The IPCC 6th Assessment Report: experiences and key messages from some Working Group III authors

Bob and André talked to Sudarmanto Budi Nugroho (“Toto”) and Eric Zusman, two IGES experts who were involved in Working Group III (Climate Mitigation) of the 6th Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The latest report in the IPCC AR6 series, the WGIII Report summarises the latest knowledge on climate mitigation options, building on the work of Working Groups I (the Physical Basis of Climate Change) and II (Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability). 

The reports that the IPCC has produced since its establishment in 1988 tell us where we are with climate change and produce scientific inputs that inform policy and decision-making to address this crisis. The IPCC is the only UN body for assessing the science of climate change.

We had such a fascinating discussion learning about the process of producing the report, including the review process of each chapter and the complicated issues around equity in selecting members of the Working Groups. In this conversation, we did not dive into the nitty-gritty details of the report, but this is what we know: we are not curbing emissions fast enough to be on track to limit warming to 1.5ºC, and national goals have to be even more ambitious.  The good news is that the cost of technological innovations has come down faster than previously anticipated, lowering the barrier to taking action. There is an ever-narrowing but still open window of opportunity.

On another occasion, we hope to have a chance to revisit the report’s content in more depth.

Helpful resources:

• IGES’ Special Webpage on the IPCC
• IPCC AR6 WGIII Report

About our guests:

Sudarmanto Budi Nugroho (referred to as “Toto” in this conversation) is a Research Manager in IGES' City Taskforce.  He co-authored Chapter 10 on transport, as well as the Summary for Policymakers (SPM).

Eric Zusman is Research Leader in IGES' Integrated Sustainability Centre.  He co-authored Chapter 17: Accelerating the transition in the context of sustainable development.

"About Sustainability..." is a podcast brought to you by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), an environmental policy think-tank based in Hayama, Japan. IGES experts are concerned with environmental and sustainability challenges. Everything shared on the podcast will be off-the-cuff discussion, and any viewpoints expressed are those held by the speaker at the time of recording. They are not necessarily official IGES positions.