The seventh IPCC assessment cycle - decisions of the plenary session from 27 July to 2 August 2024 in Sofia, Bulgaria
At the plenary meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Sofia at the beginning of August 2024, decisions were made on which additional IPCC products will be developed during the seventh assessment cycle (AR7) up to 2029, as well as on the content and timetable of the first two of them. Discussions on the timetable for the main report have been postponed to February 2025. The calls for authors of a special and a methodological report are already underway (deadlines 4 and 10 September 2024).
Following the publication last year of the synthesis report on the IPCC's sixth assessment report (AR6), the IPCC is now in its seventh assessment cycle (AR7), which runs from 2023 to 2029.
At the 61st plenary meeting (27 July to 2 August 2024 in Sofia, Bulgaria), the date for the publication of the next IPCC reports was discussed. After intense and complex discussions and dealing with diverse and sometimes opposing views and priorities, the IPCC member states reached a consensus on the content (outline) and on a timetable (completion in 2027) for a special report on Climate Change and Cities and a methodological report on short-lived climate forcers (see current calls for authors below).
Further at issue was a timeline for the three main reports of the Working Groups that allows to deliver all these reports ahead of the second Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement (GST-2). The GST-2 assesses the collective progress towards the goals of the agreement, identifies gaps and considers possibilities to accelerate action on climate change. The Panel had difficulties reaching an agreement on a suitable planning schedule and decided to defer the discussion to its next meeting in February 2025. See also the detailed blog post on this from MeteoSwiss
On behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), ProClim promotes and supports the participation of researchers from Switzerland in the IPCC. It operates the IPCC Platform Switzerland, on which all corresponding calls and informations are also launched.
Current calls:
Call for Authors and Review Editors for the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities
Deadline: 10 September 2024 (link to https://proclim.scnat.ch/de/id/sPCcH?embed=hJcvS)
Call for Authors and Review Editors for the IPCC Methodology Report on Inventories for Short-lived Climate Forcers Deadline: 4 September 2024
What is the role of the government?
As an IPCC member state, Switzerland is represented at plenary meetings at which the contents of the individual reports are approved by consensus by the governments. The Swiss delegation is led by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). MeteoSwiss is to provide technical and scientific support to the Swiss delegation, particularly on the scientific basis of climate (WGI). Switzerland has an interest in anchoring the IPCC as an important authority at the interface between science and politics and in strengthening Geneva as its host location. The aim is also to promote Swiss research and researchers in the political-strategic and scientific work of the IPCC.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was founded in November 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The IPCC's task is to summarize the state of academic research on climate change and its possible consequences for the environment, society and the economy. Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis. The IPCC Secretariat is based in Geneva (Switzerland) and is hosted by the WMO.
Further information