2018•05•17     Bonn

Photo: UNU-EHS

Dr. Matthias Garschagen has been appointed as Lead Author in the 6th Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

These reports provide an assessment of the most current science of climate change and its impacts and risks. Garschagen described the IPCC reports as “a very impressive stock take of climate science.” The information from these documents supports the decision making process of policy makers and governments at all levels.

Garschagen will work with a small team of other authors on Chapter 16 of Working Group II of the AR6, focusing on Key risks across sectors and regions. According to Garschagen, “risks are so complex because they are interlinked. It is a challenge to think in integrative terms across sectors and regions, but it is highly relevant to decision makers, who often think of climate change in terms of risks.”

Garschagen was nominated by both the United Nations University and Germany to be an author for the AR6; he was then selected by the IPCC. The final author team for the Assessment Report is composed of individuals from different world regions and with diverse scientific backgrounds in the climate change realm. “It is an honour to contribute to this report and a great opportunity to engage closely with many colleagues in a very intensive and output-oriented process,” said Garschagen.

The IPCC work and AR6 are structured into three Working Groups, focusing on the physical science of climate change (Working Group I), the study of impacts, adaptation and vulnerability (Working Group II), and mitigation of climate change (Working Group III), respectively. The Working Group contributions are to be completed by 2021 and the AR6 Synthesis Report will be finalized in 2022 – in time to inform UNFCCC’s first global stock take under the Paris Agreement.