13 April 2016: During the 43rd session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-43), the Panel considered its role in supporting the implementation of the Paris Agreement as the IPCC embarks on its sixth assessment cycle. In planning for the cycle, the IPCC decided to undertake three special reports (SRs), flag cities as an SR for the seventh assessment report (AR7) cycle, refine the IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories through a methodology report and integrate regional aspects more thoroughly into AR6. It was also announced that Abdalah Mokssit (Morocco) will be the next IPCC Secretary.

With many implicit and explicit references to the IPCC in the Paris Agreement and the associated decision (Decision 1/CP.21), Panel members converged on the need to support the UNFCCC process. They conducted their strategic planning “through the lens of the Paris Agreement,” as requested by UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres via video message at the beginning of the meeting. For instance, there was wide consensus on responding positively to the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC request for an SR in 2018 on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related GHG emission pathways (1.5°C SR).

In February 2015, when discussing its future work, the IPCC decided to continue preparing comprehensive assessment reports every five to seven years, taking into account the work of the UNFCCC in determining its future reports and their timing. The global stocktake established under the Paris Agreement is to take place every five years. A difference in the length of the IPCC and UNFCCC cycles may be a challenge as the global stocktake aims to periodically take stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement to assess the collective progress towards the long-term goals enshrined in the Agreement in the light of the best available science. Since the IPCC’s Assessment reports are usually considered the most robust climate science, they are expected to serve as the scientific basis for the stocktake. IPCC-43 delegates therefore agreed to examine, no later than 2018, ways to align the IPCC’s assessment cycles with the five-year global stocktakes expected under the Paris Agreement.

Having received 31 proposals for SRs during the AR6 cycle, the Panel dedicated significant time during this session, both in plenary and a contact group, on how many SRs could be completed and what their topics should be. The debate focused primarily around four clusters of proposals, those on: land-use; oceans and cryosphere; emissions pathways including the 1.5°C proposal; and cities, with the Panel ultimately deciding to produce, in addition to the 1.5°C SR, reports on “climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and GHG fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems” and “climate change and oceans and the cryosphere.” Member States further agreed that there will be an SR on cities during the AR7 cycle, and that cities will also be treated in AR6 itself.

In discussions, many delegates reflected on how the SRs can support, in addition to the UNFCCC, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the case of land use, delegates recalled SDG 2 (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture), calling for the SR to focus on food security and agriculture/food production. SDGs 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) and 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development) were also emphasized.

In addition, in order to support governments calculating and reporting on emissions under the Paris Agreement, the Panel decided to “refine” the IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National GHG Inventories without completely revising or rewriting them. The Panel will produce a methodology report that will take into account the scientific and methodological advances since 2006.

Responding to calls to enhance the treatment of regional aspects in its reports, both to remain policy relevant and to incorporate more authors and literature from developing countries, the IPCC decided to better integrate regional information into AR6. With a view to highlighting these and other policy-relevant messages from the IPCC, the Panel adopted a Communications Strategy, drawing on the outcomes and report of an expert meeting for this purpose.

The Panel also adopted a decision on the IPCC Programme and Budget, and decided, after discussions on the outcome and report of the expert meeting on the future of the Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impacts and Climate Analysis (TGICA), that the Secretariat would revise the TGICA vision document, taking into account delegates’ views, for review by the Bureau and subsequent consideration by the Panel.

In addition, the Panel took up items on, inter alia: procedural matters, including the Conflict of Interest (COI) Policy; the IPCC Library Facility; the IPCC Scholarship Programme; and the decision pathway for consideration of requests for access to information or meetings. The meeting was the first session of the Panel chaired by IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee, who was elected at IPCC-42. It was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 11-13 April 2016. [IISD RS Coverage of IPCC-43] [IPCC Press Release] [UNFCCC Press Release] [UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Press Release] [Report on the IPCC Expert Meeting on Communication] [IISD RS Story on the Expert Meeting on Communication] [Report on the IPCC Expert Meeting on the Future of TGICA]