GENEVA, April 6 - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has invited 721 experts1 from 90 countries to participate
in the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) as Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors. This allows work to start on the next
comprehensive assessment of the science related to climate change.
The Sixth Assessment Report will inform policymakers, international climate negotiators and other stakeholders about the latest knowledge
on all aspects of climate change.
The bureaux of the three IPCC Working Groups selected the authors from 2858 experts representing 105 countries, following a call to
governments and IPCC observer organisations for nominations. Working Group I is responsible for the physical science basis, Working Group II
looks at impacts, adaptation and vulnerability and Working Group III covers mitigation of climate change.
"The Sixth Assessment Report will update our knowledge on climate change, its impacts and risks, and possible response options, and play
an important role in implementing the Paris Agreement," said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee.
"These author teams, drawn from the hundreds of excellent nominations the IPCC was fortunate to receive, provide us with the necessary
expertise across a range of disciplines to conduct the assessment. I am gratified that we have also raised the proportion of women and
scientists from developing countries involved in our work," he added.
Following their selection, the authors will now review the existing scientific literature and prepare drafts of the report on the basis
of the outlines of the Working Group contributions already agreed by the Panel.
The three IPCC Working Groups will finalize their respective contributions to the AR6 report in 2021. A Synthesis Report will complete the
AR6 cycle in early 2022, integrating all the Working Group contributions and the findings of the three special reports that are currently
underway. The conclusions will be available in time for the first Global Stocktake, a periodic review of collective progress towards achieving
the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.
The outlines of the Working Group contributions to AR6 were agreed at the 46th session of the IPCC in Montreal in September 2017 and can be
found here:
Of the selected experts, 44% come from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, 53% are new to the IPCC
process and 33% are women.
For the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), the IPCC selected 829 authors from over 80 countries. Of these, 37% were from developing countries
and countries with economies in transition, 68% were new to the IPCC process and 21% were female.
The full list of Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors is available here:
For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int, Nina Peeva, +41 22 730 8142
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and Instagram.
Notes for editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations 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 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 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 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, to be finalized in September 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.
The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate will be delivered in September 2019. It is being prepared under the
joint scientific leadership of IPCC Working Groups I and II, with support from the Working Group II Technical Support Unit.
In September 2019 the IPCC will also finalize 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 will approve the outlines of AR6 in September 2017. The three working contributions will be released in 2021 and the Synthesis
Report in April 2022.
- 1 Numbers may be subject to further minor changes.
- 2 List of authors who have accepted invitations to participate in the Working Group III contribution to the AR6. Working Group III list is subject to completion of conflict of interest procedures.
