EPRI Scientists to Author Chapters in Latest IPCC Climate Assessment
Three Electric Power Research Institute scientists have been selected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as lead authors for its fifth assessment report on climate change, which will be released in 2013-2014.
They will serve on the writing team of the Working Group III Report, “Mitigation of Climate Change.” More than 3,000 nominations for approximately 200 positions were received from governments, nongovernmental organizations and others to work on the mitigation report.
Richard Richels, senior technical executive, in the Global Climate Change Program in EPRI’s Environment sector, will serve as a lead author of the chapter titled, “Drivers, Trends and Mitigation.” His current research focus at EPRI is the economics of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Richels previously served as a lead author in the IPCC’s second, third and fourth climate change assessments.
Geoffrey Blanford and Steven Rose of EPRI’s Global Climate Change program have been named lead authors for the chapter titled, “Assessing Transformation Pathways.” Blanford is senior research economist in the Global Climate Change Program, where his research areas include economic modeling of carbon mitigation policy. Rose is a senior research economist whose research areas include modeling climate change drivers, mitigation, and potential risks.
“The IPCC’s selection of these EPRI researchers validates their career contributions and the importance of their work to the electricity sector and to society as a whole,” said Steve Specker, EPRI president and chief executive officer. “The IPCC uses a rigorous and well defined process that engages the world’s leading scientists to fill these important roles.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization to review and assess the most recent, worldwide scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding climate change. Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to its work on a voluntary basis. Its most recent climate change assessment was issued in 2007.