IPCC Working Group III Report Released

April 13, 2014

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released today its fifth Working Group III report, entitled “Mitigation of Climate Change.” Working Group III is tasked with identifying options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions or removing them from the atmosphere, and met April 7-12 to review the Working Group’s Summary for Policymakers and the full report.

For the first time, an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report includes a chapter on options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas. The chapter, “Human Settlements, Infrastructure and Spatial Planning” of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of Working Group III shows that urban areas account for 67-76% of energy use and 71-76% of energy-related CO2 emissions. “A key message of the chapter is that infrastructure and urban form are strongly linked, and set in place patterns of land use, transport choice, and ultimately behavior. Mitigation options in urban areas are most effective when policy instruments are bundled,” says Professor Karen Seto, a coordinating lead author for the chapter. The Summary for Policymakers is available here. The final report will be available shortly.

Media coverage of the report can be found here: