Geneva, June 5 – The authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C will meet on 5-9 June 2017 in Exeter, UK, for the Second Lead Author Meeting of the Special Report. This meeting, bringing together 86 scientific, technical and socio-economic experts from 39 countries, intensifies work on the Special Report, which will be completed in September 2018.

The meeting for the report, whose full title is Global Warming of 1.5ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty, is hosted by the University of Exeter and the UK Met Office.

The experts have the task of initiating the best and most comprehensive assessment of the status of knowledge on the climate system with respect to a warming of 1.5°C. The report will assess the impacts of a global warming of 1.5°C on both human and natural environments, as well as study current and emerging adaptation and mitigation options and their linkages with sustainable development, poverty eradication, and reducing inequalities.

During the second of four Lead Author Meetings, authors will continue the development of the report towards preparation of the First Order Draft, which will be subject to expert review from 31 July to 24 September 2017. All review comments will be considered for the preparation of the Second Order Draft. The iterative IPCC process supports the preparation of reports that comprehensively assess scientific, technical and socio-economic state of knowledge in a policy relevant but not policy prescriptive manner.

This Special Report is being prepared in response to an invitation from the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2015 in Paris.

The IPCC will hold a press briefing at 09:00 GMT on Tuesday 06 June, at the XFi Building – Henderson Lecture Theatre – Ground Floor, University of Exeter, to present the work of the IPCC and the preparations for the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C.

For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066 or Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit:tsu@ipcc-wg1.universite-paris-saclay.fr

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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 (UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states

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.

The IPCC assesses the thousands of scientific papers published each year to tell policymakers what we know and don’t know about the risks related to climate change. The IPCC identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community, where there are differences of opinion, and where further research is needed. It does not conduct its own research.

To produce its reports, the IPCC mobilizes hundreds of scientists. These scientists and officials are drawn from diverse backgrounds. Only a dozen permanent staff work in the IPCC’s Secretariat.

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 Assessment Reports consist of contributions from each fo the three working groups and a Synthesis Report. Special Reports undertake an assessment of cross-disciplinary issues that span more than one working group and are are shorter and more focused than the main assessments.

Sixth Assessment Cycle

At its 41st Session in February 2015, the IPCC decided to produce a Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). At its 42nd Session in October 2015 it elected a new Bureau that would oversee the work on this report and Special Reports to be produced in the assessment cycle. At its 43rd Session in April 2016, it decided to produce three Special Reports, a Methodology Report and AR6.

The first of these special reports is Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty (SR15). This report will be delivered in September 2018. A scoping meeting to draft the outline of the report took place in August 2016 and the Panel approved the outline the following October

The Methodology Report to refine the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories will be delivered in 2019. Additionally, the IPCC will finalize two further special reports in 2019: the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. The AR6 Synthesis Report will be finalized in the first half of 2022.

For more information go to www.ipcc.ch

2017/10/PR
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Bilbao, Spain, June, 2017 – More than 190 experts will meet in Bilbao on June 7-14 to begin work on a new Methodology Report to update the guidelines countries use for estimating greenhouse gas emissions and removals, bringing them into line with the new requirements of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The meeting will launch the preparation of the new Report 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2019 Refinement). In particular the authors will elaborate the chapter outlines, allocate tasks among Lead Authors, and decide milestones between this and the Second Lead Author Meeting, which will take place in September this year. After another two meetings in 2018, the 2019 Refinement is planned to be finalized, and be adopted and accepted by the IPCC Plenary, in May 2019.

“Bureau or the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories concluded that the 2006 IPCC Guidelines still provide a technically sound methodological basis of national greenhouse gas inventories; however, to maintain their scientific validity, certain refinements are required, taking into account scientific and other technical advances Gas Inventories (2019 Refinement),” said Mr. Kiyoto Tanabe, Co-Chair of the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

The meeting is co-organized by Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), with the collaboration of the Basque Government’s Department of Environment, the University of the Basque Country and the Spanish Climate Change Office

María José Sanz, Scientific Director of BC3, said the 2019 Refinement would provide all countries with a common framework to move forward with the commitments arising from the Paris Agreement

“Science must deliver in order to generate certainty and guidance, as an essential contribution to political action,” she said “The choice of Bilbao to host this important gathering is a great recognition.”

The format and structure will be the same as the 2006 IPCC Guidelines (i.e. Overview Chapter and 5 Volumes) so as to make it easier for inventory compilers to use the 2019 Refinement in conjunction with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines.

Download the full list of authors of the 2019 Refinement here

For more information, contact: BC3 – Outreach Manager, Ms. Ainhoa Azkarate, email:press@bc3research.org
IPCC – TFI TSU (Technical Support Unit for TFI), email:nggip-meetings@iges.or.jp
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Notes for editors

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created in 1988 to deliver comprehensive reviews on the scientific, technical and socio-economic state of knowledge of climate change, its causes, possible repercussions and response strategies.

Its contribution to understanding climate change has been fundamental to creating global agreements on common goals, the last of which, the Paris Agreement, aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, including by holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 ºC above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ºC above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. Governments agreed to set Nationally Determined Contributions to reach this goal, which will be reviewed regularly.

In its last report, the Fifth Assessment Report, the IPCC found that anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, are extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century. It found that limiting climate change would require substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The IPCC is organised in three thematic Working Groups, and a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI). The TFI is responsible for development of internationally-agreed methodology for countries to estimate its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The latest comprehensive guidelines on such methodology produced by TFI were produced in 2006, titled the “2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories” (2006 IPCC Guidelines). The 2006 IPCC Guidelines are used by many countries in the world to estimate and report their national GHG emissions.

At its 41st Session in February 2015, the IPCC decided to produce a Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). At its 42nd Session in October 2015 it elected a new Bureau to oversee the work on this report and Special Reports to be produced in the assessment cycle. At its 43rd Session in April 2016, it decided to produce three Special Reports, a Methodology Report and AR6.

For more information visit the IPCC website www.ipcc.ch