IPCC calls for nominations of authors for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change, is calling for nominations of authors for its Special Report on Climate Change and Cities scheduled to be released in March 2027.

The call for nominations follows agreement on the outline of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities at the 61st Session of the IPCC held in Sofia, Bulgaria from 27 July to 2 August 2024. The Panel also agreed on the outline for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcers.

“The report’s co-produced outline integrates deep scientific inputs from experts with policy-relevant concerns of governments, while also telling a story which enables climate action within and around cities,” said IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Winston Chow.

Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors are responsible for drafting the different chapters of the Special Report and revising those based on comments submitted during the two rounds of IPCC reviews. Hundreds of experts around the world in the different areas volunteer their time and expertise to produce the reports of the IPCC. Author teams aim to reflect a range of scientific, technical and socio-economic views and backgrounds.

IPCC author teams include a mix of authors from different regions. The IPCC also seeks a balance of men and women, as well as between those experienced with working on IPCC reports and those new to the process, including younger scientists.

“It is important to ensure multiple perspectives are represented in our pool of authors, reviewers and coordinators. Inclusivity is an important theme for us, and we want people to get involved and get heard,” said IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Bart van den Hurk.

The Special Report on Climate Change and Cities is being prepared under the scientific leadership of all three Working Groups with support from the Technical Support Unit of Working Group II. Co-Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the three Working Groups will select the author teams from the lists of nominations, with inputs from the three Working Group Bureau Members.

Those interested in being nominated as part of the author team should contact their relevant Focal Point. A list of Focal Points for IPCC member governments and observer organizations is available here.

Governments, Observer Organizations, and IPCC Bureau Members have been requested to submit nominations of Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors, and Review Editors by 20 September 2024 (midnight CEST).

Nominations are submitted through a dedicated online nomination tool by Focal Points and IPCC Bureau Members only.

More information on the nomination process is here and how the IPCC selects its authors is available here.

For more information, please see the Frequently Asked Questions on nominations or contact:

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

Notes for editors

What is 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, experts volunteer their time as IPCC authors 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 measuring emissions and removals.

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 Seventh Assessment Cycle

Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 5 to 7 years. The IPCC is currently in its seventh assessment cycle, which formally began in July 2023 with the elections of the new IPCC and Task Force Bureaus at the IPCC’s Plenary Session in Nairobi.

At its first Plenary Session in the seventh assessment cycle – the 60th Plenary Session in Istanbul, Türkiye, in January 2024 – the Panel agreed to produce in this cycle the three Working Group contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), namely the Working Group I report on the Physical Science Basis, the Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability and the Working Group III report on Mitigation of Climate Change. The Synthesis Report of the Seventh Assessment Report will be produced after the completion of the Working Group reports and released by late 2029.

The Panel decided already during the previous cycle to produce a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and a Methodology Report on Short-lived Climate Forcers during AR7. Scientists have also been asked to deliver a Methodology Report on Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage. At the 61st Session, the Panel agreed upon the outlines for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities scheduled for approval and publication in March 2027 and for the 2027 IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcersscheduled for publication in the second half 2027.

In addition, a revision of the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines on impacts and adaptation as well as adaptation indicators, metrics and guidelines, will be developed in conjunction with the Working Group II report and published as a separate product.

IPCC’s latest report, the Sixth Assessment Report, was completed in March 2023 with the release of its Synthesis Report, which provides direct scientific input to the first global stocktake process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai.

The Sixth Assessment Report comprises three Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report. The Working Group I contribution Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, was released on 28 February 2022. The Working Group III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, was released on 4 April 2022 and the Synthesis Report on 20 March 2023. The Synthesis Report to the Sixth Assessment Report, distils and integrates the findings of the three Working Group assessments as well as the three Special Reports released in 2018 and 2019.

The special reports were on Global Warming of 1.5°C (October 2018.), Climate Change and Land (August 2019) and, the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (September 2019).

For more information visit www.ipcc.ch.

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