As we now ramp up activities for the start of the second quarter of 2020, we also take stock of the various activities that are currently ongoing and that are of particular importance for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment cycle (AR6), in particular the assessment and reporting conducted by its three Working Groups: 1) Working Group (WG) I - The Physical Sciences Basis; 2) WGII - Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation; and 3) WGIII - Mitigation of Climate Change.
However, given the Covid-19 pandemic, the IPCC is also undertaking various consultations around any contingency planning that may be needed for the IPCC AR6 cycle. Recognizing the myriad of diverse challenges and limitations emerging from the situation, and the shared concerns voiced regarding the inability to effectively plan under the current conditions, a review of current timelines for one or more of the WG contributions to AR6 may need to be re-evaluated, among other considerations.
Nevertheless, as it stands, please note that the overall AR6 timeline and the deadlines for delivery of drafts and reviews for all WG remain as previously approved and stated by the IPCC. More information will be posted on their website. For the time being, please note the following key activities and requests for expertise and contributions from the mountain research community to ensure we continue to adequately address and represent mountains in these assessment reports.
News from Working Group 1 - The Physical Sciences Basis
The IPCC has opened the second order draft (SOD) of the WGI contribution to AR6 to government and expert review. The review runs from 2 March to 26 April (extended to 5 June) 2020 - interested experts can register until midnight CET on 19 April via this link.
MRI would like to encourage the mountain research community with the relevant expertise to consider registering and contributing to the expert review of the WGI SOD. While the entire report is of relevance and importance for mountains, specific chapters and sections of the report are of particular interest given their content relevance for cross-referencing and continued assessment in the WGII report, including:
- Chapter 2: Changing state of the climate system
- Chapter 3: Human influence on the climate system
- Chapter 4: Future global climate: scenario-based projections and near-term information
- Chapter 8: Water cycle changes
- Chapter 9: Ocean, cryosphere, and sea level change
- Chapter 10: Linking global to regional climate change
- Chapter 11: Weather and climate extreme events in a changing climate
- Chapter 12: Climate change information for regional impact and for risk assessment
- ATLAS
- Summary for Policymakers
Please note that this is the last opportunity to contribute with an expert review for this report in AR6, since the final review is reserved for governments.
Finally, the WGI Technical Support Unit (TSU) is conducting a short 5-minute survey regarding how the Covid-19 outbreak is impacting the international research community and its contribution to AR6, including capacity and ability to carry out expert reviews. Please consider sharing your views until Friday 3 April, via this link.
More information about the WGI Report:
News from Working Group 2 - Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation
Since receiving the results of the expert review to its first order draft in late 2019, and undertaking stocktaking at the recent third lead authors meeting in late January 2020 in Faro, Portugal, the lead author team is now undertaking the ongoing assessment in preparation for the second order draft (SOD) - which includes a Cross-Chapter Paper (CCP) on Mountains - due in July 2020 and open for government and expert review between 7 August and 2 October 2020.
In preparation for this SOD, and still of great demand, are synthesis and systematic review papers that address the various sectors and topics in the WGII contribution to AR6, including an overview for how impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change in these sectors manifest in the various regions. Improving the knowledge basis in the form of literature available for this assessment improves the quality of the assessment itself, considerably.
Call for paper contributions. In order to facilitate the ongoing identification of key literature relevant for CCP-Mountains, the MRI invites the mountain research community to assist in the development and publication of review and synthesis papers that draw on literature published since March 2013 (since the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report). For papers currently under development, the key cut-off dates set by the IPCC to consider are: 1) submitted to a journal for peer-review by 1 July 2020; and 2) accepted for publication by 1 May 2021. For more information about the specific topics and reference periods needed, please refer to this earlier call here.
Let us know of key and relevant publications on mountains. If you have published or know of published literature that respond to the assessment needs of the WGII IPCC AR6, please share those details with us! An online form is available for the MRI research community to notify us of key literature available (or soon to be available, under preparation or review). Please use this online form to submit your contributions to the IPCC AR6 repository for the CC-Mountains author team.
Calling all Early Career Researchers! The MRI is also partnering in a call to be issued in April 2020 by the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists APECS, for early career researchers from various disciplines to come together to produce a group review of the IPCC WGII contribution to AR6 (the SOD, expected for expert review in August 2020). This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about how to conduct these expert reviews and enrich your skills and expand your networks and professional connections for future participation in global assessments. Stay tuned for an announcement on eligibility and registrations next month.
More information about the WGII Report:
News from the Working Group 3 - Mitigation of Climate Change
The IPCC WGIII contribution to AR6 recently conducted its first expert review for its report from 13 January to 8 March 2020. WGIII is responsible for assessing the mitigation of climate change – responses and solutions to the threat of dangerous climate change by reducing emissions and enhancing sinks of the greenhouse gases that are responsible for global warming.
Experts who commented on this draft will also be invited to comment on the second order draft (SOD). The government and expert review of the SOD of the WGIII contribution to the AR6 will follow in October 2020 (19 October – 13 December 2020). A call for registrations to provide an expert review will be issued by the IPCC in October 2020.
More information about the WGIII Report:
About 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 (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states. In the same year, the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC.
Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, IPCC scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group I, 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.
About the Sixth Assessment Cycle
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 6 to 7 years; the latest, the Fifth Assessment Report, was completed in 2014, and provided the main scientific input to the Paris Agreement.
The IPCC also publishes special reports on more specific issues between assessment reports.
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.
Relevant links:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
IPCC Working Group 1 - The Physical Science Basis
IPCC Working Group 2 - Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation
IPCC Working Group 3 - Mitigation of Climate Change
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