2017/15/MA
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Updated on 1 September 2017 to remove the name of the Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, from those at the Opening Session; and to change the venue of the outreach event on 11 September to Université du Québec à Montréal
GENEVA, August 28 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will meet in Montreal, Canada, on 6-10 September 2017, to approve the outlines of the Sixth Assessment Report.
The 46th Session of the Panel, hosted by the Government of Canada, will consider the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report, among other business. The Panel will also discuss the broad outline of the Synthesis Report, whose detailed outline will be developed at a separate meeting in 2019.
The full agenda for the meetings and related documents can be found here:
http://www.ipcc.ch/scripts/_session_template.php?page=_46ipcc.htm
In preparation for the Session the IPCC Bureau will meet on 5 September at the same venue.
Press conference
There will be a press conference to discuss the results of the meeting after the end of the meeting on Sunday 10 September 2017 (Montreal time). The exact time of the press conference will depend on when the meeting ends and will be announced nearer to the time.
When: Around 18.30 Montreal time (EDT) on Sunday 10 September 2017
(22:30 GMT, 00.30 CEST (11 September), 07.30 JST (11 September)
Where: International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) headquarters,
999 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Montreal, Quebec H3C 5H7, Canada
The Chair of the IPCC, Hoesung Lee, other members of the IPCC Bureau, and the Secretary of the IPCC, Abdalah Mokssit, will take part in the press conference. To attend the press conference, contact the media relations team at Environment and Climate Change Canada on 819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll free) or send an email to ec.media.ec@canada.ca. The deadline for registration is 18.00 Montreal time on 10 September. Only invited or registered journalists will be allowed into the venue.
The press conference will be webcast live. The IPCC will communicate the details of how to follow it online nearer the time.
Opening session and outreach events The opening session of the meeting will take place on Wednesday 6 September 2017 from 09.00 to 10.00 Montreal time at the ICAO building. It is open only to media representatives who have registered to attend the press conference. The opening session, which will start with a ceremonial blessing, will be addressed by IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister of Science, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, the President of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), David Grimes, and senior representatives from the WMO, UN Environment and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Otherwise the 6-10 September meeting is closed to media.
A workshop for media will be held on 6 September from 08.00 to 8.45 Montreal time just before the opening session at the same venue. In addition, there will be a workshop on gender balance in the IPCC on 5 September, and an outreach event hosted by the Université du Québec à Montréal on 11 September.
For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int; mobile in Montreal : +41 79 704 2459
Werani Zabula +41 22 730 8120 or Nina Peeva +41 22 730 8142
Follow IPCC on Facebook, Twitter @ipcc_ch, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Notes for editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988 to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and 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 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 of 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 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 43rd Session in April 2016, it decided to produce three Special Reports, a Methodology Report and AR6.
The first of these special reports, to be finalized in September 2018, is Global Warming of 1.5ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5ºC 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.
The Methodology Report, entitled 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, will be delivered in May 2019.
In September 2019 the IPCC will also finalize two Special Reports: 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 IPCC will approve the outlines of AR6 in September 2017. The three working contributions will be released in 2021 and the Synthesis Report in April 2022.