He had to overcome a tough selection among the 3,771 researchers who had applied worldwide and now his name is among the 664 experts from 111 countries that will work on the next United Nations report on the climate. Not only that, Erika Coppola Scientista of the International Center of theoretical physics Abdus Salam (ICTP) of Trieste, will also have the task of coordinating the 19 authors who will draw up a chapter of the seventh assessment report (AR7) of the intergovernmental group on climate change (IPCC), the United Nations body that evaluates the scientific aspects relating to climate change. The IPCC working groups will lay the foundations for the climate policies of the next few years.
The IPCC (consisting of 195 Member States) in fact provides political leaders with periodic scientific assessments on climate change, their implications and risks they involve, and proposes strategies of adaptation and mitigation.
IPCC publishes climate relationships every 5-7 years and is in its seventh evaluation cycle. In this cycle, the group will produce three contributions of the working groups to the seventh assessment relationship (AR7): that of group I on the physical scientific bases, group II on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability and group III on the mitigation of climate change. The work of Erika Coppola, the Italian team of the team, focuses on the regional climate and on high resolution climatic models.
It will contribute to group I, in particular to the chapter dedicated to regional climatic projections and extreme events. “Understanding how today’s choices can influence tomorrow’s climate at regional level is both a challenge and a necessity, essential to prepare for the adaptation and mitigation of climate change,” says the scientist. Coppola had also participated in the previous cycle of assessment of the IPCC as the author of the chapter on the evaluation of the impact of climate change and risks at regional level.
As a coordinator author, this time he will have to make sure that the chapter includes the contributions of all the authors and that their opinions are considered and respected in all the decisions that the group will have to make during the drafting process. In 2024 he was among the 80 experts who participated in the meeting of defining the scope of application of the special report on climate change and cities that will be part of the AR7.