GENEVA, April 16 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has selected 14 members for the Task Group on Data Support for Climate Change Assessment (TG-Data) from 81 nominations from 51 countries.
TG-Data aims to provide guidance to the IPCC’s Data Distribution Centre (DDC) on curation, traceability, stability, availability and transparency of data and scenarios related to the reports of the IPCC. Together with the DDC, the Task Group facilitates the availability and consistent use of climate change-related data and scenarios in support of the implementation of the IPCC’s programme of work.
The Task Group will be co-chaired by David Huard from Canada and Sebastian Vicuna from Chile. The other members are:
- Kornelis Blok (Netherlands),
- Steven Crimp (Australia),
- Sha Fu (China),
- Wawan Gunawan (Indonesia),
- José Manuel Gutiérrez (Spain),
- Michio Kawamiya (Japan),
- Nana Ama Browne Klutse (Ghana),
- Volker Krey (Germany),
- Silvina Solman (Argentina),
- Gerard van der Schrier (Netherlands),
- Michele Warburton-Toucher (South Africa), and
- Rachel Warren (United Kingdom).
TG-DATA was formerly known as the Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA). The Panel renamed the Task Group during the 47th Session of the IPCC in March last year, when it adopted the Task Group’s new Terms of Reference as well as guidance for the Data Distribution Centre. The Data Distribution Centre’s role is to archive and provide transparency, traceability, and stability of data and scenarios that are relevant in the context of the IPCC.
For more information contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
Notes for editors
About 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 (now 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, and 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 inform policymakers about the state of knowledge on climate change. The IPCC identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community, where there are differences 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 (the physical science basis of climate change); Working Group II (impacts, adaptation and vulnerability); and Working Group III (mitigation of climate change). It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for estimating anthropogenic emissions and removals of greenhouse gases. All of these are supported by Technical Support Units guiding the production of IPCC assessment reports and other products.
IPCC Task Groups
The IPCC establishes different Task Groups to address specific issues. Currently the Panel has four Task groups
- Task Group on Data Support for Climate Change Assessments (TG-Data)
- Ad-hoc Task Group on Financial Stability (ATG-Finance)
- IPCC Gender Task Group
- Task Group on the Organization of the Future Work of the IPCC in light of the Global Stocktake
About the 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.
In its decision on the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) invited the IPCC to provide a special report in 2018 on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways. At its 43rd Session in April 2016, the IPCC accepted the invitation from UNFCCC and decided to produce two other Special Reports, a Methodology Report and the AR6.
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 was released on 8 October 2018.
The 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories,a methodology report, will be finalized in May 2019.
The IPCC will finalize two further Special Reports in 2019:
- 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 in August 2019
- Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate in September 2019.
The three working group contributions to AR6 will be released in 2021, and the AR6 Synthesis Report will be finalized in the first half of 2022.
For more information go to www.ipcc.ch