Sofia, 27 July 2024
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Distinguished Delegates, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,
As the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the IPCC – it is my great pleasure to offer a warm welcome at the beginning of the IPCC’s 61st plenary to all government delegations, representatives of observer organizations and IPCC Bureau members, as well as distinguished guests!
We are immensely grateful to the Bulgarian government and the city of Sofia for hosting this important meeting and ensuring excellent facilities and working conditions for the successful conduct of our plenary.
I must mention that I also had the great privilege of visiting the Bulgarian Academy of Science day before yesterday, where I addressed the “International Scientific Conference on Climate risks in the Black Sea region” and witnessed the strength of the scientific capacity in this region.
This is why I am particularly pleased that the Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water, Petar Dimitrov, is here with us.
We will also hear this morning from the Mayor of Sofia, Vassil Terziev and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nevyana Miteva.
I would also like to welcome the President of the World Meteorological Organization Abdulla Al Mandous.
We also screen the special video messages from the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, and from the Director of the Adaptation Division at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Youssef Nassef.
Special thanks are due to our Secretariat led by Abdalah Mokssit for all the hard work they did to ensure the smooth running of this session and the excellent training and pre-briefing sessions held yesterday.
This is the second plenary of the seventh assessment cycle. Building on the decisions made at the cycle’s inaugural plenary in Istanbul in January, we will continue laying down the critically important and very specific foundational building blocks for our upcoming work.
With many thanks to the IPCC Bureau members for preparing the materials for this session, I stress that our agenda over the next seven days is both complex and testing.
Based on successful scientific scoping meetings in February and April, we have the draft outlines of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and the Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers on our agenda.
As the Panel decided in Istanbul, these two reports are to be released in 2027. The Panel’s careful consideration and agreement on the two outlines will give an important impetus to initiate their production and ensure their timely release.
As the Chair, I also must highlight the importance of the discussion about the IPCC´s strategic planning schedule for this cycle.
This has far-reaching implications in terms of the timeliness of our products, and the inclusivity of both our own processes the the science that is being assessed.
In addition to the progress reports and a few other items deriving from the decisions the Panel took at the previous sessions, over the coming days we will also examine a document prepared by the Ad-Hoc Group on lessons learned from the past cycle. Careful consideration of how to take forward the many topics covered in that document can help us shape an improved cycle in virtually every aspect of the work ahead of us.
The importance of our work over the coming days merits the full attention and commitment of delegates. I am confident that the far-reaching decisions will empower the IPCC to deliver its best and most relevant work yet.
As the individual responsible for chairing our proceedings and our complex search for consensus, I must impress upon all of us the need to uphold the highest standards of debate and ensure a constructive, solution-oriented and respectful spirit throughout this plenary. When we work together, we deliver.
Thank you.