Bilbao, Spain, June, 2017 - More than 190 experts will meet in Bilbao on June 7-14 to begin work on a new Methodology Report to update the guidelines countries use for estimating greenhouse gas emissions and removals, bringing them into line with the new requirements of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
 
The meeting will launch the preparation of the new Report 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2019 Refinement). In particular the authors will elaborate the chapter outlines, allocate tasks among Lead Authors, and decide milestones between this and the Second Lead Author Meeting, which will take place in September this year. After another two meetings in 2018, the 2019 Refinement is planned to be finalized, and be adopted and accepted by the IPCC Plenary, in May 2019.
 
“Bureau or the IPCC Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories concluded that the 2006 IPCC Guidelines still provide a technically sound methodological basis of national greenhouse gas inventories; however, to maintain their scientific validity, certain refinements are required, taking into account scientific and other technical advances Gas Inventories (2019 Refinement),” said Mr. Kiyoto Tanabe, Co-Chair of the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
 
The meeting is co-organized by Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), with the collaboration of the Basque Government’s Department of Environment, the University of the Basque Country and the Spanish Climate Change Office
 
María José Sanz, Scientific Director of BC3, said the 2019 Refinement would provide all countries with a common framework to move forward with the commitments arising from the Paris Agreement
 
“Science must deliver in order to generate certainty and guidance, as an essential contribution to political action,” she said “The choice of Bilbao to host this important gathering is a great recognition.”
 
The format and structure will be the same as the 2006 IPCC Guidelines (i.e. Overview Chapter and 5 Volumes) so as to make it easier for inventory compilers to use the 2019 Refinement in conjunction with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines.
 
Download the full list of authors of the 2019 Refinement here
 

For more information, contact: BC3 – Outreach Manager, Ms. Ainhoa Azkarate, email:press@bc3research.org
IPCC – TFI TSU (Technical Support Unit for TFI), email:nggip-meetings@iges.or.jp
Follow IPCC on  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
 

Notes for editors
 
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created in 1988 to deliver comprehensive reviews on the scientific, technical and socio-economic state of knowledge of climate change, its causes, possible repercussions and response strategies.
 
Its contribution to understanding climate change has been fundamental to creating global agreements on common goals, the last of which, the Paris Agreement, aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, including by holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 ºC above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ºC above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. Governments agreed to set Nationally Determined Contributions to reach this goal, which will be reviewed regularly.
 
In its last report, the Fifth Assessment Report, the IPCC found that anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, are extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century. It found that limiting climate change would require substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
 
The IPCC is organised in three thematic Working Groups, and a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI). The TFI is responsible for development of internationally-agreed methodology for countries to estimate its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The latest comprehensive guidelines on such methodology produced by TFI were produced in 2006, titled the “2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories” (2006 IPCC Guidelines). The 2006 IPCC Guidelines are used by many countries in the world to estimate and report their national GHG emissions.
 
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 to 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.
 
For more information visit the IPCC website www.ipcc.ch