GENEVA, Aug 29 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) notes that news articles have appeared citing a draft of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC).
The IPCC will consider the report from 20 to 23 September 2019 in Monaco, where it will examine the Summary for Policymakers of the report line by line. This process typically leads to further changes in the Summary for Policymakers.
Draft reports are provided as working documents for the approval session. They are not intended for public distribution, and must not be quoted or cited, because the text can change between the drafts and the final version once the IPCC has carefully considered every line. As with any work in progress, it is important to respect the authors and give them the time and space to finish writing before making the work public.
Drafts of the report are collective works in progress that do not necessarily represent the IPCC’s final assessment of the state of knowledge. According to the IPCC procedures, reports are made available to the public after their Summary for Policymakers has been approved and the underlying report accepted. The IPCC does not comment on draft reports while work is ongoing.
The agreed outline of the report can be found at: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/04/Decision_Outline_SR_Oceans.pdf
Subject to approval, a press conference to present the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate will be held on 25 September in Monaco. The press conference will be streamed live. Details on how to access it were sent in this media advisory. The SROCC Summary for Policymakers, press release and any other press materials will be made available to registered media under embargo shortly after completion of the approval process, expected on 23 September.
The latest draft of the report was circulated to governments for comment on the Summary for Policymakers between 14 June and 9 August 2019. News articles also appeared after a draft of the report was circulated to governments and expert reviewers between 16 November 2018 and 11 January 2019.
Journalists or others seeking context or background information can contact Maike Nicolai, Communications Manager, IPCC Working Group II Technical Support Unit, or Jonathan Lynn, Head of Communications, IPCC.
For more information contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int Twitter: @IPCC_CH
Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066 or Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
IPCC Working Group II Technical Support Unit:
Maike Nicolai, +49 471 4831 2445, maike.nicolai@ipc-wg2.awi.de
Notes for editors
About SROCC
For the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) about 130 scientists from more than 37 countries are assessing the physical processes and impacts of climate change on ocean, coastal, polar and mountain ecosystems. It also assesses consequences for human communities and options for people to adapt to climate-related changes for a more sustainable future. SROCC is being prepared under the joint scientific leadership of IPCC Working Groups I and II, and supported by the WG III Technical Support Unit. The report references more than 7,000 scientific publications.
The word “cryosphere” – from the Greek kryos, meaning cold or ice – describes the frozen components of the Earth system, including snow, glaciers, ice sheets and ice shelves, icebergs and sea ice, ice on lakes and rivers as well as permafrost and seasonally frozen ground.
About 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. 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.
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.
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. All of these are supported by Technical Support Units guiding the production of IPCC assessment reports and other products.
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.
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. At its 43rd Session in April 2016, it decided to produce three Special Reports, a Methodology Report and AR6.
In October 2018 the IPCC finalized the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC. In May 2019 it released the Methodology Report 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. In August 2019 the IPCC released the Special Report on Climate Change and Land.
The three Working Groups’ contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report will be finalized in 2021. A Synthesis Report will complete the AR6 cycle in early 2022, integrating all the Working Group contributions and the findings of the three special reports.
For more information go to www.ipcc.ch