Geneva, June 5 – The authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C will meet on 5-9 June 2017 in Exeter, UK, for the Second Lead Author Meeting of the Special Report. This meeting, bringing together 86 scientific, technical and socio-economic experts from 39 countries, intensifies work on the Special Report, which will be completed in September 2018.
 
The meeting for the report, whose full title is Global Warming of 1.5ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C 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, is hosted by the University of Exeter and the UK Met Office.
 
The experts have the task of initiating the best and most comprehensive assessment of the status of knowledge on the climate system with respect to a warming of 1.5°C. The report will assess the impacts of a global warming of 1.5°C on both human and natural environments, as well as study current and emerging adaptation and mitigation options and their linkages with sustainable development, poverty eradication, and reducing inequalities.
 
During the second of four Lead Author Meetings, authors will continue the development of the report towards preparation of the First Order Draft, which will be subject to expert review from 31 July to 24 September 2017. All review comments will be considered for the preparation of the Second Order Draft. The iterative IPCC process supports the preparation of reports that comprehensively assess scientific, technical and socio-economic state of knowledge in a policy relevant but not policy prescriptive manner.
 
This Special Report is being prepared in response to an invitation from the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2015 in Paris.
 
The IPCC will hold a press briefing at 09:00 GMT on Tuesday 06 June, at the XFi Building - Henderson Lecture Theatre - Ground Floor, University of Exeter, to present the work of the IPCC and the preparations for the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C.
 

For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066 or Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit:tsu@ipcc-wg1.universite-paris-saclay.fr
 
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Notes for editors
 
What is 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 (UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states
 
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.
 
The IPCC assesses the thousands of scientific papers published each year to tell policymakers what we know and don’t know about the risks related to climate change. The IPCC identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community, where there are differences of opinion, and where further research is needed. It does not conduct its own research.
 
To produce its reports, the IPCC mobilizes hundreds of scientists. These scientists and officials are drawn from diverse backgrounds. Only a dozen permanent staff work in the IPCC’s Secretariat.
 
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 Assessment Reports consist of contributions from each fo the three working groups and a Synthesis Report. Special Reports undertake an assessment of cross-disciplinary issues that span more than one working group and are are shorter and more focused than the main assessments.
 
Sixth Assessment Cycle
 
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 first of these special reports is Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C 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 (SR15). This report will be delivered in September 2018. A scoping meeting to draft the outline of the report took place in August 2016 and the Panel approved the outline the following October
 
The Methodology Report to refine the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories will be delivered in 2019. Additionally, the IPCC will finalize two further special reports in 2019: the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and 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. The AR6 Synthesis Report will be finalized in the first half of 2022.
 
For more information go to www.ipcc.ch