Sejong, April 8 - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)1 approved the "Working Group III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" during the 56th Session of the IPCC (IPCC-56) virtually held from March 21 (Mon) to April 4 (Mon). The report notes that “limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be reduced by 43% by 2030” The Working Group III report added essential details on international cooperation since 2014, when the IPCC approved its Fifth Assessment Report, including the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015. The report stressed that economic, social, and institutional efforts should be accompanied to achieve successful GHG reductions.

The IPCC-56 drew almost 400 delegates from 195 member countries. Delegates of the Republic of Korea included a focal point for the IPCC of the Republic of Korea, the Korea Meteorological Administration. The Green Technology Center and Korea Energy Economics Institute also participated as focal points for Working Group III of the IPCC. Experts and public officials of the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Institute of Forest Science, Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Center, Korea Environment Corporation, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, and Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation participated in the IPCC-56. 

The approval of the IPCC report is very significant as it may influence each country on its policymaking on climate change. The report will also be a vital piece of scientific evidence in international climate change negotiations, such as the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 27), which will be held in Egypt in November 2022.

The Summary for Policymakers comprises five sections that summarize the report's key findings: A. Introduction and framing, B. Recent developments and current trends, C. System transformations to limit global warming, D. Linkages between mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable development, and E. Strengthening the response.

Section A 'Introduction and framing' presents five findings composing the report:

- An evolving international landscape. The literature reflects the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

- Increasing diversity of actors and approaches to mitigation. Recent literature highlights cities, businesses, and indigenous peoples.

- Close linkages between climate change mitigation, adaptation and development pathways.

- New approaches in the assessment. The report includes the demand for services and technology development and transfer.

- Increasing diversity of analytic frameworks from multiple disciplines including social sciences. The report identifies multiple analytic frameworks to assess economic efficiency; ethics and equity; interlinked technological and social transition processes; and socio-political frameworks, including institutions and governance. 

Section B 'Recent developments and current trends' summarizes GHG emissions from the past to the present and their characteristics. This section states that total net anthropogenic GHG emissions have continued to rise during the period 2010-2019, and regional contributions to global GHG emissions continue to differ widely.

Section C 'Systematic transformations to limit global warming' examines the global modeled pathways that limit warming to 1.5℃ and 2℃ and assesses different mitigation methods by system and sectors. Assuming that currently implemented policies continue, global temperature is expected to increase up to 3.2 ℃ by 2100. Global GHG emissions are expected to peak after 2020 or before 2025 at the latest in the modeled pathways that limit warming to 1.5℃ or lower than 2℃ with no or limited overshoot2.

Section D 'Linkages between mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable development' describes the previously mentioned climate action in mitigating and adapting to climate change impacts and synergies and trade-offs between sustainable development by sectors. Accelerated and equitable climate action is critical to sustainable development, and there is a strong link between climate risks, vulnerability, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This section emphasizes that synergies between mitigation and adaptation can be maximized by adjusting plans and intersectoral policy, thus avoiding trade-offs.

Section E 'Strengthening the response’ assesses how policies, financial regulations, and international cooperation' can contribute to the mitigation of climate change from the perspective of sustainable development.

Meanwhile, the Synthesis Report, the key report in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment cycle reflecting the three special reports3 and the three working group reports, will be approved in September 2022 at the IPCC-57. Based on the IPCC Assessment Report findings, each country's 2030 GHG emissions reduction goal will be reaffirmed in future climate negotiations, and the international community will increasingly seek new goals for 2035 that are more ambitious4 than 2025.

The Sixth Assessment Report underlines the urgency of reinforcing current policies to limit global warming to 1.5℃. In particular, it is necessary to prepare a comprehensive policy package that considers the market, regulations, and technology policies to reduce carbon in all sectors of society. The Korean government has set 2022 as the first year to implement carbon neutrality. The government plans to include GHG reduction policies for all sectors, including conversion, industries, transportation, buildings, agro-livestock, and wastes, in the "Master Plan for National Carbon-Neutral Green Growth."

1 An international organization established (1988) by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization to provide a scientific view on climate change

2 Overshoot: The specific global warming level exceeds within ranges from 0.1℃ to 0.3℃ before settling back down lower than this level

3 IPCC Special Reports on Global Warming of 1.5°C, the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, and Climate Change and Land

4 Countries submit their goal to reduce GHG emissions every five years based on the Paris Agreement

Contact: Oh Ye-won, Deputy Director 

Climate Policy Division, KMA/ +82-(0)42-481-7385