SINGAPORE: Associate Professor Winston Chow has been elected co-chair of the bureau of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations’ top climate science body.
A Lee Kong Chian Research Fellow at the Singapore Management University, Assoc Prof Chow had previously served as a lead author for the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.
His nomination was one of 17 for the role of co-chair. Following his successful election, he will work with Professor Bart van den Hurk of the Netherlands as fellow co-chairs.
According to the IPCC’s website, the 34-member IPCC Bureau provides guidance to the panel on scientific and technical aspects of its assessments, in addition to giving advice on management and strategic issues.
Assoc Prof Chow, who specialises in urban climate, will head the Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.
The 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”, according to the IPCC.