Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change Set To Tackle 1.5ºC Report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has confirmed the outlines for two new reports it will be tackling over the next few years, including a report dedicated to the 1.5ºC global warming issue requested by delegates at the UN climate change conference held in Paris in December of last year.

Announced earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the scientific and intergovernmental body under responsible for the hugely important reports into climate change and global warming that have been published over the last decade, and which have been instrumental in shaping global climate policy — revealed that it would tackle two new reports, intended for publication in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The titles of the two new reports are:

• Global Warming of 1.5ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5ºC 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
• 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories

Of specific interest is the 1.5ºC report, which was requested by governments attending the 21st United Nations climate change conference held in Paris in December of 2015, which set a target of limiting global warming to below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels, while also pursuing efforts to hold global warming to 1.5ºC.

“The IPCC worked in a positive spirit of cooperation to build on the scientific expertise from the scoping meeting while highlighting policymakers’ priorities,” said IPCC Vice-Chair Thelma Krug, who chaired the scientific steering committee for the scoping meeting that drafted the outline. “This agreement on the outline means the IPCC can start work on a scientific assessment for policymakers of what warming of 1.5ºC would mean and how we could get there.”

The agreed upon outline for the 1.5ºC report, which is available here (PDF) but is still subject to final edits, outlines the scope of what the IPCC is attempting to investigate.

The second report will be prepared by the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories in an attempt to provide governments with updated information regarding how to estimate the level of their greenhouse gas emissions and removals.

“This refinement of inventory guidelines will greatly help governments improve their estimates of national emissions and removals of greenhouse gases,” said Task Force Co-Chair Kiyoto Tanabe.