28 November 2014: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published the full version of Working Group III’s (WG III) contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), titled ‘Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change,’ in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru. The report explores solutions involved in climate change mitigation based on a comprehensive assessment of the relevant scientific, technical and socioeconomic literature and describes the costs, benefits, risks and trade-offs of alternative policy options.

The report explains it is possible to limit temperature increase to 2ºC above pre-industrial levels, using a range of technological measures and behavior changes. However, it stresses that only large-scale institutional and technological change will ensure temperatures do not exceed the 2ºC threshold.

Working Group III Co-Chair Youba Sokona said the report does not recommend specific policy choices, but rather conveys policy-relevant information on requirements, risks and co-benefits. The 1,500-page report features several new elements, including 1,200 scenarios mapping out pathways for limiting climate change at different levels, an entire chapter on human settlements and infrastructure, a discussion of mitigation policies at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels and a chapter regarding investment needs and finance.

The full version includes a Summary for Policymakers (SPM), a Technical Summary, 16 chapters with more than 250 high-resolution graphics, frequently asked questions for each chapter and six Annexes. WG III Co-Chair Ramón Pichs-Madruga said that the report drafts, the comments received and author responses are also being published to ensure full transparency and accountability. More than 38,000 comments were received from expert reviewers and governments.

The report is the third of three Working Group reports, which, along with the Synthesis Report, constitute the AR5. [IPCC Press Release][Publication: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change] [IISD RS Story on Synthesis Report] [IISD RS Coverage of Lima Climate Change Conference]