GENEVA, Dec 15 - The expert and government review of the second order draft of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC will take place from 8 January until 25 February 2018. Expert Reviewers can register as of today, 15 December 2017, until one week before the end of the review period.
 
The government and expert review of the draft report is a key element of the IPCC assessment process. Experts and government representatives from around the world will offer comments and suggestions to the author teams working on the report 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 review process is essential for the quality of IPCC assessment reports. The first round of review was extremely successful, with nearly 13,000 comments from almost 500 expert reviewers in over 60 countries," said Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I. "The authors have carefully considered these comments, as well as any new scientific literature, and prepared a second draft. Registering as a reviewer is an opportunity for experts, including early career scientists, to join this collective effort and help to strengthen the assessment even further."
 
All IPCC reports go through multiple stages of formal review. After the expert review of the first draft, the second draft is reviewed by both governments and experts alongside a first draft of the Summary for Policymakers (SPM). Once the second round of review comments have been taken into account, governments review the final draft of the report and offer written comments on the SPM. Finally, governments meet to approve the SPM line by line and accept the underlying report.
 
This thorough review process ensures that IPCC reports consider objectively the full range of scientific, technical and socio-economic information from around the world. Expert Reviewers can register here with a self-declaration of expertise. Those who reviewed the First Order Draft review will automatically be registered for the second round. Review contributions will be acknowledged in the final report, due to be published in October 2018. Guidance on the review process and role of Expert Reviewers can be found here.
 

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
IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit: Roz Pidcock, +44 7746 515669
 
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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 last month at COP23 and due to begin 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. You can see the approved outline of the Special Report on 1.5°C or find more details on the report page. 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 41^st Session in February 2015, the IPCC decided to produce a Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). At its 42^nd 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 43^rd 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.