Press conference following the Thirty-Seventh Session of the IPCC in Batumi, Georgia

NGO News Report ::  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will hold a press conference on Friday 18 October 2013 to present the results of its 37th Session. The 37th Session, held in Batumi, Georgia, on 14-18 October 2013, is considering two Methodology
Reports of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and other questions. The press conference, which will be webcast, will be held at the Sheraton Hotel, Batumi, at 12.00 local time (17.00 Tokyo, 10.00 Geneva, 09.00 London, 08.00 GMT, 04.00 New York).
The speakers at the press conference will be Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Vice-Chair of the IPCC, and the two Co-Chairs of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories – Thelma Krug and Taka Hiraishi. The webcast can be followed by visiting www.ipcc.ch/webcast. It is not necessary to register to follow the webcast. Media accreditation is required to attend the press conference in person. Media representatives following the press conferences by webcast can submit questions by email to : [email protected]. The two Methodology Reports under consideration in Batumi are the 2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories : Wetlands (Wetlands Supplement) and the 2013 Revised Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto  Protocol (KP Supplement).
For media accreditation in Batumi contact: Inga Nikagushian
Head of Public Relations
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection
Georgia
[email protected]
+995 32 2727224
For more information contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: [email protected]
Jonathan Lynn, + 41 22 730 8066 or Werani Zabula, + 41 22 730 8120

Climate policy and global climate negotiations rely on a robust scientific foundation to produce
sound results. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides policymakers with
regular assessments of climate science and its potential impacts, as well as assessments of the
possiblities for mitigating climate change. The estimation of emissions and removals of greenhouse
gases is one important basis for climate mitigation and the IPCC provides de facto international
standards for such estimation, through highly technical work.
Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are required to
prepare their national annual inventories of greenhouse gas emissions and removals according to
guidelines established by the IPCC. The IPCC has produced greenhouse gas inventory guidelines
since the mid-1990s, most recently updated in 2006.
One important source of greenhouse gas emissions and removals is land use, land use change and
forestry (LULUCF). This includes the impact of deforestation, but also emissions from wetlands and
peat bogs. In response to an invitation by the UNFCCC, the IPCC’s Task Force on National
Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), is developing supplementary guidance on wetlands. The Parties
to the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC have also asked the IPCC to review and update its guidance
on greenhouse gas emissions and removals from LULUCF.
The Wetlands Supplement and KP Supplement are being considered for formal adoption and
acceptance at the 37th Session of the IPCC in Batumi.
The TFI was established by the IPCC at its 14th Session (October 1998), to oversee the IPCC
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme (IPCC-NGGIP). This programme had been
undertaken since 1991 by WGI in close collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA). In 1999, the
Technical Support Unit set up at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Japan
took over this programme in accordance with a decision taken by the IPCC at its 14th Session. The
TFI Technical Support Unit is hosted by the Government of Japan.