Highlights and images for 27 July 2024

Hot on the heels of recording-breaking global temperatures on Sunday and Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) opened its seven-day meeting on Saturday. During its 61st session, the Panel will seek to establish what IPCC Chair Jim Skea described as the “critically important building blocks” of its Seventh Assessment Cycle.

In opening statements, dignitaries emphasized the urgency of the Panel’s work at the interface of science and policy. Petar Dimitrov, Minister of Environment and Water, Bulgaria, emphasized the crucial role of science in informing climate policies, and highlighted the recent scientific conference on climate risks in the Black Sea Region organized by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Abdulla Al Mandous, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) President, stressed that we stand at a “pivotal moment in human history,” with the WMO State of the Global Climate 2023 report showing that records were broken for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, and sea level rise, among others. He called for concrete action to “save our cities and our planet.”  

Elizabeth Mrema, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Deputy Executive Director, said it was crucial for IPCC assessments during this cycle to provide input to the second Global Stocktake under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and encouraged the Panel to provide relevant and timely reports. 

Similarly, Youssef Nassef, UNFCCC Director of Adaptation, said the IPCC’s reasoned predictions have made it clear that every degree of warming matters, and the Panel’s insights have been invaluable as the UNFCCC seeks to set up conditions among all parties that leave no one behind. Emphasizing that delay is the greatest enemy, because the cost of inaction is only getting worse, he encouraged the Panel to successfully conclude its strategic planning during this session. 

Representatives of the host city and country highlighted positive actions to combat climate change. Vassil Terziev, Mayor of Sofia, drew attention to his city’s commitment to green and sustainable development and its ambition to achieve net-zero by 2030. He also underscored the complexity of adaptation in a constantly changing climate, especially in cities, and said that growth and environmental protection should go hand in hand.

Nevyana Miteva, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bulgaria, highlighted that her country is on the way to climate neutrality, and emphasizing that “no country should face the need to choose between fighting poverty and saving the planet,” called for the IPCC’s warning messages to be loud and clear.

Following the opening ceremony, the IPCC began its closed-door proceedings, starting with consideration of the outlines of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and the Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers. Delegates participated in informal question and answer sessions on these outlines during the lunch break. 

In the afternoon, the Panel considered the work of the Ad Hoc Group on Lessons Learned from the Sixth Assessment cycle. 

Delegates will meet in contact groups on Sunday to advance work on the report outlines, and the Plenary session will resume on Monday morning.