GABORONE, April 10 – Authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC are meeting in Botswana this week to prepare the final draft of the report. More than 500 experts and government representatives took part in the recent review of the report’s Second Order Draft, resulting in nearly 25,600 review comments.
 
The Fourth Lead Author Meeting for the report brings together over 100 experts from nearly 40 countries and is being hosted by the University of Botswana in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism (MENRCT).
 
"Our meeting in Gaborone will be the last of the four Lead Author meetings for the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C. This week will be crucial for preparing the final chapters and the second draft of the Summary for Policymakers," said Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I.
 

Overall, the Second Order Draft of the Special Report on 1.5°C attracted 25,590 review comments. These comments came from 570 expert reviewers representing 71 different countries.
 
Chapter 3 on impacts of 1.5°C global warming on natural and human systems attracted the most review comments (7,426 or 29%). Of the total number of review comments, 15% were focused on the Summary for Policymakers and 85% on the underlying report chapters.
 
The numbers of reviewers and review comments on the Second Order Draft far surpassed that of the First Order Draft. Nearly 500 experts from around the world took part in the review of the First Order Draft last year, resulting in 12,895 review comments.
 
The report on Global Warming of 1.5°C is one of three special reports that the IPCC, the leading body for assessing the science related to climate change, is releasing over the next two years.
 
This week's meeting in Gaborone marks the culmination of the expert and government review of the draft report whose full title 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. The outline of the report and the full list of authors can be found on the IPCC website.
 
"We expect a vibrant work atmosphere here in Gaborone, especially given more than 25,000 review comments that we received on the Second Order Draft. We are extremely grateful to the hundreds of reviewers who provided their insights to strengthen the assessment,” said Masson-Delmotte.
 
All IPCC reports go through two stages of formal review. Having completed one round of review and redrafting, the authors will now incorporate feedback from the second review into a new working draft. This draft will be distributed to governments for a final review period, which will run from 4 June to 29 July. The final report is due to be finalized in the first week of October and made publicly available on 8 October 2018.
 
The IPCC's comprehensive review process ensures that the reports cover the most up-to-date scientific, technical and socio-economic findings, and are representative of a broad range of independent expertise from developed and developing countries.
 

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

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Notes for editors
 
The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC 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 in December 2015 and will inform the Talanoa Dialogue. Officially launched at COP23 and started in January 2018, the Talanoa Dialogue will take stock of the collective efforts of Parties in relation to progress towards the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement, and to inform the preparation of nationally determined contributions. The report is being prepared under the joint scientific leadership of all three IPCC Working Groups, with support from the Working Group I Technical Support Unit.
 

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 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 Methodology Report to refine the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories will be delivered in 2019. Besides Global Warming of 1.5ºC, 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 visit: www.ipcc.ch