Your Excellency Mehmet Özhaseki, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of Turkiye,
Dr. Jim Skea, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
Dr. Celeste Saulo, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO),
Mr. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC),
Mr Abdalah Mokssit, Secretary of the IPCC,
Colleagues and friends.
Welcome to the 60th session of the IPCC. Let me begin by congratulating Celeste Saulo on taking over the reins at the WMO. We at UNEP look forward to deepening our collaboration further with our friends at WMO under her leadership. And my congratulations again to the new IPCC Chair, Vice-Chairs and Bureau. Indeed, with this new chapter beginning, I very much look forward to strengthening the collaboration among our three entities as we embark on the seventh assessment cycle.
Every assessment of the IPCC so far has been critical. Indeed, this body has, cycle by cycle, grown into the absolute authority on climate science. As I have said before, the science that IPCC has produced has helped to spark a global focus on and global pressure for urgent climate action, especially by those most-responsible for the climate emergency. However, as I see it, the seventh cycle may be the most important yet.
The world is being battered, buffeted and, quite frankly, broken by the climate emergency. And we all know that greenhouse gas emissions must plummet by 2030 to keep 1.5 alive. Time is a commodity in increasingly short supply. But we must remain both hopeful and focused.
We must remain hopeful, because there is a clear global appetite for a stable climate, shown most recently in COP28 delivering the first-ever call at climate talks for a transition away from fossil fuels. This was not as strong an outcome from the first Global Stocktake as many of us had hoped for. Yet it was still as significant moment, brought about and informed in large part by the IPCC’s science.
And we must remain focused, because whether this becomes a definitive moment for climate change depends on what happens next. The IPCC, through the seventh assessment cycle, will play a central role in providing the science to back the work that must be done, as requested by the Global Stocktake. I welcome the vision set forth by Dr. Skea on the seventh assessment cycle to achieve this goal.
Promoting inclusivity by addressing gender and geographical balance, which is critical to address a global challenge that affects everyone. Maintaining policy relevance, which is critical to ensure science translates into real change. And advancing interdisciplinarity and scientific integration, which is critical to ensure interventions in all sectors that affect the climate and are affected by climate change.
This 60th session is centered around planning the next cycle, with a keen eye on the types and topics of special reports. Whatever subject area you decide to delve into, I ask that you focus your minds on providing a wide menu of flexible and actionable solutions that every nation, every business, every investor and every community can draw on. You have already demonstrated that a net-zero world is required and, more importantly, that it is possible. Now, in the seventh cycle, you can stake out clear signposts that will lead us all to this better world.
