Scientific Assessments of Climate Change in the Post-Paris Era

Abstract

The Paris Agreement reached in December 2015 has created new institutional arrangements for post-2020 global climate change governance, but the implementation details of the agreement are yet to be ironed out. The post-Paris developments in scientific assessments of global climate change has also aroused widespread international concern. In September 2017, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finalized the outline of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), which will reshape future international talks and national actions on climate change. This paper provides details about the background and progress of AR6 and future direction of the IPCC, analyzes the trend of scientific assessments of climate change in the post-Paris era and its links to international institutional arrangements addressing climate change, and puts forwards recommendations as to how China could play a more positive role in the IPCC scientific assessment.

Lei Huang, Deputy Director and research associate at the National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration (CMA), specializes in climate change. Qingchen Chao is Deputy Director and research fellow at the National Climate Center. Chao’s research interests include climate change policy and air-sea interaction. Yongxiang Zhang is a research associate at the National Climate Center. Zhang’s research interests include historical climatology and climate change impacts and policies. Ting Hu, research associate at the National Climate Center, specializes in climate change.