Highlights and images for 6 August 2021

Participants at the end of IPCC-54

The fourteenth session of Working Group I (WG I) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded with the approval of the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the WG I contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) and acceptance of the underlying report. The Panel, at its resumed 54th session, then approved the actions taken by WG I. The approval concluded after eleven meeting days, less than one hour after its scheduled ending time.

The SPM is structured along four sections:

The Current State of the Climate;
Possible Climate Futures;
Climate Information for Risk Assessment and Regional Adaptation; and
Limiting Future Climate Change.

Delegates lauded the WG I Co-Chairs, Technical Support Unit, and IPCC Secretariat for “the most well-organized approval session the Panel has ever seen,” as Norway noted. There was resounding appreciation for the hard work of all that contributed to the preparation and approval of the report, with many underscoring the success of the session, despite it being a virtual meeting.

The WG I Co-Chairs Valérie Masson-Delmotte and Panmao Zhai highlighted the immense level of team work required to make the finalization of the report and the approval process possible. Masson-Delmotte especially highlighted the increased workload stemming from the unprecedented number of Special Reports prepared during the Sixth Assessment cycle, urging governments to make good use of them.

Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Co-Chair, Working Group I

IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee announced the WG II approval will be hosted by Germany; the WG III approval by the UK; and the approval of the AR6 Synthesis Report will be hosted by Switzerland, noting close monitoring of the evolving COVID-19 context. He gaveled the meeting to a close at 2:45 pm CEST (UTC+2).