GENEVA, Nov 3 -The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be taking part in the 23^rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change taking place in Bonn, Germany, from 6 to 17 November 2017
 
The IPCC Chair, Hoesung Lee, will be speaking during the opening of COP23 on Monday 6 November between 10.00 and 13.00.
 
On 7 November, the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories will have a side event to discuss progress on updating the guidelines governments use to measure their greenhouse gases – both emissions and removals through sinks. The IPCC is updating its existing guidelines in order to continue to provide a sound scientific basis for future international climate action especially under the Paris Agreement. The event will start at 18.30
 
The IPCC will host another side event on 15 November at 18.30, to discuss how stakeholders present at the COP23 meetings can support the work of the IPCC. The event will also be an opportunity to share information on the work done so far in the preparation of the three Special Reports and the Sixth Assessment Report.
 
For more information and interviews, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120 in Geneva
Jonathan Lynn, +41 79 666 7134 in Bonn

Follow IPCC on  Facebook, Twitter @ipcc_ch, LinkedIn and Instagram.
 

Notes for editors
 

What is the IPCC?
 
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988 to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and 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 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 about 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 of 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 shorter and more focused than the main assessments.
 

Sixth Assessment Cycle
 
At its 41^st Session in February 2015, the IPCC decided to produce a Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). 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, to be finalized in early October 2018, is Global Warming of 1.5ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5ºC 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.
 
The Methodology Report, entitled 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, will be delivered in May 2019.
 
In 2019 the IPCC will also finalize two Special Reports: 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 IPCC approved the outlines of AR6 in early September 2017 and is now in the process of selecting its authors. The three working contributions will be released in 2021 and the Synthesis Report in April 2022.