CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Copenhagen, Denmark, 21 May 2026 Your Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, As Chair of IPCC, I thank our hosts for the invitation to address this session. You all know what IPCC is and what it does, but let me just emphasise our unique capacity to assess the vast and exponentially growing body of knowledge on climate change, its impacts, and available responses. While every individual scientific paper matters, IPCC can place them in the context of the overall body of evolving knowledge. And with that, let me cut straight to the topic of this session. At current levels of warming, we can already see the effects of extreme events, including intense heat, wildfires, flooding, heavy rainfall and tropical cyclones. These cause disruption and devastation, highlighting the vulnerability of our globally interconnected societies. Meanwhile, sea level rise is inexorable, posing existential risks to those most exposed. It is now almost inevitable that we will soon exceed global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the warming level beyond which risks start to accelerate. The urgent need to enhance resilience and step up adaptation efforts is obvious. Our Sixth Assessment Report concluded that adaptation progress has been made across all sectors and regions, but that progress has been unevenly distributed with observed adaptation gaps. Three degrees of warming, consistent with current mitigation policies, will have disastrous consequences. As we emphasised in the Sixth Assessment Report, every fraction of a degree of warming matters. In principle, it is possible in the long-term to return warming to 1.5 degrees. But many climate impacts are irreversible. Mid-century warming levels on the pathway towards net zero matter, not just those achieved at the end of the century. So, what is IPCC is planning for the current cycle? The word ‘adaptation’ appears in three chapter titles of the Working Group II report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. This is actually three times more than in the sixth assessment cycle. This signals clearly a new emphasis on climate action. We have chapters which have not appeared in previous reports on ‘responses to losses and damages’ and finance. And, we are also updating Technical Guidelines, dating from 1994, on assessing impacts and adaptation. Compared to mitigation, adaptation has lacked the means to measure progress. Adaptation actions are more difficult to separate from broader patterns of investment in infrastructure and development. The update will emphasise indicators, metrics and methodologies. These should provide useful guidance on planning, including mainstreaming adaptation of a more transformational character into existing policies and practices. The guidelines will address learning, monitoring and evaluation, including adaptation targets, as well as metrics and indicators to monitor and track progress, uptake and performance. Already, it is evident to the authors that many bodies have already made progress in developing a variety of guidelines for assessing impacts and adaptation. The challenge for the updated Technical Guidelines may lie in assessing existing approaches, rather than starting from scratch. The target audience for the guidelines includes, obviously, negotiators with their interest in the Global Goal on Adaptation and indicators to measure progress. But other important audiences include policymakers and practitioners at the national and sub-national levels who plan infrastructure and implement adaptation measures on the ground. Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, To finish, a few words on progress with the IPCC Seventh Cycle. All Working Groups have started work and are busy preparing their First Order Drafts for Expert Review. Working Group II on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability is holding its second lead author meeting in the Bahamas as we speak. The combined government and expert review of a Special Report of Special Report on Climate Change and Cities began two weeks ago. That report is scheduled for release next March. We know that the Working Group Reports will start to appear in mid-2028, but the full timeline has yet to be decided. We have just opened a consultation on criteria for assessing timeline options with a view to reaching a decision at the IPCC’s next Plenary in October. Speaking as a scientist, and on behalf of IPCC authors, I have one plea. And that is for certainty. Our 660 authors take time out from their day jobs, conducting research and teaching the next generation, to volunteer their services to IPCC. As the seventh cycle gathers pace, uncertainty is the biggest challenge to their sustained engagement. I take this opportunity to invite the policymakers at this conference to support IPCC in bringing this debate to a conclusion. Thank you.