New cryosphere and climate science research – some of it published even since release of the IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report in March 2023, and even more since literature inclusion closed for the “Physical Science” portion of AR6 in January 2021 – makes clear that even limited overshoot of the Paris Agreement temperature limit of 1.5°C will cause a number of irreversible global changes, due to the physical cryosphere response. Some of these ice losses will be near-immediate in response to global warming, such as Arctic sea ice (according to research published in June 2023, as early as the 2030’s). For others, especially ice sheets, glaciers, and permafrost, cutting edge research increasingly points to losses earlier and at greater scale than previously thought; with spreading and catastrophic global impacts if emissions continue on their high-end trajectory.

On the other hand, modeling also shows that very low emissions scenarios, with only a brief 1.6°C overshoot of the 1.5°C Paris Agreement goal, shows at least some stabilization of this cryospheric global threat by the end of this century, with today’s steep glacial losses evening out, and even Greenland and Antarctic loss beginning to slow – but only/only with these very low emissions, on pathways that require about 42% emissions cuts no later than 2030, a level which keeps 1.5°C “alive” by enabling net zero emissions by 2050. Low emissions (with overshoot to 1.8°C, but are nearly below 1.5°C by end of century) are not as effective in slowing the collapse of several cryosphere thresholds, especially permafrost thaw and glacier loss, or triggering the eventual collapse of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet.

All other pathways above low/very low emissions show a threshold response by global cryosphere: sea ice-free conditions in the Arctic stretching from July to October most years; unstoppable loss of virtually all glaciers in the Alps, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Andes and sub-Arctic North America and two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers, along with their water resources that support agriculture, hydropower and drinking water for an estimated 3 billion people at least seasonally; higher permafrost emissions that cut the human carbon budget and result in severe infrastructure loss across North America, Russia and High Mountain Asia. In addition to these severely changed landscapes, these higher emissions may change our coastlines with up to 20 meters sea-level rise or more, with rates of 5 cm per year and 15 meters already by 2300 “not able to be ruled out,” according to the IPCC AR6 (and strengthened by additional research conducted since).

In recognition of the need to raise these cryosphere realities at higher government levels, given their human and ecosystem impacts well beyond adaptation limits, 20 nations came together at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh to sign the AMI Declaration. AMI, which stands for Ambition on Melting Ice, aims to raise the need for urgent emissions cuts that will “correct course” on our current high emissions pathway to the “very low,” 1.5°C limit, in order to prevent the devastating loss and damage that will occur in the wake of a collapsing cryosphere.

This COP28 Cryosphere Pavilion will therefore have a clear focus in conjunction with AMI nations and leaders: keeping 1.5°C alive as a matter of basic survival for billions not only today, but generations of tomorrow. It will be co-located with AMI Co-chair Chile, as well as the Himalayan nation of Bhutan to form a strong nexus and strategy hub to bring a cryosphere consensus to COP28.

COP28 represents a key opportunity to make the global impact of overshoot from cryosphere resulting from continued fossil fuel use abundantly clear, and the need for even major oil producing nations such as the UAE to make the necessary and rapid transition to renewables. Indeed, host city Dubai is enormously vulnerable to even low levels of sea-level rise; and the 10 meters forecast by 2300 just from Antarctica in recent studies cuts straight through the middle of the well-inland COP28 convention center.

COP28 will also see the release of the 2023 State of the Cryosphere Report, the third in the series leading up to 2030, with latest science supporting the basic effort to take 2°C off the table as an acceptable climate goal, despite its enshrinement in the Paris Agreement. Indeed, an increasing number of scientists are now arguing that because of the documented cryosphere response today at nearly 1.2°C, even 1.5°C is too high. A strengthening of 1.5°C by a cover decision that in essence takes 2°C off the table is a first step in aiming for that more science-based climate goal as part of the final Global Stocktake decision.

The Cryosphere Pavilion will have six displays showing the most recent knowledge of global and regional impacts from cryosphere at different peak CO2 concentrations and temperatures, tied to emissions goals. Each display will focus on a unique cryosphere dynamic: polar ice sheets and sea-level rise; polar and near-polar ocean acidification/ warming/ freshening; mountain glaciers and snow; Arctic sea ice; permafrost thaw and carbon emissions; and 1.5°C pathways and government/stakeholder examples, illustrating how 50% reductions by 2030 remain achievable with sufficient political will.

The displays will be based off the latest 2023 State of the Cryosphere Report, the third in the series leading up to 2030, which underscores the need for urgent emissions reductions to limit the far-reaching and intergenerational consequences of cryosphere loss.

Early Career Scientist/Test Events

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Test Event
The technical crew will make sure all video and audio equipment is in working order. Then, our team Early Career Scientists volunteering at the Cryosphere Pavilion during Week 1 will give presentations on their research and fieldwork in the cryosphere, explaining the global importance of polar ice sheets, mountain glaciers and snow, permafrost, polar oceans, and sea ice.

11:30 Grant Macdonald | From Antarctic to the Arctic: Ice Sheets and Sea Ice (COP28 ECS)
Grant Macdonald studies ice sheets and sea ice at both poles. He completed his MPhil in Polar Studies at Cambridge before completing his PhD in Antarctic ice shelf hydrology and stability at the University of Chicago. He now works as a postdoc at the University of Victoria where he improves the detection of sea ice roughness in the Arctic using remote sensing, and serves as part of the Sikuttiaq project in collaboration with Canadian Arctic communities with an aim to improve the safety of ice travel.
Contacts: ICCI

13:00 Flo Atherden | Economic Costs of Polar Ocean Acidification and Warming (COP28 ECS)
Flo Atherden received her PhD in polar marine biology from the University of Southampton in 2023, and continued her research in a bioinformatics internship at the University of Cambridge. She will begin a position at the British Antarctic Survey in December this year. Her work focuses on the physiological and ecological changes facing marine invertebrates (zooplankton) as the Arctic reacts to climate changes. She has participated in two research expeditions to the Fram Strait and studied in Svalbard for 6 months.
Contacts: ICCI and University of Cambridge, British Antarctic Survey

14:30 Mohan Chand | Why 2C is Too High for Mountain Glaciers and Snow (COP28 ECS)
Mohan Chand completed his PhD in Environmental Science from Hokkaido University in 2020 and after finishing his post-doc now lectures at Tribhuvan University. He studies glacier dynamics, outburst floods, avalanches, permafrost, and the impact of debris on melting ice in the HKH. His PhD research also investigated the socioeconomic impacts from snow and ice loss.
Contacts: ICCI and Tribhuvan University

16:00 Robbie Mallett | Arctic Amplification in 2023 and Beyond
The Arctic is warming at nearly four times the global average rate, in a phenomenon known as Arctic Amplification. As well as impacting those that live there, Arctic amplification has profound effects on the glaciers, permafrost and sea ice which support the global climate system. Amplified warming also means that the Arctic contributes disproportionately to rises in global average temperature. Dr Robbie Mallett will introduce the physical drivers of Arctic amplification, and provide an update on the rate of amplification for 2023. He will then discuss recent research showing the extent to which Arctic Amplification contributes to earlier breaches of COP 21’s Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C.
Contacts: ICCI and University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway

Cross-cutting/High-level Events

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Test Event
The technical crew will make sure all video and audio equipment is in working order.

11:30 High-level Event
Details forthcoming.

13:00 High-level Event
Details forthcoming.

14:30 Action on Black Carbon to Secure Fast Climate Mitigation and Hope for the Cryosphere
Black carbon has regional impacts on critical climate feedback loops and reducing it is imperative to reduce the risk of surpassing irreversible tipping points. High levels of black carbon deposition have been observed in Greenland, West Antarctica and the Himalayas, all key tipping-point regions, accelerating ice melting. In the Himalayas, black carbon has already accelerated glacier and snow melt by more than 50%. Not only has this increased the flood risk of millions of people, but also puts the stability of water resources in South Asia region in danger. This session will launch a new policy brief on black carbon, unpicking some of the barriers and presenting a new, philanthropic-funded initiative towards resolving them.
Contacts: Clean Air Fund

16:00 High-level Event
Details forthcoming.

18:00 High-level Event
Details forthcoming.

Ice Sheets I

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Changes of the Tibetnan Plateau Cryosphere and their Impacts
Contacts: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences

11:30 Melting Ice Shelves Today Could Lead to the Collapse of West Antarctica
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is losing mass and is Antarctica’s largest contributor to sea-level rise. This ice loss is driven by interactions with the Southern Ocean, particularly the Amundsen Sea region of the continental shelf seas. Increased melting from the bottom of ice shelves, the floating extensions of the ice sheet, reduces their buttressing and caused upstream glaciers to accelerate their flow towards the ocean. Continued ice shelf melting could trigger the irreversible retreat of the WAIS glaciers, which together contain enough ice to raise global mean sea level by 5.3 meters. Rapid ocean warming, at approximately triple the historical rate, is likely committed over the twenty-first century, with widespread increases in ice shelf melting, including in regions crucial for ice-sheet stability.
Contacts: British Antarctic Survey, Northumbria University

13:00 Holly Han | Future Sea Level Rise from the Antarctic Ice Sheet: Equity and Intergenerational Justice (COP28 ECS)
Holly Han is a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory and completed her PhD at McGill University in Montreal in 2021. She is a paleo-climate scientist, specializing in understanding the interactions between ice sheets, sea level and the solid Earth in the Northern Hemisphere over the past glacial cycles. Her current research focuses on the Antarctic Ice Sheet’s contribution to future sea level rise. She connects polar ice sheet loss from both Greenland and Antarctica to regional changes in sea level around the world.
Contacts: ICCI

14:30 Early Warning Signs of Sea Level Rise from the World’s Largest Ice Sheet in East Antarctica
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is the world’s largest ice mass, storing over 52 meters of sea level equivalent (SLE). It is often viewed as less vulnerable to global warming than the West Antarctic (5.3 m SLE) and Greenland ice sheets (7.4 m SLE), but recent work has detected worrying signs from East Antarctica and its surrounding oceans, suggesting that we are close to a threshold that might see several meters added to sea level over the next few centuries. This event will summarize the latest science on the EAIS, much of it since IPCC AR6, that points to the clear danger of exceeding 1.5 °C.
Contacts: Durham University, University of Tasmania (UTAS), Monash University

16:00 Antarctica and Greenland: Nearing Thresholds from Different Ends
The two polar ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are both losing mass and contributing to sea level rise. Greenland is now losing ice mass at three times the rate of the mid-1990’s and may soon be the largest single contributor to global sea level rise. Portions of Antarctica are becoming increasingly vulnerable to collapse. If temperatures overshoot 2°C, these regions will contribute to massive and potentially irreversible global sea level rise within the next couple of centuries.
Contacts: Durham University, ICCI

18:00 Glacier Loss Worldwide: New Projections
Contacts: Carnegie Mellon University

International Law, Youth and Justice for Long-tail Cryosphere Impacts

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Memory of Glaciers: Witnessing the Climate Crisis
Contact: Polar Hub

11:30 Melting Ice and Eco-anxiety: Supporting Youth Through Effective Climate Education Policies
The imagery of ice melting has long been intertwined with the collective consciousness, serving as a stark visual representation of our planet’s delicate balance. Our event will explore how this imagery has catalyzed global concern and will focus particularly on the impact it is having on the youth. This event will address the need for effective climate change education policies, in order to equip our youth with the tools they need to mitigate the feeling of eco-anxiety and foster their capacity to become agents of change. Through an engaging round table, we’ll highlight the importance of science as a core component of climate and cryosphere literacy, and we will showcase successful educational initiatives from around the world. Experts will share insights on tailoring curricula to instill climate literacy while nurturing youth resilience in the face of climate challenges. This event aims to inspire actionable hope and underscore the significance of comprehensive climate education in shaping the society for a better future.
Contacts: Office for Climate Change Education (OCE), UNESCO, The Foundation La main à la pâte

13:00 Arctic Air Pollution and Climate Change
Arctic warming is a manifestation of global warming, with the main driver being carbon dioxide (CO2) radiative forcing. Arctic warming is amplified by feedbacks from sea ice and snow, and affected by local radiative forcings in the Arctic, including those caused by air pollutants like Short Lived Climate Forcers (SLCFs). This session will specifically address impacts of black carbon (BC) and methane (CH4) emissions in the Arctic and present effects of shipping in the Arctic, which is currently a relatively minor source of BC, but since these emissions occur close to and within the Arctic, they are posing a higher relative risk to Arctic climate and local communities compared with sources located farther south. Climate change can also increase air pollution from wildfires. Reducing BC and CH4 can thus help to minimize negative consequences throughout the world, by reducing the effects of both climate change and exposure to air pollution.
Contacts: Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Working Group of the Arctic Council

14:30 Changes of the Tibetnan Plateau Cryosphere and their Impacts
Contacts: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences

16:00 Protecting our Winters: Mobilization of the Outdoor Sports Community in Combating Climate Change
This event intends to focus on the shifts happening in snow and ice within mid-latitude mountain ranges, exploring their effects on water resources and the outdoor sports industry. Additionally, the event will showcase successful initiatives where the outdoor sports community has rallied to combat climate change.
Contacts: Protect our Winters (POW Europe)

18:00 International Law’s Response to Sea Level Rise
The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are highly sensitive to even small changes in temperature which could lead to a large acceleration in global mean sea level rise over the next few decades. Recent work, much of it since the IPCC AR6, has focused on identifying the critical thresholds for each ice sheet, with a clear danger of exceeding 1.5 °C. This scientific knowledge is currently not reflected in the international legal regime on climate change. How can Conferences of Parties (COP) generally, and in particular COP28 with the expected outcomes of the Global Stocktake, incorporate the latest science that points towards even higher risks from sea level rise? This event will not only raise the awareness of existing international law on sea-level rise, but it will explore how legal and scientific research on seal-level rise can be better integrated to influence policy and law making at the international and the national level.
Contacts: Durham University

Permafrost

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 What Everyone Should Know About Permafrost Thaw: Breaking Down the Science and Global Impacts of Arctic Warming
Hear directly from Arctic scientists about why permafrost matters and its relevance to climate negotiations. You’ll learn about what permafrost is and where is it found; carbon emissions from permafrost thaw; tipping points; the state of monitoring, measuring, and accounting for these emissions; land degradation and displacement of Arctic communities; loss and damage in the circumarctic and the impacts on Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities; and the need for co-produced resilience strategies.
Contacts: Woodwell Climate Research Center, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Alfred Wegener Institute

11:00 Arctic Futures: Empowering the Next Generation of Scientists and Policy Advocates to Address Permafrost Thaw, Land Degradation, and the Climate Crisis in the Circumpolar North
This session will be a dynamic panel discussion featuring early-career scientists and youth advocates leading the charge for collaborative climate solutions in the Circumpolar North. Focused on Arctic research, permafrost thaw, land degradation, and broader climate impacts, these voices underscore the interconnectedness of the Arctic’s challenges and their far-reaching consequences. While the session emphasizes the critical role of current decision-makers in addressing the warming Arctic, it equally highlights the intergenerational nature of the climate crisis. Acknowledging that projected environmental changes extend beyond our lifetimes, this discussion champions the need for urgent action from existing leaders and a space for the next generation to direct decisions and call for support.
Contacts: Woodwell Climate Research Center, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Alfred Wegener Institute

13:00 Arctic Maps, Models, and Indicators: Exploring Tools and Resources to Collect, Visualize, and Communicate Environmental Change and Responses in the Circumpolar North
Join us for a captivating session exploring the tools and resources shaping our understanding of permafrost thaw and its pivotal role in climate change. Presenters will showcase advancements in data collection, analysis, and communication, shedding light on the challenges faced in these processes. Discover how experts tackle complexities such as intricate models and the resource-intensive nature of improvement efforts. Delve into concerns surrounding data sharing and open-source information and explore ongoing initiatives addressing these challenges, including participatory mapping, data sovereignty principles, and innovative practices.
Contacts: Woodwell Climate Research Center, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Alfred Wegener Institute

14:05 Taking “Stock” with Arctic Scientists: A Coffee Break at the Cryosphere Pavilion (Meet the Permafrost Scientists / Press Availability)
This Q&A session will summarize and respond to the GST summary report findings. Moderated panel discussion with scientists reflecting on what they want more scientists to understand about climate policy, and what they want more policymakers to understand about their research on permafrost thaw and climate change. A one-pager on the main GST outcomes will accompany this session. NOTE: Will be held in the Exhibit Cryosphere Pavilion, Thematic Arena 4.
Contacts: Woodwell Climate Research Center, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Alfred Wegener Institute

16:00 The “Arctic Permafrost Atlas”: An Invitation to View and Review a Key Outcome of the Nunataryuk Project
Edited by GRID-Arendal together with all Nunataryuk Project partners, the Arctic Permafrost Atlas, published in October 2023, presents state-of-the-art knowledge about permafrost and the impacts of permafrost thaw on human communities in the Arctic. The Atlas is intended to translate and consolidate the available knowledge on permafrost via maps, words, art, and stories. This session will present the final culmination of work from nearly a hundred individuals and explain why it is so important to capture the voices of scientists, Indigenous Peoples, northern residents, and local practitioners who together provide a holistic and inclusive view of today’s challenges in the “country of permafrost”.
Contacts: Woodwell Climate Research Center, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Alfred Wegener Institute

18:00 Why East Antarctica is a ‘Sleeping Giant’ of Sea Level Rise
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet stores 52 meters of sea level equivalent, over four times greater than both Greenland and West Antarctica combined. Although often viewed as less vulnerable to global warming, East Antarctica could increase global sea level rise by several meters over the next few centuries if emissions remain on their current trajectory. Even small changes to the East Antarctica will have catastrophic impacts on low-lying and coastal regions across the globe. Every fraction of a degree matters.
Contacts: University of Tasmania (UTAS), Monash University, Durham University

Mountain Glaciers and Snow I: HKH ICIMOD

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, Zone B6, Building 71 above the Chile and Bhutan Pavilions)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Communicating Climate Action: Conversation with Climate Champions and Film Makers
The event will also feature short documentaries highlighting the need to save our snow and protect the mountain ecosystem, in addition to interactive conversation with climate communicators.
Contacts: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)

11:30 Roadmap Towards the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and Glacier Day, 2025 and Beyond
The UN General Assembly declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, accompanied by the proclamation of 21st of March of each year as the World Day for Glaciers starting in 2025. The resolution invites UNESCO and WMO to facilitate its implementation. The International Year and World Day aim to raise global awareness about the critical role of glaciers, snow and ice in the climate system and the hydrological cycle, and the economic, social and environmental impacts of the impending changes in the Earth’s cryosphere, and to encourage the exchange of knowledge and best practices regarding glacier preservation and adaptation strategies. This event will serve as a platform for stakeholders to express their commitments and partnerships to the International Year and as a steppingstone to developing a road map towards 2025.
Contacts: UNESCO, Tajikistan, World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

13:00 Open

14:30 Cryosphere Changes Impacts and Adaptation in Central Asia: Case Studies from UNESCO Activities
Cryosphere loss impacts sea water levels, water resources availability, ecological status, the frequency of glacier lake outbursts and other natural hazards in mountainous regions and regions downstream. Over recent decades, such changes have been experienced in Central Asia with the major impacts on the glacier systems of the Central Asian Mountain ranges, in particular Tien Shan and Pamir. Major river systems across Central Asia are heavily dependent on the melting of snow and ice from their headwaters. As impacts on both quality and quantity of water becomes more acute and the potential negative impacts of accelerated glacier melt become a reality, UNESCO is implementing two projects in Central Asia. This event outlines ways in which these projects address cryospheric changes impacting water availability and provides adaptation strategies for communities living in the region.
Contacts: UNESCO

16:00 Perspectives on Glacier Loss: Connections with Adaptation & Loss and Damage
Contacts: Bhutan, Peru, ICCI

18:00 Global Glacier Loss Projections
Contacts: Carnegie Mellon University

Sea Ice

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Can the Law Save the Sea Ice? The Case for a 10 Year Moratorium to Protect the Polar Ice Shield
We are losing our Central Arctic Ocean Ice shield at an alarming rate at the same time commercial interest in exploiting this unique biome is growing. This panel will spell out the stark reality of why we need urgent action and suggest ways the law can help to protect our Global Commons as we can’t plant ice!
Contacts: Global Choices, Arctic Angels, ICCI, WECAN

11:30 Stop Arctic Meltdown: Meaningful and Immediate Action by Arctic Shipping
This session will provide an overview of the environmental and health impacts of black carbon on the Arctic. It will include perspectives from communities dependent on the Arctic’s resources for their culture and livelihoods. It will focus on the increasing emissions from the shipping sector and take a look at options for urgent action to reduce black carbon emissions to contribute to slowing down Arctic melting.
Contacts: Clean Arctic Alliance, AMAP – ABC-iCAP, Inuit Circumpolar Council, International Council on Clean Transportation

13:00 What the Extreme Low 2023 Sea Ice Tells Us About Antarctica’s Future
In February 2023 Antarctic sea ice recorded its lowest ever area since sustained satellite records began, the second such record in as many summers. Since then, the research community is alarmed by a winter cover so low that it changes our understanding of Antarctic sea ice variability; an expert briefing on the global climate and ecosystem implications of this year’s Antarctic sea ice, framing 2023 in comparison to 1.5°C and 2°C projections.
Contacts: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania

14:30 Drum Song: The Rhythm of Life: An Indigenous Co-Created Documentary World Premiere
Drum Song: The Rhythm of Life documentary explores the challenges to food security and the loss of infrastructure of Alaska’s Indigenous peoples as they utilize their ancestral knowledge and modern science to adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis.
Note: Will be held in the Exhibit Cryosphere Pavilion (Zone B7 Building 87).
Contacts: Village of Shishmaref, Alaska; Massey University, Wellington, NZ; University of Alaska, Fairbanks; International Arctic Research Center (IARC); Eskimo Walrus Commission (EWC); and Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub (AAOHK)

16:00 Thin and Thinner: Antarctic Sea Ice Up Close and Personal
2023 has produced a series of shocking Antarctic sea ice records, challenging scientists’ understanding of the Southern Ocean. Dr Robbie Mallett spent the winter on the Antarctic peninsula, working on the unusually fragile sea ice as part of a seven month research campaign. In conversation with Dr James Kirkham (ICCI), he will reflect on the scientific and safety challenges posed by the record sea ice conditions, and also will describe the harsh realities of isolation during polar night on Earth’s frozen continent.
Contacts: University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway and ICCI

18:00 The Role of Sea Ice Biogeochemistry and Ice-associated Ecosystems in the Earth System
In this session, speakers will explore the impacts of ocean warming, sea ice decline, and shifting seasonality on sea ice biogeochemistry and associated ecosystems in both Polar Oceans. They will approach these topics from diverse perspectives, examining various spatial and temporal scales of impact. Our understanding and readiness for ongoing and future sea ice changes are hindered by the scarcity of observations and limited satellite data. The speakers will emphasize the crucial areas where research is urgently needed to address both current uncertainties and those that lie ahead.
Contacts: Biogeochemical Exchange Process at Sea-Ice Interfaces (BEPSII) international working group, Finnish Environment Institute

19:30 Holly Han | Future Sea Level Rise from the Antarctic Ice Sheet: Equity and Intergenerational Justice (COP28 ECS)
Holly Han is a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory and completed her PhD at McGill University in Montreal in 2021. She is a paleo-climate scientist, specializing in understanding the interactions between ice sheets, sea level and the solid Earth in the Northern Hemisphere over the past glacial cycles. Her current research focuses on the Antarctic Ice Sheet’s contribution to future sea level rise. She connects polar ice sheet loss from both Greenland and Antarctica to regional changes in sea level around the world.
Contacts: ICCI

COP venue closed but many outside events.COP venue closed but many outside events.

Polar Oceans

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 The Impact of Climate Change on the Cryosphere’s Climate Engineers: Cetaceans
Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) will launch a report on the climate change impacts on cetaceans at this event, along with how they can act as a nature-based solution to climate change, increasing biodiversity and ecosystem system resilience throughout their ranges, but particularly in polar regions. The panel will discuss initiatives to recover whale populations and protect Important Marine Mammal Areas, highlighting successes and impending serious threats.
Contacts: Pew/Great British Ocean Coalition and Foundation MERI

11:30 Antarctic and Southern Ocean Ecosystems Under Severe Threat from Climate Change
Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems are under severe threat from climate change impacts, such as sea ice loss, increasing temperatures and ocean acidification. This side event will give an overview of Southern Ocean ecosystems, their global importance, and the role of sea ice in supporting their productivity and function. We will then explore recent dramatic changes in Antarctic sea ice, ocean temperature and ongoing acidification, their impacts on these globally important ecosystems, and the action required to manage and safeguard against them.
Contacts: The Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO), the Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED) program, the SCAR Expert Groups on Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at Sea-Ice Interfaces (BEPSII) and Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt).

13:00 Why Overshoot Pathways Will Leave the Cryosphere Behind
The event will showcase research on policy-relevant climate overshoot scenarios, where temperatures would temporarily exceed 1.5°C before being brought back down below 1.5°C at the end of the century. This explores impacts associated with such trajectories, and if, as emissions descend, impacts could be reversed. Adaptation practitioners and civil society members will join for discussion about what overshoot would mean for the cryosphere, and how that could inform climate action today.
Contacts: Europe Horizon 2020 research project PROVIDE

14:30 Open

16:00 Open

18:00 Multiple Threats to Polar Oceans
The Arctic and Southern Oceans are crucial components of the Earth system. Their unique ecosystems are under serious threat from warming, acidification, freshening and ice loss. Polar oceans already experience changes in chemistry, and continued warming is leading to range shifts, changes in food webs, ecosystems, fisheries, and climate regulation. This session highlights the latest scientific and discusses the wider societal and political impacts, while emphasizing the need to raise ambition for reducing emissions. It will particularly highlight, where possible latest science that demonstrates the need to stick to 1.5°C.
Contacts: Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Ice Sheets II

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Scientists and Youth Demonstration at COP28: Sea-level Rise Could Flood Half the Climate Summit if Today’s Emissions Continue
As negotiators continue to wrangle over a phase-out of fossil fuels at COP28, leading scientists, global youth and negotiators from low-lying nations will highlight the potentially disastrous implications of climate-change-induced sea level rise for the host city. A line of COP delegates will form a chain of yellow “hazard” tape along what would be the redefined Dubai coastline — which would cut straight through the middle of the COP28 venue — if fossil fuel emissions continue at their present rate. The demonstration is based on a possible 10 meters of sea level rise by 2300 if we continue on today’s path. “That figure is from Antarctica alone,” says Dr. Florence Colleoni, a leading Antarctic researcher with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). “This is actually a conservative estimate. In fact if Greenland and other factors were added, 15 meters by 2300 cannot be ruled out, according to the IPCC.”
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org), Dr. Florence Colleoni, SCAR (fcolleoni@ogs.it), Dr. James Kirkham (james@iccinet.org)
Location: COP28 Blue Zone, in front of Global Climate Action Area (Zone B7, between Buildings 92 and 93)

11:30 Climate Change Increases Antarctica’s Vulnerability to Extreme Events
This session focuses on the vulnerability of Antarctica to a range of extreme events, looking at its weather, sea ice extent, ocean heatwaves, glacier and ice shelf systems, and the effect on marine and land biodiversity. For example, The world’s largest recorded heatwave (38.5°C above the mean) occurred in East Antarctica in 2022, and, at present, winter sea ice formation is the lowest on record. These recent changes add to extreme events reported previously, including ice shelf collapse, the introduction of non-native plants and the mortality of sea birds following rain that later freezes. Extreme events will almost certainly become more common and more severe, placing Antarctica’s fragile environment at risk of considerable and in some cases, lasting, damage.
Contacts: Imperial College London, University of Exeter, ETH Zurich, ICCI

13:00 Ambition on Melting Ice Ministerial Meeting
The Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI) high-level group on Sea-level Rise and Mountain Water Resources was founded by 20 government ministers on November 16, 2022 at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. AMI aims to ensure that the irreversible and devastating global impacts of cryosphere loss are understood by political leaders and the public alike: not only within mountain and polar regions, but throughout the planet. Today, new AMI member countries will sign the Declaration and join the high-level group to further its efforts to raise the latest cryosphere science within the UNFCCC negotiation tracks.
Contacts: ICCI / AMI Secretariat
Location: COP28 Blue Zone, Room 25

16:00 Youth in the Poles: The Role of Early Career Scientists in Preserving the Cryosphere
This session will highlight the importance of early career scientists in preserving the cryosphere. The panelists – a diverse group of ECRs from all around the world – will speak on their experiences within polar science, discuss several pathways through which young researchers can contribute their unique skill sets to the fight to preserve the pole, and outline ways for NGOs to better elevate youth voices. ECR representatives from USA, Nigeria, Germany, Canada, and India.
Contacts: Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)

18:00 Tipping Points of Arctic Climate
The Arctic is the frontline of climate change. The region is currently warming three to four times faster than the rest of the world. Changes in the Arctic are affecting the lives and livelihoods of billions of people, both in the Arctic and beyond. Receding Arctic land ice is the largest contributor to rising sea level globally. Rapidly disappearing Arctic sea ice impacts weather systems across America, Europe and Asia, generating frequent, and more powerful extreme events than ever observed before. In the Arctic, it is estimated that tipping points are likely to be passed if the global warming exceeds 1.5C. That is for instance melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the loss of Arctic Sea ice. Climate change, including increased heat and extended drought, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires which are raging across the Arctic at rates never seen before.
Contacts: Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Working Group of the Arctic Council

Mountains Glaciers and Snow II: HKH ICIMOD

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Mountains of Opportunity: How to Leverage Funding for Adaptation
Mountain areas are key for climate adaptation efforts due to their transboundary and global importance (natural hazards, water towers, global biodiversity hotspots), high vulnerability to climate change, and tendency to host marginalized and isolated communities. This panel aims to discuss needs for adaptation funding in mountains and highlight pathways for leveraging finance further, such as finding synergies between mitigation and adaptation projects, and by highlighting examples at the national and regional level and from public and private funding representatives.
Contacts: Adaptation at Altitude

11:30 The Call of the Cryosphere: Disappearing Snow and Ice in the Hindu Kush Himalaya
The snow and ice of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) mountains supply seasonal freshwater to river basins that serve 2 billion people in Asia, but current emission trends and resultant warming is causing glaciers to shrink rapidly, posing severe threats to the region’s ecosystems and communities. ICIMOD’s latest report (HI-WISE) examined the impact that the changing cryosphere has on water resources, ecosystems and livelihoods. Glaciers shrank 65% faster in the 2010s than the previous decade, and 80% of current glacier volume will vanish by 2100 on current emissions trajectories. Vulnerable mountain communities are already suffering losses in lives, heritage, economy, and infrastructure. The impacts do and will cascade into countries downstream. Even if the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious goal is met, limiting global warming to an average of 1.5 °C by 2100, it would still result in a higher temperature increase of 2.1 °C in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, causing the region’s glaciers to shrink by one-third, affecting 250 million mountain dwellers and 1.69 billion downstream.
Contacts: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)

14:00 Climate Resilient Multi-Functional Himalayan Landscapes
Mountains occupy more than one-fifth of the world’s land area and are home to about one-eighth of the world’s population. Mountains support 25% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and include nearly half of the world’s biodiversity ‘hotspots’. Multi-functional landscapes of the mountains provide goods and services of global significance in the form of water, food, energy, timber, biodiversity, minerals, recreation, and flood management. This event will focus on restoring multi-functional landscapes and developing climate resilience for sustenance and prosperity in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH). The HKH region is one of the hotspots of vulnerability to climate change, experiencing frequent extreme weather events, rapid biodiversity loss, cryosphere loss, ecosystem degradation, increased disaster risk, and rising vulnerabilities to people both in the mountains and downstream areas.
Contacts: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)

16:00 Building the Resilience of Clean Energy Sector Towards Imminent Physical Climate Risks
Amidst escalating climate change-induced variability and intensified extreme weather events, a swift shift towards clean energy becomes imperative to avert surpassing the critical 2°C global warming threshold. In its pursuit of achieving net zero, majority of the countries throughout the world, including developing nations such as India have advanced their investments in clean energy. Despite these ambitious clean energy endeavors, proactive goals face physical climate-related risks that emphasize the critical need to enhance the sector’s resilience and long-term sustainability.
Contacts: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)

18:00 Elevating Mountains and the Cryosphere to the Forefront of International Processes
Mountains, as the world’s water towers and integral elements of the cryosphere, are vital to billions of inhabitants in mountains and connected lowland areas. Yet mountains are under threat from climate change, land degradation and natural disasters, with potentially far-reaching and devastating consequences for both mountain communities and the rest of the world. In this event, key stakeholders will gather to discuss strategies for increasing political support for the conservation and restoration of mountain resources, examine the intricate links between climate change and security, and consider best practices and recommendations to accelerate transformative and political momentum towards inclusive, resilient and sustainable mountain development.
Contacts: Mountain Partnership

Mountain Glaciers and Snow III (International Mountain Day)

8:30 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

9:30-9:45 Negotiations Update
Daily update on the status of the negotiations, especially from a cryosphere standpoint.
Contact: Irene Quaile-Kerskin (irene@iccinet.org)

10:00 Connecting Science to Communities: Informing Adaptation in the Hindu Kush Himalaya and Pamir Regions
Elevation dependent warming is accelerating the rate of climate change in mountain ecosystems with intensifying impact on the environment and population. Understanding and forecasting these changes is critical to mitigating the risks and protecting vulnerable ecosystems and people. More importantly the science needs to be accessible and connected to affected communities to inform local level adaptation. AKAH will share insights from a first-of-its-kind pilot to translate science into action.
Contacts: Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH)

11:30 Voices from the Roof of the World Film Screening and Panel Discussion
An interactive event showcasing Voices from the Roof of the World, an award-winning international documentary series on climate change in High Mountain Asia. The series offers a vivid and intimate look at climate change’s impact on both the people and wildlife. Rooted in science and with dramatic footage of high-mountain landscapes, the series gives voice to the people most directly affected by climate change sharing the challenges they face from increased disaster risk, water shortages, and threats to their livelihoods and culture. The films also show how by combining local knowledge and innovation, these communities are finding ways to adapt and fight to save diverse ecosystems and precious water sources.
Contacts: Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH)

13:00 Predicting the Future of Ice in a Warming World
The history of glacial change helps researchers understand how much and how fast glaciers will melt in a warming world. This event presents data from recent projects in the European Alps, the Rocky Mountains, and Antarctica where we date glacial landforms to understand the rate of historical ice loss in these regions. Understanding past glacial change provides guidance for understanding future glacial melt, how quickly water resources will change, and how much sea level will rise.
Contacts: Vanderbilt University, University of Oslo, University of Bristol

14:30 Cryospheric Hazards Under Climate Change: Opportunities and Challenges in Science Policy Development
Climate change is exacerbating the severity and magnitude of cryospheric hazards globally, increasingly resulting in devastating impacts on surrounding communities. The need therefore exists to translate scientific knowledge on these hazards into useable formats for decision-makers and stakeholders alike. This presentation showcases 3 case studies in Alaska – glacial lake outburst floods, sea ice hazards, and glacier surges – and the effective uptake and coordination of scientific information and decision-making efforts between scientists and stakeholders.
Contacts: University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway

16:00 Melting the Arctic: Insights from Scientific Research in the Svalbard Archipelago
Warming four to seven times faster than the rest of the globe, change is becoming the norm in the Arctic and manifestations of environmental and livelihoods shifts are rapidly growing in number and intensity with impacts within and beyond its boundaries. Join us at the Ny Alesund international research station as we share the latest insights into the evolving Cryosphere. From the sea to ice and land, scientists on the ground unveil the intricate web of Arctic ecosystems.
Contacts: University of Oslo, Norwegian Polar Institute in Ny Alesund

17:15 Ana Gomes | Polar Ocean Ecosystems from Bacteria to Fisheries (COP28 ECS)
Ana Gomes will begin her PhD in 2024 studying the nitrogen cycle and microbiome in a changing Arctic at CIIMAR in Portugal. Her research focuses on Atlantification and subsequent changes in Arctic marine bacteria with ocean warming. In her PhD, she will investigate bacterial communities recycling nitrogen collected from both seawater and ice core samples.
Contacts: CIIMAR and ICCI

18:00 Societal Challenges Due to the Accelerated Glacier Melting in the South Caucasus – A Case of Georgia
Glaciers are vital for Georgia’s water resources, but climate change disrupts hydrology in glacier-fed river basins, impacting the economy. Around 50% (40% overall) of hydropower comes from glacier-fed regions. Accelerated glacier melting raises concerns for the long-term sustainability of hydropower infrastructure. Climate change threatens high mountain communities, risking lives, livelihoods, and development. Recent glacier and permafrost changes caused slope failures, mass flows, and devastating consequences, including loss of life and economic losses.
Contacts: Department of Hydrometeorology (NMHS) of the National Environmental Agency of Georgia

20:30 Cryosphere Science and Global Climate Negotiations: A Joint Event with the Cryosphere Pavilion at COP28 (Live in Dubai and San Francisco)
Cryosphere science is vitally important to global climate policy. Changes in the cryosphere have huge consequences for communities around the world—not only in the cryosphere itself, but also in places that are far from ice and snow. Although the cryosphere has historically been marginalized within UNFCCC processes, it is becoming increasingly central thanks to the work of many stakeholders, from Indigenous peoples and civil society organizations, to engaged governments and committed scientists. This unique session, organized jointly with the COP28 Cryosphere Pavilion, connects AGU Fall Meeting participants to COP28 (taking place Nov 30 – Dec 12), to discuss how cryosphere science – and climate science more broadly – are impacting climate negotiations. Outcomes of the COP28 negotiations will be discussed, including challenges and opportunities for advancing urgency and ambition, as well as opportunities for Fall Meeting participants to support global climate action.
Contacts: ICCI, American Geophysical Union
Location: Dubai – Cryosphere Pavilion side event room (Zone B6, Building 71 – upstairs from the Chile and Bhutan Pavilions)
Location: San Francisco – Room 160, South, Upper Mezzanine, MC

Cross-cutting/Solutions/Health

9:00 Cryosphere Coordination Meeting
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI)/ICCI offices (next to Side Event Room, OA14 F5)
Contact: Stefan Ruchti (stefan@iccinet.org) or Pam Pearson (pam@iccinet.org)

10:30 Gabrielle Kleber | Glaciologist’s Perspective on the Importance of 1.5°C
Gabrielle Kleber finished her PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge this year and began her post-doc at the University of Tromsø several months ago. Her PhD research investigated methane emissions from groundwaters that are released as glaciers retreat. She helped identify a positive feedback loop that’s currently not considered in climate models, in which climate-driven glacial melt releases of ancient methane in the high Arctic, thus exacerbating global warming.
Contacts: University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway and ICCI

11:30 Pathways to Transform: Safeguarding the Cryosphere through Mindset and Lifestyle Shifts
The urgently needed transformations for safeguarding the cryosphere will only occur with fundamental changes to our mindsets. Such a shift in perspective will lead to reinventing lifestyles, building long-term resilience, and taking a regenerative approach for future pathways. In this intergenerational and cross-sector dialogue, we will discover actionable strategies to make eco-conscious choices that positively impact the cryosphere and contribute to a safe operating space for humanity.
Contacts: Brahma Kumaris

13:00 Solar Cooking – A Pathway to Emissions Prevention and Climate Crisis Mitigation
Solar Cookers International improves human health, economic well-being, women’s empowerment, and the environment by promoting climate-friendly solar cooking to address the challenge of 2.3 billion people cooking with polluting fuels. Over 4 million solar cookers have been identified around the globe. Estimates indicate they are avoiding 30+ million metric tons of CO2 emissions over their lifetime. A panel will showcase this solution and how governments can include clean cooking in their NDCs.
Contacts: Solar Cookers International (SCI)

14:30 (Onward) Hold for Negotiations Update

Both Weeks: Climate Fresk
Climate Fresk is a French nonprofit organization founded in December 2018 whose aim is to raise public awareness about climate change. Educational activities will be held in the Exhibit Pavilion in Zone B7, Building 87 at the Cryosphere Pavilion Exhibit Area (near the first floor stairwell) throughout both weeks.