More than 200 scientists from 65 countries will begin the second round of their discussion on Monday in New Delhi to bring out the next report on the present status of climate combat. The meeting is hosted by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.

Every 10 years or so, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, which is a global body of scientists tasked with assessing scientific, technical and socio-economical information on climate change, brings out what is called the ‘Assessment Report’. (It may be remembered that the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared by IPCC, whose then Chairman was Dr Rajendra Pachuri, and the former US Vice-President, Al Gore.) These Assessment Reports, being an information bank, are keenly awaited by all countries and hence form the very basis of climate talks and action. So far, there have been five such reports — the fifth came out in 2014. Work is currently under way on the Sixth, the first draft of which is expected in July 2021.

A press release of IPCC says that the Sixth AR will “examine topics such as the link between consumption and behaviour and greenhouse gas emissions, role of innovation and technology, and assess mitigation options in sectors such as energy, agriculture, forestry, buildings, transport and industry.”

As with the previous reports, the Sixth AR will also come in three parts. The first will focus on the physical science, the second will assess the impact, adaptation strategies and vulnerability and the third will cover mitigation response strategies. There will also be a ‘Synthesis Report’, which will be a summary of the three reports.

For each of the three reports, there is a working group. The meeting in New Delhi is of Working Group III, meant to bring out the report on mitigation response strategies.

A spokesperson of IPCC told BusinessLine that the WG-III report will consist of 17 chapters. She said that around 200 scientists were selected out of 879 nominations to work on the report, 12 of whom are Indians. “IPCC authors and scientists are working to deliver the most relevant and up-to-date research on climate change mitigation,” says Prof Priyadarshi Shukla, Co-Chair of Working Group III, in the press release.

IPCC’s Sixth AR is expected to be released before 2023, the year in which the first ‘global stocktake’ will happen. Global stocktake, provided for under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement, is the process of collectively assessing where the world stands with respect to the agreement and how to improve action.

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