Update on 2 October 2017: Last paragraph before the contact information changed from "To access the online nomination system, ..." to "For more information on how to apply..."
 
GENEVA, September 18 - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change, is calling for nominations of authors for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
 
Governments, Observer Organizations and IPCC Bureau Members have been requested to submit nominations of Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors by Friday 27 October 2017 (midnight GMT +1). The Bureaus of the three IPCC Working Groups will then select the author teams from the lists of nominations.
 
The call for nominations follows agreement on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report at the IPCC’s 46th Session in Montreal, Canada, earlier this month.
 
The three Working Group contributions will be finalized in 2021, followed by a Synthesis Report in 2022, forming an up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of the scientific community’s understanding of climate change. The IPCC is already preparing three Special Reports on specific topics as well a refinement of its guidelines for measuring greenhouse gas inventories.
 
Hundreds of experts around the world in the different areas volunteer their time and expertise to produce the reports of the IPCC. Author teams aim to reflect a range of scientific, technical and socio-economic views and backgrounds.
 
The IPCC includes three working groups: Working Group I assesses the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II is responsible for impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III assesses the mitigation of climate change.
 
“We are seeking scientists with expertise across the disciplines assessed by the IPCC,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “We also hope that more scientists from developing countries and more women scientists will be nominated as IPCC authors to give us diverse author teams that can provide a range of relevant perspectives."
 
IPCC author teams include a mix of authors from different regions. The IPCC also seeks a balance of men and women, as well as between those experienced with working on IPCC reports and those new to the process, including younger scientists.
 
For more information on how to apply please click here: https://www.ipcc.ch/apps/nominations/authors/public/
 

For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Nina Peeva, +41 22 730 8142
Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120
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 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 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 September 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. The three working contributions will be released in 2021 and the Synthesis Report in April 2022 in time for the first global stocktake in 2023 by the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) when countries will review progress under the Paris Agreement towards their goal of keeping global warming to well below 2°C while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
 
For more information, including links to the IPCC reports, go to: www.ipcc.ch