July 2016: The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Programme’s Implementation Plan will be open for public review from 25 July to 5 September 2016. The 2016 Plan, which is being prepared in consultation with the global climate scientific and observing community, will be presented to the Steering Committee for final endorsement and submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat on 10 October 2016. The GCOS Implementation Plan 2016 will then be submitted to the 45th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 45) under the UNFCCC in Marrakech, Morocco, in November 2016.

While GCOS published its first Implementation Plan in 2004 and updated it in 2010, the 2016 plan is not an update; rather, it is a new plan that considers the latest developments in Earth observations and climate policy. It will not be updated again for at least five to six years, and a new plan will not be developed for a least ten years. The draft plan and further instructions for participating in the public review will be made available on the GCOS website.

GCOS is a user-driven operational system that provides comprehensive observations required for, inter alia: monitoring the climate system; detecting and attributing climate change; assessing impacts of, and supporting adaptation to, climate variability and change; and improving understanding, modeling and prediction of the climate system. It aims to provide comprehensive information on the total climate system, using a range of physical, chemical and biological properties, and atmospheric, oceanic, hydrological, cryospheric and terrestrial processes.

GCOS is a joint undertaking of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Council for Science (ICSU). [GCOS Implementation Plan 2016 Website] [GCOS Brochure]