ANU takes lead role in next global climate assessment

It is particularly pleasing to see improved gender balance, with women now being 40 per cent of the Australians in the author teams - a significant increase compared with the previous IPCC report. ANU is taking a lead role in preparing the next international climate assessment, which will be vital in informing nations about the need to strengthen their actions in order to avoid dangerous global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has appointed three ANU climate experts - Professor Frank Jotzo, Professor Xuemei Bai and Dr Kathryn Bowen - as lead authors for the Sixth Assessment Report, which will be published in 2022. The report will guide the first full global stocktake in 2023, when all nations will decide on new or enhanced actions needed to achieve the Paris Agreement's climate goals, primarily keeping temperature rises below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Professor Mark Howden, ANU Climate Change Institute Director, said the appointment of the three ANU academics and 37 other Australian scientists was a testament to Australia's research strength in climate change. "It is particularly pleasing to see improved gender balance, with women now being 40 per cent of the Australians in the author teams - a significant increase compared with the previous IPCC report," said Professor Howden, who is the Vice Chair of the IPCC Working Group 2 representing Australia and many other countries in the region.