Unit.

The Panel has already decided to produce the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and the Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers during the previous, sixth assessment cycle.

Meanwhile, the Seventh Assessment Report will comprise the three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report which is to be prepared by late 2029. The three Working Group contributions will cover the physical science basis of climate change; its impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptation; as well as mitigation of climate change.

The IPCC will also prepare a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage, and will revise the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines. 

Media briefing

On 15 April 2024, IPCC Chair Jim Skea, IPCC Bureau Members, and representatives from the Latvian government will give a media briefing to local media in Riga at 2 p.m. local time. The briefing will take place at the Radisson Blu Latvija Hotel.

Outreach

On the margins of the Scoping Meeting, the IPCC will hold several outreach events.

On 17 April at noon local time, the IPCC Chair accompanied by several IPCC Bureau Members, will meet and brief members of the Latvian parliament, including those from the Parliamentary Committee on Sustainable Development.

That same evening from 6.30 local time several IPCC experts will be taking part in an event organized by the CLIMAAX research project at the Raddison Blu Latvija Hotel.

On 19 April, IPCC experts will address and discuss climate change-related issues with the members of the Riga City Council, academia, experts, architects, and other audiences at an event hosted by the Riga City Council from 14.00 to 17.00.  

For more information please contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Andrej Mahecic, +41 79 704 2459 or Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120

Notes for editors

What is 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, experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors 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 Seventh Assessment Cycle

Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Taskforce Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi.  

IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provides direct scientific input to the first global stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.

The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.

The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate (September 2019).

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.  

Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is filling the position of

Science Officer in the Technical Support Unit (Ref. SCO002)

Deadline extended till 24 April 2024 COB

The position is located in the Paris area, at Gif-sur-Yvette (France).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The IPCC was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with rigorous, transparent, and objective scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options. The IPCC is now undertaking its Seventh Assessment (AR7) cycle. The IPCC Working Group I (WGI) assesses the physical science underpinning past, present, and future climate change. The WGI Technical Support Unit (TSU) provides scientific, technical, operational and communications support that underpin and implement the WGI assessment.

The Technical Support Unit (TSU)

The TSU works at the unique IPCC interface between science and policy in the provision of the climate knowledge and information that is relevant for policy needs and decision making. The team is responsible for facilitating and implementing the assessment process undertaken by the author teams and overseen by the WGI Bureau. We are seeking someone who is highly motivated to join a team that spans different areas of expertise including climate sciences (observations, climate processes, global and regional climate modeling), visual design and communication, digital information development and management, and international project management. The team is hosted by Université Paris-Saclay and located in the facilities of Ecole normale supérieure (ENS) Paris-Saclay in the Paris area.

Job Description

The Science Officer will work closely with the IPCC Working Group I Bureau and the Authors and will report to the Head of Science Team. He/She will assist in the scoping, preparation, review, and completion of the IPCC Working Group I assessment and play a key role in ensuring the scientific integrity and quality of the report. He/She will support the planning, conducting, and reporting for the meetings and sessions organized by Working Group I, including IPCC Workshops and Expert Meetings and contribute to the scientific aspects of these meetings and sessions to facilitate informed decision-making. The Science Officer will contribute to the development and implementation of scientific plans related to the activities and products of the Working Group I, assist in the reporting process for the scientific outcomes of meetings, sessions, and other relevant activities. He/She will provide scientific support in the development of outreach materials related to the activities of the Working Group I and contribute to the creation of materials that effectively communicate scientific findings to various stakeholders.

Qualifications

• PhD in climate science and scientific publications with relevance to physical climate science, in particular in ocean, cryosphere, paleoclimate, regional/global climate monitoring or modeling, water or carbon cycle;
• Experience working in a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary team;
• Experience in scientific report writing and editing;
• Ability to plan, organize and execute complex multi-task workloads;
• Proficient in oral and written English at the academic publishing level;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and capability to interact with international science and stakeholder community;
• Stress-resistance and ability to work precisely and effectively under time constraints;
• Willingness to travel internationally;
• Experience working with UN processes, in particular the IPCC, would be an asset.

Application

The position is a fixed term contract from Université Paris-Saclay for 3 years with a possibility of extension for the duration of the IPCC Seventh Assessment cycle planned for 6 years.

Please send your application by 24 April 2024 COB consisting of a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, and contact details of two referees, to Clotilde Péan, Head of the WGI TSU quoting reference SCO002 in the title of the email.

Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is filling the position of

Science Officer in the Technical Support Unit (Ref. SCO001)

Deadline extended till 24 April 2024 COB

The position is located in the Paris area, at Gif-sur-Yvette (France).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The IPCC was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with rigorous, transparent, and objective scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options. The IPCC is now undertaking its Seventh Assessment (AR7) cycle. The IPCC Working Group I (WGI) assesses the physical science underpinning past, present, and future climate change. The WGI Technical Support Unit (TSU) provides scientific, technical, operational and communications support that underpin and implement the WGI assessment.

The Technical Support Unit (TSU)

The TSU works at the unique IPCC interface between science and policy in the provision of the climate knowledge and information that is relevant for policy needs and decision making. The team is responsible for facilitating and implementing the assessment process undertaken by the author teams and overseen by the WGI Bureau. We are seeking someone who is highly motivated to join a team that spans different areas of expertise including climate sciences (observations, climate processes, global and regional climate modeling), visual design and communication, digital information development and management, and international project management. The team is hosted by Université Paris-Saclay and located in the facilities of Ecole normale supérieure (ENS) Paris-Saclay in the Paris area.

Job Description

The Science Officer will work closely with the IPCC Working Group I Bureau and the Authors and will report to the Head of Science Team. He/She will assist in the scoping, preparation, review, and completion of the IPCC Special Report on Cities and Climate Change and play a key role in ensuring the scientific integrity and quality of the report. He/She will support the planning, conducting, and reporting for the meetings and sessions organized by Working Group I, including IPCC Workshops and Expert Meetings and contribute to the scientific aspects of these meetings and sessions to facilitate informed decision-making. The Science Officer will contribute to the development and implementation of scientific plans related to the activities and products of the Working Group I, assist in the reporting process for the scientific outcomes of meetings, sessions, and other relevant activities. He/She will provide scientific support in the development of outreach materials related to the activities of the Working Group I and contribute to the creation of materials that effectively communicate scientific findings to various stakeholders. The Science Officer will take on additional responsibilities as allocated after the completion of the IPCC Special Report on Cities and Climate Change.

Qualifications

• PhD in climate science and scientific publications with relevance to urban physical aspects (eg. urban climate monitoring and modeling, urban physics)
• A broad understanding of interdisciplinary urban climate change science (eg. adaptation, mitigation in cities, governance) and of needs of urban decision makers;
• Experience working in a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary team;
• Experience in scientific report writing and editing;
• Ability to plan, organize and execute complex multi-task workloads;
• Proficient in oral and written English at the academic publishing level;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and capability to interact with international science and stakeholder community;
• Stress-resistance and ability to work precisely and effectively under time constraints;
• Willingness to travel internationally;
• Experience working with UN processes, in particular the IPCC, would be an asset.

Application

The position is a fixed term contract from Université Paris-Saclay for 3 years with a possibility of extension for the duration of the IPCC Seventh Assessment cycle planned for 6 years.

Please send your application by 24 April 2024 COB consisting of a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, and contact details of two referees,  to Clotilde Péan, Head of the WGI TSU quoting reference SCO001 in the title of the email.

Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is filling the position of

Head of Science Team in the Technical Support Unit

Deadline extended until the position is filled

The position is located in the Paris area, at Gif-sur-Yvette (France).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The IPCC was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with rigorous, transparent, and objective scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options. The IPCC is now undertaking its Seventh Assessment (AR7) cycle. The IPCC Working Group I (WGI) assesses the physical science underpinning past, present, and future climate change. The WGI Technical Support Unit (TSU) provides scientific, technical, operational and communications support that underpin and implement the WGI assessment.

The Technical Support Unit (TSU)

The TSU works at the unique IPCC interface between science and policy in the provision of the climate knowledge and information that is relevant for policy needs and decision making. The team is responsible for facilitating and implementing the assessment process undertaken by the author teams and overseen by the WGI Bureau. We are seeking someone who is highly motivated to join a team that spans different areas of expertise including climate sciences (observations, climate processes, global and regional climate modeling), visual design and communication, digital information development and management, and international project management. The team is hosted by Université Paris-Saclay and located in the facilities of Ecole normale supérieure (ENS) Paris-Saclay in the Paris area.

The Head of Science Team Role

We seek candidates that bring a broad understanding of state-of-the-art physical climate science, international research and coordinated activities, as well as demonstrated experience in team leadership and management, as well as international experience. We are looking for someone who is enthusiastic in supporting a high impact and rigorous WGI assessment and promote the value of information on the physical basis of climate change and its accessibility and usability by different communities around the world.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Head of Science Team will be responsible for the delivery and coordination of science-related activities of the Technical Support Unit (TSU) throughout the preparation, review and completion phases of the products of Working Group I during the Seventh Assessment cycle (in particular the WGI Assessment Report and the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities). The successful candidate will assist the WGI Co-Chairs (R. Vautard and X. Zhang) in preparing the physical science elements for the reports and will support the work of the AR7 authors. He/she will facilitate the development of a network of regional scientists and liaise with the WGI Vice Chairs and Heads of Science of the other TSUs. The Head of Science Team will report to the Head of TSU and to the Co-Chairs of WGI.

The Head of Science Team will play a leading role within the TSU in supporting the development of the assessment reports and their production in due time, the preparation of the Technical Summary and the Summary for Policymakers, and the synthesis of the assessment findings therein. He/she will contribute to the overall coordination of the full breath of TSU activities in close collaboration with the Head of TSU.

The TSU Science Team is comprised of Senior Science Officers and Science Officers at the post-doctoral level. It has a distributed structure with staff based at the TSU office at ENS Paris-Saclay and at the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences in Beijing, China. The Head of Science Team will lead the team, line manage the Paris-based Science Team, as well as coordinate work done in collaboration with the members based in Beijing. The role will also include mentoring and supervision of projects undertaken with students and interns on science analysis.

The Science Team supports the assessment, the robustness, traceability and confidence of the assessment findings based on multiple lines of evidence. The team works on the consistent treatment of climate science topics within the Working Group I report and in relation to the wider AR7 assessment. The team also supports the author teams in terms of assessed digital information accessibility, reproducibility and curation for the transparency and provenance of the assessment outcomes, fostering open-source community practices, data literacy, information design and management. The science team also includes artificial intelligence experts.

Requirements

• PhD in physical climate science;
• A broad overview of physical climate science (regional/global climate or paleoclimate, ocean, atmosphere, land or cryosphere science);
• Track record of research;
• Demonstrated team leadership and management of science teams including students, postdocs, and other scientists;
• Experience in research project development, resource mobilisation and management;
• Scientific publications in the peer-reviewed literature;
• Experience reviewing and editing peer-reviewed literature;
• Leadership and skills to work in an international team with a common long-term goal;
• Strong organisational skills to plan and execute complex multi-task projects according to tight time schedules, maintaining good time-keeping and communication across multiple activities;
• High level of social skills and capability to interact with the international science community and support integration and coordination across disciplines.

Attributes

• A highly motivated, independent scientist as well as an active collaborative thinker that seeks and creates opportunities;
• A strong team player who will support others as needed and who will actively engage with the international climate science community;
• Proficiency in written and spoken English.

Application

The position is a fixed term contract from Université Paris-Saclay for 3 years with a possibility of extension for the duration of the IPCC Seventh Assessment cycle planned for 6 years.

Please send your application consisting of a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, and contact details of two referees,  to Clotilde Péan, Head of the WGI TSU. 

Copenhagen, Denmark.
21 March 2024

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

First, a thank you to our Danish hosts for their welcome and for inviting a scientific contribution to the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – IPCC – approved the final report of its Sixth Cycle, the Synthesis Report, almost exactly a year ago in Interlaken Switzerland. As IPCC Chair for the seventh assessment cycle I must stress that while the findings of that report stand the test of time, our climate has moved on.

As confirmed by WMO, 2023 was the hottest year on record, with particularly startling extremes in ocean temperatures. Extreme weather events and wildfires ceased to be just part of future projections. They were evident on our television screens and, for far too many of us, were a present reality. And sea levels continue to rise relentlessly with consequences for small island states and low-lying coastal communities. And all this, as we have demonstrated, is down to more than a century of human activities, including burning fossil fuels, and unequal and unsustainable patterns of energy and land use.

Our latest report showed that with every increment of warming the world will become more and more dangerous.  Beyond 1.5°C warming, we will see new risks will emerge associated with sea level rise, permafrost degradation, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, more extreme weather, food insecurity.

But, on the policy front, obviously there are encouraging signs of progress. COP28 and the UAE consensus made a start on the challenge of transitioning away from fossil fuels, established a new framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation and operationalised the loss and damage fund.

IPCC findings need to be interpreted in the light of all that’s happened in the last 12 months. And that is what I’ll do in the next few minutes. I’ll do so with reference to the three goals of the Paris Agreement and, indeed, the sessions at this Ministerial event.

First, on mitigation ambition and warming of 1.5°C. In IPCC we have been saying for more than five years now that only immediate and deep emission reductions will allow global warming to be limited to 1.5°C. We can’t go on saying that forever. Indeed, the last UNEP Gap Report was entitled “broken record”. I looked back at the media release on the Special Report on 1.5°C five years ago, I said that “Limiting warming to 1.5ºC is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics “. I stand by that, noting that this refers to a long-run average level of warming, not a single year like the one we have just seen.

But it is clear what would need to happen. Once emitted, carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for centuries. It is the accumulation of emissions that matters. In the middle of the range of scenarios that we have assessed, GHG emissions peak before 2025, fall by 43 per cent by 2030, 60 per cent by 2035, 69 per cent by 2040 and reach net zero mid century. We can’t just pick a single year, we have to follow the pathway. If we do not act now, we close the option of limiting warming to 1.5°C as we will have used up the available carbon budget around the end of this decade, even with the current set of nationally determined contributions.

And we have also shown that it is possible. In literally hundreds of pages we have set out specifically what can be done in terms of energy supply, energy demand, transportation, agriculture, forestry and other land use, through both technology and patterns of human behaviour. Most of these actions also yield wider co-benefits. They can make positive contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.

And we have the tools. 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.

Second, let me turn to adaptation and resilience. Adaptation action has increased but progress is uneven. We are not adapting fast enough. Most observed adaptation 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. Maladaptation actions, which bring short-term gains but are detrimental in the long run, are also increasing and are disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups. The increasing gaps between adaptation action taken and what’s needed are largest among lower income populations.  At the current rate of planning and implementation, adaptation gaps can only continue to grow.

Third, on finance and means of implementation.  There are manifest gaps between tracked climate finance and what is needed to put us on low emissions and climate resilient development pathways. Only between 4 and 8 per cent of tracked climate finance is allocated to adaptation and more than 90 percent of adaptation finance comes from public sources. Adaptation finance gaps constrain implementation of adaptation options especially in developing countries. Increasing public and private finance flows by billions of dollars per year, increasing direct access to multilateral funds, strengthening project pipeline development and shifting finance from readiness activities to project implementation can enhance adaptation. Projects that yield joint mitigation and adaptation benefits are a potential source of private finance.

Meanwhile, though the gaps are narrower, tracked climate finance for mitigation is still a factor of three to six below what would be required to put us on 1.5 °C or 2°C pathways. The gaps are actually least for energy supply, notably electricity generation, but greater for energy efficiency, transport and land-use measures. And for mitigation, reducing risks and leveraging private flows through public guarantees, local capital market development, and building greater trust in international cooperation processes all have role to play.  

Now finally, what can be expected from IPCC during the Seventh assessment cycle which began eight months ago ? Due to our rigorous processes and scientific scrutiny, it will be some time before new reports are available. The Panel met in January and thanks to our Turkish hosts agreed on the content of our Programme of Work, though the detailed timeline needs further discussion.

By early 2027, we should release a Special Report on Cities and Climate Change. This work is already underway. By the end of 2027, we should have a methodology report on carbon dioxide removal technologies and carbon capture utilization and storage which will inform the submission of national inventories. And during 2028, the Working Groups’ Co-Chairs hope to have finalized the three Working Group Reports. There will also be an update and revision of Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation, last produced in 1994. Published alongside the Working Group II report, and the updated guidelines will cover adaptation indicators, metrics and methodologies. This may help underpin greater financial flows for adaptation.

To sum up, the scale and pace of climate change poses unprecedented challenges for humanity. But IPCC’s recent work has shown that we have the means and the tools to address these challenges, if we choose to use them. And just to say, the newly elected scientific leadership of IPCC stands ready to play its part in supporting a move from problems to solutions, from analysis to action.

Thank you.