In-depth understanding of the production process of the recent IPCC report
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on August 9, 2021. This report summarizes the results of more than 14,000 peer-reviewed studies on the physical science foundations of climate change. The conclusion is thought-provoking. The author writes that there is clear evidence that humans have warmed the earth, leading to widespread and rapid changes, and warned that the current status of the climate system can be traced back thousands of years is unprecedented.
Daniel Ruiz Carrascal is a former part-time research scientist at IRI and is currently an associate research scientist at E3B.
IRI Climate Scientist Daniel Ruiz Carrascal Is one of thousands of researchers who contributed to the report. Ruiz is one of the main authors of Chapter 12 of the report, which focuses on “Climate Change Information for Regional Impact and Risk Assessment.” He also contributed to Chapter 11 on extreme weather events and helped prepare the IPCC fact sheet on Central and South America and mountain ecosystems. Ruiz’s research focuses on developing climate adaptation strategies for fragile ecosystems in the tropics.
We asked Ruiz to share his experience in writing this globally influential report and his thoughts on how it would affect future research and actions.
The final AR6 report of the first working group is huge! How long have you and others worked in this area? What is the process?
The full report of Working Group 1 is 3,085 pages long, including summary for policymakers, technical summary and thirteen chapters (including atlas)! The chapter I studied alone, Chapter 12, is 227 pages long. We spent more than three years writing it. “We” refer to the three coordinating lead authors, twelve lead authors, eighty-five special authors, three review editors, and two early professional scientists. We participated in 1 face-to-face expert meeting, 3 face-to-face lead author meetings, 2 virtual (online) author meetings, and multiple online internal coordination meetings.
We made more than 78,000 comments on multiple drafts of this chapter. It is an honor to work with all participating scientists. In the exceptional circumstances of the past 18 months, it has been challenging to continue to advance the report in the context of COVID-19. In a recent tweet, I mentioned that in our chapter, we behaved like a family: there is a lot of respect, appreciation, acceptance, kindness, sacrifice, support, and joy. We also argued. This is how I feel the process is. Looking back and seeing what we have done, it feels great.
It’s an honor to work with all the scientists involved in Chapter 12 #IPCC AR6 WG1. Just like in any family, there is a lot of respect, appreciation, acceptance, kindness, sacrifice, support and joy. We also quarreled. Thank you everyone for learning a lot of lessons. pic.twitter.com/Il0A2zebYq
-Daniel RuizCarrascal (@RuizCarrascalD) August 11, 2021
