Climate change mitigation is achieved by limiting or preventing greenhouse gas emissions and by enhancing activities that remove these gases from the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases can come from a range of sources and climate mitigation can be applied across all sectors and activities. These include energy, transport, buildings, industry, waste management, agriculture, forestry, and other forms of land management.

Working Group III supports the IPCC’s solution-oriented approach but does not advocate any specific mitigation options. It takes both a near-term perspective relevant to decision-makers in government and the private sector and a long-term perspective that helps identify how high-level climate policy goals might be met. Working Group III addresses all aspects of mitigation including technical feasibility, cost and the enabling environments that would allow measures to be taken up. Enabling environments cover policy instruments, governance options and social acceptability. Synergies and trade-offs with adaptation measures are of increasing interest as are co-benefits, risks and links to sustainable development. To meet these needs, Working Group III is highly interdisciplinary in character.

Working Group III is led by two Co-Chairs, Katherine Calvin based in the United States of America and Joy Pereira based in Malaysia. They are supported by seven Vice-Chairs from different regions who make up the Working Group III Bureau. Bureau members provide guidance to the Panel on the scientific and technical aspects of its work, advise on related management and strategic issues, and take decisions on specific issues such as the selection of authors and review editors. They also oversee scientific quality and engages with the wider scientific community, both regionally and globally. The Co-Chairs and Bureau Members are supported by the Working Group III Technical Support Unit.