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.