Select Committee To Host Briefing With IPCC Climate Report Authors

WASHINGTON - The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will hold a “Briefing on the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report” on Wednesday, September 1st, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. ET. It will take place virtually and will be broadcast live here.

The briefing will be presented by members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Working Group 1 (WG1), responsible for the dire August 2021 report highlighting how human activity has led to “unprecedented” changes to the Earth’s climate, and warning that – without deep, rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions – “warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century.”

The briefing will examine the key findings of the report and how Congress can act to avoid the worst climate impacts. In particular, the presenters will focus on sea-level rise, the attribution drivers behind extreme weather events, and methane emissions.

The briefing will be presented by:

Ko Barrett, Senior Advisor for Climate, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); and Vice-Chair, IPCC. A world-recognized expert on climate policy, Barrett has represented the United States before the IPCC for over 15 years. She previously served as the lead U.S. climate adaptation negotiator to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and as the NOAA Research Deputy Assistant Administrator for Programs and Administration.

Dr. Robert Kopp, Director, Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University; Co-Director, Coastal Climate Risk and Resilience Initiative at Rutgers University. Kopp is an expert on sea-level rise and the policies needed to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis. His research focuses on quantifying human impacts on the climate using geological data. He has advised several major U.S. states and cities on sea-level rise and previously worked at the Department of Energy.

Dr. Vaishali Naik, Physical Scientist, Biogeochemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry and Ecosystems Division at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Naik studies the interactions between air pollution and the Earth’s climate and was the coordinating lead author of the “Short-lived Climate Forcers” chapter in the WG1 report. Her research uses global modeling to enable a deeper understanding of how air pollution impacts human health and the climate crisis.

Dr. Jessica Tierney, Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona. An expert in paleoclimatology, Tierney studies the history of the Earth’s climate over thousands of years. Her research uses geochemical records in order to better understand the future of our climate and improve the reliability of climate models. She leads a team of researchers pioneering the use of statistical climate reconstruction to study past climate trends.

More information about the briefing, including a live webcast, will be available here.