Singapore, 24 October 2024 – Working Group II and Working Group III Co-Chairs of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Winston Chow from Singapore and Joy Pereira from Malaysia called today for more climate experts from the South-East Asian region to contribute to the IPCC reports in the IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle.  

Speaking at a scientific community dialogue in Singapore, the two South-East Asian Co-Chairs addressed the gathered climate experts, researchers, and practitioners from Southeast Asia and informed them about the IPCC processes. They also discussed how regional experts can contribute to the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report (AR7). 

The representation of diverse perspectives and scientific expertise from all regions, including South-East Asia, is critical as IPCC comprehensive assessment reports continue to inform decision makers at all levels.  

The IPCC is at the beginning of its seventh assessment cycle and is committed to bringing on board world’s top scientists, researchers, and experts including from across the South-East Asian region to discuss key points for engagement to include perspectives of developing countries, less development countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS), and cities in the region. 

“Important climate information from Southeast Asia is underrepresented in global scientific assessments, and we encourage more researchers from this part of the world to participate in the process,” said Working Group II Co-Chair Winston Chow.  

“They can help in assessing climate science and shaping action for our rapidly developing cities and for our most climate-vulnerable communities and ecosystems.” 

Diversity of authors is also key to a comprehensive IPCC report. 

Today’s dialogue in Singapore is in preparation for the upcoming call for nominations of authors to work on the three Working Groups contributions to the Seventh Assessment Report. This call for author nominations is scheduled to open in 2025.  

This regional hybrid event also coincided with the intensifying impacts of climate change in Southeast Asia, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, heatwaves, droughts, floods and severe storms in recent months. How regional stakeholders develop effective climate mitigation approaches to complement climate adaptation measures will be critical and topical. 

“This is the decade of climate action. Science can show pathways to solutions that are operational and feasible in this region. They are critical if we want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” said Working Group III Co-Chair Joy Pereira. 

This dialogue took place on the margins of the Task Group on Data (TG-DATA) Support for Climate Change Assessments meeting that is being held at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore from 21 to 25 October. This Task Group provides guidance to the IPCC’s Data Distribution Centre on curation, traceability, stability, availability and transparency of data and scenarios related to the IPCC reports. 

For media inquiries, interview requests, or additional information about the dialogue, please contact: 

Qiyun Woo, Working Group II Senior Communications Manager 

media@ipccwg2.org 

or IPCC Secretariat on ipcc-media@wmo.int

NOTES TO EDITORS 

About 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.  

At the IPCC’s first plenary session in the seventh assessment cycle – the 60^th 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, 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. 

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. 

For more information visit www.ipcc.ch. The website includes outreach materials including videos about the IPCC and video recordings from outreach events conducted as webinars or live-streamed events. Most videos published by the IPCC can be found on our YouTube channel.