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GENEVA, May 28 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has rescheduled next year’s approval sessions for the Working Group II and Working Group III contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) and for the Synthesis Report.

The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed scientific work, including the preparation of scientific literature to be assessed in AR6. The work of the IPCC authors has also been disrupted. As a result the IPCC has had to make  several changes to the timing of milestones in the preparation of the AR6 reports.

The approval session for the Working Group II report, which assesses climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, will now take place on 14-18 February 2022, and the approval session for Working Group III, which assesses the mitigation of climate change, will now take place on 21-25 March.

The approval session for the Synthesis Report, which will integrate the findings of the three Working Groups and  the three Special Reports already released in this assessment cycle, will take place on 26-30 September 2022.

These changes are based on the premise that the approval plenaries will take place in person. The final dates are provisional and will be determined subject to suitable venue availability.

On the basis of these provisional dates, the Working Group II report would be released on 21 February 2022, the Working Group III report on 28 March 2022, and the Synthesis Report on 3 October 2022.

The Panel also made several changes to the review periods for the reports. The Government Review of the Summary for Policymakers of the Working Group III report will now run from 29 November 2021 to 30 January 2022, the Government and Expert Review of the Synthesis Report will run from 10 January to 20 March 2022, and the Government Review of the Summary for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report will now start take place from 13 June 2022 to 7 August 2022.

These changes do not affect the approval session for the AR6 contribution of Working Group I, which assesses the physical science basis of climate change. As announced recently, this will take place in the 14 days from 26 July 2021, with the report released, subject to approval and acceptance by the Panel, on or around 9 August. The modalities for this meeting are still under consideration.

For more information, please contact:

IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int   

Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066, Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120

Working Group II Technical Support Unit: Sina Löschke, sina.loeschke@ipcc-wg2.awi.de

Working Group III Technical Support Unit: Sigourney Luz, s.luz@imperial.ac.uk

Synthesis Report Technical Support Unit: Noemie Leprince-Ringuet, noemie.leprinceringuet@ipcc-syr.org

Notes for editors

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. In the same year the UN General Assembly endorsed the action by the WMO and UNEP in jointly establishing the IPCC. It has 195 member states.

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 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 estimating emissions and removals of greenhouse gases.

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.

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.

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 IPCC also publishes special reports on more specific issues between assessment reports.

Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius 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 was launched in October 2018.

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 was launched in August 2019.

The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate was released in September 2019.

In May 2019 the IPCC released the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, an update to the methodology used by governments to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and removals.

For more information please visit www.ipcc.ch.

The website includes outreach materials including videos about the IPCC and video recordings from outreach events  conducted as webinars or live-streamed events. 

Most videos published by the IPCC can be found on the IPCC YouTube channel.