GENEVA, Aug 20 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) notes that news articles have appeared citing a draft of the Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report.
The articles appear to be based on the first draft of the Summary for Policymakers in the Second-Order Draft of the Working Group III report, which assesses mitigation of climate change, and which was circulated for review by governments and experts in January this year.
The IPCC is committed to an open, robust and transparent assessment process. During the review stages, the IPCC actively seeks the collaboration of researchers and practitioners across a broad range of expertise to provide expert comments on the draft reports. As with the normal practice of peer review, this process is designed to ensure that the report is as accurate, comprehensive and objective as possible.
Draft reports are provided to governments and reviewers as confidential working documents and must not be publicly distributed, quoted or cited. This is out of respect for the authors and to give them the time and space to finish writing before making the work public.
The drafts of reports are where the authors test their assessments. They are subsequently revised in the light of discussions with each other, review comments from governments and experts, and in the light of the scientific literature. This draft Summary for Policymakers has already been revised.
For these reasons, the IPCC does not comment on the contents of draft reports while work is still ongoing. Journalists or others seeking context or background information can contact Jonathan Lynn, Head of Communications, IPCC, or Sigourney Luz, Communications Manager, IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit.
More information about the report, including its agreed outline, can be found here.
The IPCC session to approve the Summary for Policymakers and accept the underlying report of Working Group III is anticipated for 21-25 March 2022, dates to be confirmed. The IPCC looks forward to presenting and discussing the report findings, subject to approval by the Panel, after that approval session.
The first part of the Sixth Assessment Report, the Working Group I contribution assessing the physical science basis of climate change, was released on 9 August. The Working Group II report, assessing the impacts of and adaptation to climate change, is due to be released after an approval session on 14-18 February 2022, to be confirmed, and the Synthesis Report in September.
For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int @IPCC_CH
Jonathan Lynn or Nina Peeva
IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit:
Sigourney Luz, s.luz@imperial.ac.uk
Notes for Editors
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 (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and 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.
Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, IPCC scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
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 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.
About the Sixth Assessment Cycle
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 6 to 7 years; the latest, the Fifth Assessment Report, was completed in 2014 and provided the main scientific input to the Paris Agreement.
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 IPCC also publishes special reports on more specific issues between assessment reports.
Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius 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 launched in October 2018.
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 was launched in August 2019, and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate was released in September 2019.
In May 2019 the IPCC released the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, an update to the methodology used by governments to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and removals.
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