The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will open the final draft of its new methodology report, the “2019 Refinement”, to government review on Monday, January 28, 2019, bringing the report one step closer to consideration for adoption by the IPCC in May.
The “2019 Refinement”, whose full name is “2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories”, is an update to the guidelines or methodologies that countries use to estimate their anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases.
The refinement of the IPCC’s previous guidelines published in 2006 is necessary to provide an updated and sound scientific basis for supporting the preparation and continuous improvement of national greenhouse gas inventories.
Among other things, the “2019 Refinement” will help countries enhance national inventory reports of emissions and removals under the 2015 Paris Agreement, if they agree to use it.
The review will run for eight weeks from January 28 to March 24. IPCC reports go through multiple stages of review to ensure an objective and comprehensive assessment of the latest science. The first draft is reviewed by experts, the second draft by governments and experts, and the final draft by governments only.
“Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to help ensure that the reports are balanced and comprehensive. I invite all governments to contribute to this review,” said Kiyoto Tanabe, one of the two Co-Chairs of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), which is preparing the report.
“We hope as many governments as possible will take part in this review to strengthen the accuracy ad completeness of the draft’s scientific information and overall balance,” said Eduardo Calvo Buendia, the other TFI Co-Chair.
In this final review, governments will submit comments on the report’s Overview Chapter, which will be considered for adoption section by section at a Session of the IPCC in May in Kyoto, Japan, and on the full Final Draft Report, which will be submitted for acceptance at the same session. The aim of the review is to ensure that the Overview Chapter is accurate, well balanced and presents the findings of the underlying report clearly.
Review Editors will make sure that all comments submitted are afforded appropriate consideration by the authors of the report in preparation for the adoption session. All comments together with responses by the authors will be published along with the report when it is finalised.
