IPCC meets in Bulgaria to consider detailed timeline for the reports in the seventh assessment cycle

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will meet for its 61st Plenary Session in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, from 27 July to 2 August. During a week-long meeting the delegates of 195 member governments will discuss important matters related to production of IPCC reports during the seventh assessment cycle which began last July with the election of the new Chair and new IPCC Bureau members.

This is the second plenary meeting of the current cycle. Among other issues, the Panel will consider the strategic planning schedule which will define a detailed production timeline for all the IPCC reports planned for the seventh cycle and the draft outlines of the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and the Methodology Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers. Based on the Panel’s earlier decision, these two reports are scheduled for release in 2027. The Panel’s busy agenda will also include discussions about the lessons learned from the sixth assessment cycle.

The 61st Plenary Session of the IPCC will be ceremoniously opened at 10.00 a.m. local time in Sofia on Saturday, 27 July, at the Grand Hotel Millenium Sofia.

Delegates representing IPCC member governments and observer organizations will be addressed by the IPCC Chair Jim Skea, the President of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Abdulla Al Mandous, the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme   Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water Petar Dimitrov, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nevyana Miteva and the Mayor of Sofia Vassil Terziev.

.The opening will also include special video messages from the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Simon Stiell and the Deputy Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organisation Ko Barrett.