Pursuing further the development of the AR6 Synthesis Report (SYR), the second virtual meeting of the Core Writing Team (CWT-2) was held from the 16th to the 20th of August 2021. In attendance were the CWT members – thirty (30) authors from nineteen (19) countries, the IPCC Vice-Chairs, the Working Group Co-Chairs, members of the Technical Support Units (TSU) of the Working Groups, and the IPCC Secretary. The Scientific Steering Committee of the SYR (SYR SSC) continued to provide scientific guidance in the meeting, with great support from the WG TSUs and the IPCC Secretariat.
Over five days, the main objectives of the meeting were to consider the internal review comments received on the Pre-Draft of the SYR, deal with cross-sectional issues, as well as to adjust the SYR to revisions in the underlying Working Group material. The first day involved presentation by the three WGs on revisions on key elements of their respective reports and implications for the SYR sections. Section meetings were conducted on the second and third days to identify critical issues from the internal review comments, implications for key messages, and to establish a work plan for the coming months The fourth day was spent in meetings to address cross-sectional issues emerging from the review comments, emphasizing the need for better consistency to achieve a truly integrated AR6 Synthesis Report. The closing plenaries were held on the last day.
Given the inherent challenges of a virtual meeting across different time zones, the deliverables expected from CWT-2 were successfully achieved thanks to the outstanding work of all the participants, and with valuable learnings from CWT-1. A detailed workplan has been established until CWT-3, for the development of the next iteration of the SYR Draft which will be submitted for Government and Expert review from 10th January to 20th March 2022.