IIED hosting the chair of the IPCC
IIED is hosting the incoming chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), professor Jim Skea, during his term in office.
Jim Skea addresses the 60th Session of the IPCC in January 2024 (Photo: Catherine Baker, IIED)
The IPCC is the United Nations body that assesses the science related to climate change and climate action. The UK government nominated Skea, and he was elected in 2023. IIED has agreed to act as the host organisation.
Skea is an internationally renowned climate expert and an emeritus professor at Imperial College London. He has been involved with the IPCC since the 1990s. He will set the IPCC’s strategic direction over its seventh assessment cycle.
He said he would prioritise “improving inclusiveness and diversity, shielding [the] scientific integrity and policy relevance of IPCC assessment reports, and making effective use of the best available science on climate change.”
IIED will employ a technical support unit to work with him when he leads production of the synthesis report that summarises the key findings of the IPCC working groups. IIED can help Skea and the wider IPCC process connect with more diverse sources of knowledge and expertise, particularly Indigenous Peoples, local communities and least developed countries.
IIED's executive director, Tom Mitchell, said: "With IIED's continued support to the Least Developed Countries Group in climate change negotiations and our work with vulnerable communities, we hope to act as a bridge between the climate scientists recording and predicting the trajectory of this emergency and the people who are already suffering its impacts."
