site.btaBulgaria to Host IPCC Meeting on Seventh Assessment Cycle in July

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will meet for its 61st Plenary Session in Sofia from July 27 to August 2. During the week-long meeting, delegates from 195 member countries will discuss key issues related to the preparation of the organization's reports during the seventh assessment cycle, which began in July last year with the election of a new chair and new IPCC bureau members, Bulgaria's Environment and Water Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday.

The Sixty-first Session of the IPCC will be formally opened on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at the Grand Hotel Millennium Sofia.

The second plenary meeting of the current cycle will address several key issues, including the strategic planning timetable for the seventh cycle's report preparations. The Panel will also review the draft structure for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities and the Methodological Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers, both set for publication in 2027. The Sofia session will also feature discussions on lessons learned from the sixth assessment cycle.

IPCC Chair Jim Skea, World Meteorological Organizations President Abdulla Al Mandous, and Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme Elizabeth Maruma Mrema will address delegates from member countries and observer organizations. Bulgaria's Minister of Environment and Water Petar Dimitrov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nevyana Miteva, and Sofia Municipality Mayor Vassil Terziev will also speak at the event.

The launch will feature special video messages from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell and World Meteorological Organization Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett.

The Sixth Assessment Report by IPCC, completed in March 2023, which is the latest, includes the Synthesis Report which offers scientific guidance for the first global assessment under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at COP28 in Dubai. These comprehensive scientific assessment reports are released every 5 to 7 years.