A participant during the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) elections for members of the Task Force Bureau on Greenhouse Gas Inventories. PHOTO/IPCC
By PATRICK MAYOYO
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) completed its elections early on Saturday morning, filling leadership roles across the three Working Groups and constituting the Task Force Bureau on Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
The 59th session of the IPCC was dedicated to this initial step in the seventh assessment cycle, and delegates worked into the night on the final day of the meeting to carry out this time-consuming but essential process.
IPCC-59 represented the final session chaired by Professor Hoesung Lee (South Korea); newly elected IPCC Chair Jim Skea (United Kingdom) will take the reins from this point forward.
On Saturday, Skea chaired a joint meeting of the outgoing and new bureaux, with the aim of ensuring a smooth transition to the seventh assessment cycle. While the date of the next Panel session is yet to be confirmed, it is expected that the IPCC will reconvene in November 2023.
Most key positions have now been filled, with Jim Skea (United Kingdom) elected as IPCC Chair. The three IPCC Vice-Chairs for the seventh assessment cycle will be: Ladislaus Chang’a (Tanzania); Diana Ürge-Vorsatz (Hungary); and Ramón Pichs-Madruga (Cuba).
Skea, United Kingdom, will serve as IPCC Chair for the duration of the Panel’s seventh assessment cycle, which is expected to conclude in 2030.
Skea is a veteran IPCC expert, having served as Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III during the sixth assessment cycle, and played a key role in the production and approval of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C.
