The ANU Climate Change Institute hosted a delegation of four IPCC Chairs and lead authors to discuss the implications for Australia of the findings of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report at several ministerial, parliamentary, government, media briefings and an academics roundtable and public lecture on 12th-13th August 2015.
The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) is the world’s most comprehensive evaluation of climate change, its potential impacts and the choices we have for responding to it. The report provides leaders in the public and private sectors with a scientific basis for developing strategies to address climate change. Most importantly, it will be the leading scientific document to inform negotiations at the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 21) in December 2015, at which negotiators will try to reach a global climate agreement.
The delegation comprised of four IPCC Chairs and lead authors from around the world and two authors based at ANU:
Dr Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, IPCC Vice-Chair
Dr Andy Reisinger, NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre and IPCC Lead Author: Australia and New Zealand Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
Dr Debra Roberts, IPCC Lead Author, Urban Areas
Dr Youba Sokona, IPCC Working Group III Chair
Associate Professor Frank Jotzo, Deputy Director of the ANU Crawford School for Public Policy and IPCC Lead Author: Social, Economic and Ethical Concepts and Methods
Dr Mark Howden, Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute and IPCC Lead Author: Food Security, Australia / NZ and the IPCC Synthesis Report.
The visit raised awareness about the report’s key findings, highlighted the current and likely future impacts on Australia and the world and outlined solutions to the challenges of climate change.
A podcast of the public lecture.