IPCC-48: Following the adoption of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C

IPCC-49 will meet from 8-12 May in Kyoto, Japan to, among other things, consider the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2019 Refinement). IPCC-49 will consider the Overview Chapter of the 2019 Refinement section by section. Subject to the Panel’s agreement, it will then adopt the Overview Chapter and accept the main report.

The development of the Methodology Report to refine the current inventory guidelines is being undertaken by the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories (TFI) and will contribute to the IPCC’s sixth assessment cycle. The 2019 Refinement is also expected to help the Paris Agreement implementation process.

The 2006 IPCC Guidelines provide a technically sound methodological basis of national GHG inventories, and, therefore, fundamental revision is unnecessary, the 26th Meeting of the TFI Bureau (TFB) concluded in 2014. However, to maintain the scientific validity of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, the TFB agreed that certain refinements may be required, taking into account scientific and other technical advances since 2006. Thus, 2019 Refinement will provide an updated scientific basis for supporting the preparation and improvement of national GHG inventories.

Based on an IPCC- 43 decision in April 2016, a Scoping Meeting convened to prepare an outline of a Methodology Report to refine the guidelines, the conclusions of which were submitted to IPCC-44 for consideration. The TFB selected 190 experts as Authors and Review Editors, based on 328 nominations received from governments, observer organizations and Bureau members. The authors began drafting the 2019 Refinement in June 2017. Subsequent Lead Authors Meetings were held in September 2017, April 2018 and October 2018. The government review period of the final draft took place from 28 January to 24 March 2019, and IPCC-49 will consider the final draft.

In addition to the 2019 refinement, IPCC-49 will address the Trust Fund Programme and Budget, including the budget for the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, resource mobilization, and financial stability of the IPCC. It will consider reports from the IPCC Task Group on Gender and from the Task Group on Data Support for Climate Change Assessments.

Numerous progress reports will also be presented on, inter alia:

• the Ad Hoc Task Group on Financial Stability
• the Task Group on the Organization of the Future Work of the IPCC in Light of the Global Stocktake
• Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC)
• Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL)
• Working Group I (WG I) Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on the Physical Science of Climate Change
• Working Group II (WG II) Contribution to the AR6 on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation
• Working Group III (WG III) Contribution to the AR6 on Mitigation of Climate Change
• Task Force on National GHG Inventories
• Communications and Outreach Activities