Support for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to facilitate the preparation of its next Assessment Report

Project Information

IPCC

Grant agreement ID: 651230

DOI

10.3030/651230

Project closed

EC signature date 14 April 2015

Start date 1 May 2015

End date 30 April 2020

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 2 634 537,50

EU contribution

€ 700 000,00

Coordinated by

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - IPCC (Support for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to facilitate the preparation of its next Assessment Report)

Reporting period: 2019-11-01 to 2020-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has been jointly established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), has been given the mandate to assess scientific information related to climate change, to evaluate the environmental and socio-economic consequences of climate change and to formulate realistic response strategies. The IPCC reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information published worldwide relevant to climate change. It does not conduct research itself.

The overall objective of the activity is to contribute to the production of more accurate scientific information in the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) to underpin global climate change policies. In addition it will include the organization of high-level dissemination events for IPCC reports in Europe.

The specific objective is to ensure proper involvement of developing country experts as well as experts from countries with economies in transition and EU countries, should their governments be unable to provide appropriate funding, consistent with IPCC practices, in the preparation of the AR6 and the targeting of policymakers and other stakeholders in order to provide timely, high-quality and policy-relevant information and strengthen the science-policy interface on climate change.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

As the IPCC begins the AR6 cycle, elections were held to ensure that work on the AR6 can commence. The election resulted in a new Chair of the IPCC and the Bureau of the IPCC which comprises Co-chairs and Vice-Chairs for the three Working Groups of the IPCC and the Task Force Bureau (TFB).

An Outreach Event was held in Moscow, Russia to disseminate the findings of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), raise awareness and highlight solutions to the challenges of climate change within the Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The AR6 Scoping Meeting took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 1-5 May 2017. The main purpose of the meeting was to develop the structure and contents of the three Working Group contributions to the AR6 as well as a broad outline of the AR& Syntheses Report (SYR). The SYR will synthesize and integrate materials contained within the Assessment Reports and Special Reports and should be written in a non-technical style suitable for policymakers and address a broad range of policy-relevant but policy-neutral questions approved by the Panel. The SYR is composed of two sections as follows: (i) a Summary for Policymakers and (ii) a longer report. The SYR provides added value by offering genuine synthesis across Working Group reports and Special Reports which provides an integrated overview of the key findings across the reports of the cycle.

The 46th Session of the IPCC took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 6-10 September 2017. The aim of this meeting was to approve the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the AR6. The approved outlines draw on a combination of scientific expertise across a range of disciplines. The draft outlines had been prepared following the Scoping Meeting which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in May 2017.

Preparations for the main contributions of the three Working Groups to the AR6 have commenced with the organization of the First Lead Author Meetings (LAM1). The meetings were held as follows: (1) Working Goup I AR6 LAM1 was held in Guanzhou, China, 25-29 June 2018, (2) Working Group II AR6 LAM1 took place in Durban, South Africa, 21-25 January 2019 and (3) Working Group III AR6 LAM1 was held in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 1-5 April 2019.

The Second Lead Author Meetings (LAM2) have taken place to prepare the First Order Draft (FOD) for expert and government review. The meetings were held as follows: (1) Working Grou II AR6 LAM2, Kathmandu, Nepal 14-19 July 2019 and (2) Working Group III AR6 LAM2, New Delhi, India, 29 September - 4 October 2019.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Broader awareness of the science of climate change, the impacts of climate change and what can be done to prevent or limt climate change and address impacts thereof, also at the stateholder level. This improved knowledge would allow for better informed and more efficient policy-making on climate change, and risk management be it through adaptation or mitigation, in developing countries.

The principal impact of the action will be to enhance policy-making with respect to climate change, including in developing countries. The main audience of IPCC reports is policymakers, international, national, regional and local. IPCC reports are policy-relevant, without being policy-prescriptive. The contributions of Working Groups, on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, and on mitigation, will be of particular practical relevance to policymakers in a range of areas, from disaster risk management to policy on renewables.

Dissemination of the AR6 will support developing countries' own national climate assessments or policies, or provide a key resource where countries do not have the capacity to conduct these assessments themselves. This should inform legislation, regulation and policy in general in developing countires.