IPCC: Robert Vautard appointed Co-Chair of Working Group I

Research Article published on 28 July 2023 , Updated on 01 September 2023

The meteorologist and climatologist Robert Vautard has been appointed Co-Chair of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He succeeds Valérie Masson-Delmotte who had held the position since 2015. 

A Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Robert Vautard is a meteorologist and climatologist. After his thesis at the Laboratory of Dynamic Meteorology (LMD-IPSL: CNRS, École Polytechnique, ENS) on the phenomenon of atmospheric blocking, he pursued his work in several areas: atmospheric dynamics and its predictability, the modelling of atmospheric pollution, regional climate modelling and the study of extreme weather-climate events. (Source: IPSL website) 

He has been a director of the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL – CEA, CNRS, École des points ParisTech, École Polytechnique, IRD, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ) since 2019; an academic research institute which brings together laboratories working in climate science, including the Laboratory for Sciences of Climate and Environment (LSCE - CEA, CNRS, UVSQ), the Paris-Saclay Geosciences Laboratory (Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS), and the Laboratory for Atmospheres, Environments and Space Observations (LATMOS - Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, CNRS).

Photo JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP

Robert Vautard has previously worked with the IPCC as a coordinator of the chapter on risks linked to regional climate change (sixth IPCC assessment report).

IPCC Working Group I: assessing climate change

The IPCC’s main mission is to summarise the work published by thousands of researchers and assess, at each of its assessment cycles, the state of knowledge on climate change. 

  • The IPCC Working Group I, co-chaired by Robert Vautard and Xiaoye Zhang from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, works to assess the physical scientific basis of the climate system and climate change.
  • Working Group II assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change and options for adapting to it.
  • Working Group III focuses on climate change mitigation, assessing methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

(Detail of the 3 groups: https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/scientifique-francais-robert-vautard-est-e…) 
 

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