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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Finalizes Report
2 February, 2007
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Washington, DC -The United States joined 112 other nations in finalizing
and approving a landmark climate change science report today in Paris,
France. Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) acted to finalize its contribution to the IPCC's Fourth
Assessment Report. The Fourth Assessment Report, consisting of three
Working Group contributions and a Synthesis Report, will be released in
the fall. The Working Group I portion of the Assessment Report released
today represents a comprehensive assessment of the most recent state of
knowledge of the physical science of climate change. A Summary for
Policymakers, which is a condensed summary of the Working Group I
assessment was approved on a line-by line basis by the participating
nations over this past week and released in Paris today. The last IPCC
assessment of the physical science aspects of climate change was issued
in 2001.
"This Summary for Policymakers captures and summarizes the current state
of climate science research and will serve as a valuable source of
information for policymakers," said Dr. Sharon Hays, the leader of the
U.S. delegation at the meeting and Associate Director/Deputy Director
for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
"It reflects the sizeable and robust body of knowledge regarding the
physical science of climate change, including the finding that the Earth
is warming and that human activities have very likely caused most of the
warming of the last 50 years."
The United States has played a leading role in advancing climate science
and observations. Since 2001, the President has devoted nearly $29
billion to climate-related science, technology, international
assistance, and incentive programs. Since 2002, the President has spent
nearly $9 billion on climate science research -leading the world with
unparalleled financial commitment.
These investments have played a key role in enabling the research
results summarized in the IPCC Working Group I report. The U.S.
delegation to the Working Group I meeting included climate science
experts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),
the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Department of State. The
delegation's participation in the meeting followed significant U.S.
involvement in the generation of the report, as numerous U.S. climate
scientists were involved in its drafting and expert review. In
addition, a NOAA climate expert, Dr. Susan Solomon, a senior scientist
at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System
Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado served as co-chair of Working
Group I.
The IPCC was established under the auspices of the United Nations
Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization to
periodically undertake comprehensive and objective assessments of
scientific and technical aspects of climate change. The first IPCC
Assessment Report was completed in 1990, the second in 1995, and the
third in 2001. Today's Working Group I summary represents the first of
the current series of three reports, and is focused on the physical
science basis of climate change. IPCC's Working Group II meets in
Brussels in April to issue a Summary for Policy Makers on climate change
impacts, adaptation and vulnerability issues. Working Group III will
meet in Bangkok in May to consider a summary report on technical aspects
of climate change actions.
IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed by several hundred scientists who
are leading experts in their fields from around the world, and contain
extensive scientific and technical information and analysis. The drafts
go through both expert and government reviews. U.S. government
scientists led the U.S. review of the draft, and provided an opportunity
through the Federal Register for citizens in the United States to
provide expert comments in preparation for this review.
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