Research Professor Timothy Carter Appointed Review Editor for IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report
Research professor Timothy Carter from the Finnish Environment Institute has been appointed as Review Editor for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Carter joins a distinguished group of 664 experts from 111 countries contributing to the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7)
The IPCC provides governments with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC authors assess thousands of scientific papers that are published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
The IPCC conducts periodic assessments approximately once every 5-7 years. The large team of experts involved is refreshed at the end of each assessment cycle, following a selection process from nominations made by governments.
The IPCC has three Working Groups (WGs): WG I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; WG II, dealing with climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and WG III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. Each Working Group prepares an assessment report, and then a cross-cutting author team prepares a Synthesis Report.
A key role in assessing climate change research
Carter will serve as one of two Review Editors for a special annex to the Working Group II report, titled: “IPCC Technical Guidelines for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation including Indicators, Metrics and Methodologies: Update to the 1994 IPCC Technical Guidelines.”
This appointment builds on Carter’s long-standing involvement with the IPCC, including his role as Lead Author of the original 1994 Guidelines and contributions to methodological chapters in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th assessments.
“Much of my research career, including my 26 years here at the Finnish Environment Institute, has focused on developing and testing different methods of climate change impact and adaptation assessment, including modelling and scenario analysis, with a view on their application to inform adaptation decision-making. Such methods are also key enablers for pursuing Syke’s strategic vision of sustainability transformation”, Carter says.
Review Editors are expected to have a broad understanding of the wider scientific and technical issues being addressed. Their duties include assisting in identifying reviewers for the expert review process, ensuring that all expert and government review comments are afforded appropriate consideration and advising authors on how to handle contentious or controversial issues. They also take part in various preparatory meetings and help finalise the report’s summary for policymakers.
What issues do you wish to contribute to in your new role?
“The Technical Guidelines will describe methods for assessing impacts and adaptation of climate changes that are already affecting every country in the world. There is an increasingly urgent need to apply these methods in national and regional adaptation planning, in order to build resilience in the face of rapid climate change. So a guide like this can be very valuable, but it needs to be reviewed by appropriate experts. I hope to encourage potential reviewers in different parts of the world to provide feedback for the guidelines”, Carter says.
How do you see the role of IPCC today?
“The IPCC has evolved slowly over time and, it has sometimes been criticized for the large size and detail of the reports, which require a lot of time and resources to prepare, or the usefulness of general, global statements that may not inform specific needs. However, the process has buy-in from all governments of the world, and it has been a remarkably effective mechanism for reporting a consensus set of messages concerning the status of knowledge on global climate change and on the types of responses that can ameliorate its impacts.
Decision-makers may decide to ignore the IPCC’s findings, but they cannot deny the rigour of the assessments or the consequences of inaction, which are also laid out in the reports. So I think the IPCC has a valuable role internationally, as a frame of knowledge that governments can use in the background to focus their own more specific needs, through national and regional assessments and ultimately, through actions”, Carter says.
What brings you hope?
“I have found the research community to be remarkably single-minded in the pursuit of new knowledge and potential solutions for addressing climate change. More widely, there have been concerns about young people becoming anxious or resigned about feeling powerless to reverse the adverse impacts of climate change. I think the research community – as well as media – should take some share of responsibility for instilling such negative perceptions by focusing almost exclusively on climate change risks.
However, if we can first accept that our future climate will be different than it has been, bringing risks for sure but maybe also opportunities, then there may be some other approaches we can use. We need to be able to plan for unavoidable changes through adaptation, while at the same time limiting those changes through mitigation. If we can set about finding creative solutions to make the best of these changes, then perhaps this can offer more incentive for action. I think it’s essential for society in general to be able to imagine future situations that are both realistic but also desirable, so we can work towards realising those targets. In my view there has to be hope – at least, that’s what drives me forward with my research”, Carter says.
More information
Research professor Timothy R. Carter
tim.carter@syke.fi
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