IPCC

From HFA-PEDIA

1 Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) - Overview
2 IPCC Assessment Reports
3 IPCC working groups / task force
4 Contact information
5 Related pages

Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) - Overview

The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.

The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters. Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis. Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information. Differing viewpoints existing within the scientific community are reflected in the IPCC reports.

The IPCC is an intergovernmental body, and it is open to all member countries of UN and WMO. Governments are involved in the IPCC work as they can participate in the review process and in the IPCC plenary sessions, where main decisions about the IPCC workprogramme are taken and reports are accepted, adopted and approved. The IPCC Bureau and Chairperson are also elected in the plenary sessions.

Because of its scientific and intergovernmental nature, the IPCC embodies a unique opportunity to provide rigorous and balanced scientific information to decision makers. By endorsing the IPCC reports, governments acknowledge the authority of their scientific content. The work of the organization is therefore policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive.

IPCC Assessment Reports

The preparation of the Assessment Reports on Climate Change is a key activity of the IPCC.

The Fifth Assessment Report is currently in process.

The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) was released in 2007, and it consists of four volumes: the three IPCC Working Groups (WGs) Reports and a Synthesis Report (SYR).

IPCC Assessment Reports:

IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007 (AR4)

IPCC Third Assessment Report: Climate Change 2001 (TAR)

IPCC Second Assessment Report: Climate Change 1995 (SAR)

1992 Supplementary Reports

IPCC First Assessment Report 1990 (FAR)

IPCC working groups / task force

The IPCC work is shared among three Working Groups, a Task Force and a Task Group. The activities of each Working Group and of the Task Force are coordinated and administrated by a Technical Support Unit.

The IPCC Working Group I (WG I) assesses the physical scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change.

The main topics assessed by WG I include: changes in greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere; observed changes in air, land and ocean temperatures, rainfall, glaciers and ice sheets, oceans and sea level; historical and paleoclimatic perspective on climate change; biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, gases and aerosols; satellite data and other data; climate models; climate projections, causes and attribution of climate change.

The IPCC Working Group II (WG II) assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change, and options for adapting to it.

It also takes into consideration the inter-relationship between vulnerability, adaptation and sustainable development. The assessed information is considered by sectors (water resources; ecosystems; food & forests; coastal systems; industry; human health) and regions (Africa; Asia; Australia & New Zealand; Europe; Latin America; North America; Polar Regions; Small Islands).

The IPCC Working Group III (WG III) assesses options for mitigating climate change through limiting or preventing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing activities that remove them from the atmosphere.

The main economic sectors are taken into account, both in a near-term and in a long-term perspective. The sectors include energy, transport, buildings, industry, agriculture, forestry, waste management. The WG analyses the costs and benefits of the different approaches to mitigation, considering also the available instruments and policy measures. The approach is more and more solution-oriented.

The Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI) was established by the IPCC to oversee the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IPCC-NGGIP). The core activity is to develop and refine an internationally-agreed methodology and software for the calculation and reporting of national GHG emissions and removals and to encourage its use by countries participating in the IPCC and by parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The NGGIP also established and maintains an Emission Factor Database.

The Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impacts and Climate Analysis (TGICA) was established to facilitate co-operation between the climate modeling and climate impacts assessment communities. It aims at facilitating wide availability of climate change related data and scenarios for climate analysis and impacts, adaptation, vulnerability, and mitigation research. The TGICA does not develop itself any emission, climate, or other types of scenarios, not does it make any decision regarding the choice of scenarios in the preparation of the IPCC reports. It does not undertake any modeling or research. One of its main activities is the coordination and oversight of the IPCC Data Distribution Centre (DDC), which provides timely information and data to the international climate research community, in particular consistent data sets and guidance material.