Scientists from D-USYS assume important functions for sixth IPCC report
D-USYS
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has chosen two members of D-USYS, Sonia Seneviratne and Tony Patt, as Coordinating Lead Authors. Together with four colleagues from ETH (three of whom from D-USYS) and more than 700 colleagues from all over the world, they will summarize the global state of knowledge on climate change. The report will be published in 2021/2022.
Several scientists from the Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS) have recently been selected to be authors of the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Sonia Seneviratne and Tony Patt (both D-USYS) will be Coordinating Lead Authors, which means that they will be leading teams writing chapters for the report. Erich Fischer, Martin Wild (both D-USYS) and Thomas Bernauer (D-GESS) will be Lead Authors. Andreas Fischlin, retired professor at the Institute for Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, has been elected on an advisory board.
A long election and production process
The Sixth Assessment Report will inform policymakers, international climate negotiators and other stakeholders about the latest knowledge on all aspects of climate change. The different Working Groups cover the physical science basis, the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability as well as the mitigation of climate change. As early as last year, 105 countries nominated close to 3,000 top climate scientists to write the report, of which 721 were selected.
The working group featuring Sonia Seneviratne, Erich Fischer and Martin Wild will get started in the upcoming weeks, whereas the working groups that Thomas Bernauer and Tony Patt are involved in will start their work later this year. The whole process will take roughly three years, involving multiple rounds of expert review and government approval.
The IPCC authors assess, compare and integrate all results of the international scientific community. Their reports serve governments as a decision-making tool. The fifth report was published in 2013/2014. Ahead of the sixth assessment report, special reports are planned. The special reports will include topics like «Global Warming of 1.5°C», «Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate» and «Climate Change and Land».