GENEVA, Jan 25 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will open the final draft of its new methodology report, the 2019 Refinement, to government review on 28 January, bringing the report one step closer to consideration for adoption by the IPCC in May.
The 2019 Refinement, whose full name is 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, is an update to the guidelines or methodologies that countries use to estimate their anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases.
The refinement of the IPCC’s previous guidelines published in 2006 is necessary to provide an updated and sound scientific basis for supporting the preparation and continuous improvement of national greenhouse gas inventories.
Among other things, the 2019 Refinement will help countries enhance national inventory reports of emissions and removals under the 2015 Paris Agreement, if they agree to use it.
This review will run for eight weeks from 28 January to 24 March. IPCC reports go through multiple stages of review to ensure an objective and comprehensive assessment of the latest science. The first draft is reviewed by experts, the second draft by governments and experts, and the final draft by governments only.
“Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to help ensure that the reports are balanced and comprehensive. I invite all governments to contribute to this review,” said Kiyoto Tanabe, one of the two Co-Chairs of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), which is preparing the report.
“We hope as many governments as possible will take part in this review to strengthen the accuracy ad completeness of the draft’s scientific information and overall balance,” said Eduardo Calvo Buendia, the other TFI Co-Chair.
In this final review, governments will submit comments on the report’s Overview Chapter, which will be considered for adoption section by section at a Session of the IPCC in May in Kyoto, Japan, and on the full Final Draft Report, which will be submitted for acceptance at the same session. The aim of the review is to ensure that the Overview Chapter is accurate, well balanced and presents the findings of the underlying report clearly.
Review Editors will make sure that all comments submitted are afforded appropriate consideration by the authors of the report in preparation for the adoption session. All comments together with responses by the authors will be published along with the report when it is finalized.
For more information contact:
IPCC TFI Technical Support Unit, Email: 2019_refinement_review@iges.or.jp
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
Notes for editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created in 1988 to deliver comprehensive assessments of the scientific, technical and socio-economic state of knowledge of climate change, its impacts and risks, and response strategies.
Its contribution to understanding climate change has been fundamental to creating global agreements on common goals, the latest of which is the Paris Agreement. 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 2ºC above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels. Governments agreed to set Nationally Determined Contributions to reach this goal, which will be reviewed regularly.
In the Fifth Assessment Report in 2013/14, 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, a finding reinforced in the special report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC released in October 2018.
The IPCC is organized in three thematic Working Groups, and a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI). The TFI is responsible for the development of internationally agreed methodologies for countries to estimate their emissions of greenhouse gases. The latest comprehensive guidelines produced by TFI were produced in 2006, titled the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2006 IPCC Guidelines). The 2019 Refinement will update and supplement the 2006 Guidelines.
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 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.
The first of these special reports, finalized in October 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.
In 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 approved the outlines of AR6 in early September 2017. The three working contributions will be released in 2021 and the Synthesis Report in April 2022 in time for the first global stocktake in 2023 by the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
For more information, including links to the IPCC reports, go to:
www.ipcc.ch