Past Events

Dr. Stokes and Dr. Zekollari briefed negotiators in a break-out session during the 17th Research Dialogue, contributed to a subsequent poster session, and highlighted the relevant ice loss projections during an AMI dinner that same day.

The COP29 Cryosphere Pavilion was held in partnership with Chile and Iceland, the two Co-Chairs of the 《融冰雄心宣言》高级别小组 High-level Group. Building off the success of the past four Cryosphere Pavilions at COP25, COP26, COP27 and COP28, this year’s Pavilion provided a space for exhibits, science-policy seminars and ministerial-level events with representatives from polar, mountain, coastal nations and more all affected by the impacts of cryosphere loss.

ICCI coordinated with concerned nations to strengthen the focus on the 1.5°C Paris limit given expanding loss and damage from cryosphere melt with each rise in temperature above that point, as growing research increasingly demonstrates. A full schedule and more information about our activities can be found here, and all side events were recorded and can be watched online.

Due to global warming, Earth’s cryosphere is changing dramatically. Snow and ice are crucial for the world’s freshwater supply, ecosystems, agriculture, and human communities. Glaciers and snowpack are decreasing globally, contributing to glacial lake outburst flood risks. Mass loss from mountain glaciers and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, significantly contributes to sea-level rise, with irreversible ice loss potentially locking in higher sea levels for centuries without a swift transition to zero-carbon economies. Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent and thickness have both declined, potentially affecting global weather and ocean currents. Permafrost thaw carbon emissions are increasing, impacting the global carbon budget; permafrost collapse also causes infrastructure damage. Polar oceans are rapidly acidifying, warming, and freshening, affecting high-latitude fisheries.

By bringing together leading Chinese and international cryosphere scientists, this international workshop will thus focus on the latest results on cryosphere changes under global warming, and the impacts of current and projected cryosphere loss across the planet, allowing time for panel discussions on research gaps and future perspectives in the light of the Paris Agreement and needed cryosphere contributions as the Seventh IPCC Assessment Cycle (AR7) begins, and explore the ways to communicate changes to policymakers.

We invite you to join us for the next workshop in this series, which will take place at Stockholm University on 26-29 August 2025; more information can be found at: https://cryosphereworkshop.org/

The COP28 Cryosphere Pavilion featured an Exhibit Pavilion in the civil society thematic arena and a Side Event Pavilion located in space dedicated to national pavilions, upstairs from Chile and Bhutan Pavilions. The dual Cryosphere Pavilions locations provided space for exhibits, science-policy seminars known as side events, and ministerial-level events, especially in conjunction with the AMI High-level Group. All side events were recorded and can be watched online.

COP28 made clear that many nations in polar, high mountain, downstream, coastal and low-lying regions are gravely concerned about the global impacts of cryosphere loss. Despite their voices in the negotiations, however, there was only one direct reference to cryosphere in the final Global Stocktake (GST) text. Most worryingly, this reference did not make any connection to urgency, implications of intensifying changes observed today or their long-term impacts.

Although strong references to 1.5°C ultimately remained in the COP28 GST decision, its lack of urgency and connection to irreversible impacts from the Earth’s cryosphere means that the text remained weak on needed mitigation, including concrete steps and mechanisms to transition away from fossil fuels with sufficient speed. As a result of the 2050 focus for mitigation, not enough emphasis was placed on meeting the 2030 goalposts that the IPCC says is required to meet those 2050 goals. The science is clear: the impacts from exceeding 1.5°C can and must be avoided by ending the fossil fuel era with concrete, in-time steps.

As Secretariat to the Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI) High-level Group, ICCI coordinated a side event on the margins of the UN General Assembly sessions in New York. The event was titled “The Road to COP28: Melting Ice, Rising Seas and Why 2°C is Too High”.

Latest research finds that the window to avoid the worst consequences of global warming is rapidly closing, yet some leaders claim that reaching or even exceeding 2°C – the formal Paris Agreement upper limit from 2015 – is acceptable. This lack of urgency stands in stark contrast to the most recent findings of cryosphere science, looking into the future of Earth’s frozen polar and mountain regions. 2°C of warming would cause highly destructive, centuries-long global loss and damage from the irreversible melting of ice.

The Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI) High-level Group invited delegates and interested parties attending the 45th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and 25th Meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) to an evening reception where leading scientists and representatives of concerned countries presented the latest information on the global consequences of Antarctic ice loss and Southern Ocean acidification, with major consequences for fisheries and food security.

Until recently, climate change has been discussed mainly in terms of impacts within Antarctica and on the Southern Ocean. However, there is a growing awareness that the greatest human consequences of climate changes affecting the Antarctic will be felt not by the small research and tourism communities active on the continent but by vulnerable millions living in low-lying countries and regions around the globe.

For the first time since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1961, one whole day of the 12-day ATCM will be devoted to Climate Action. On the eve of Climate Action Day, ICCI helped organize a side event on behalf of AMI that invited delegates and interested parties to hear leading scientists, including IPCC lead author Dr. Tim Naish, discuss these important and looming thresholds. Representatives of non-Antarctic Treaty countries who were also in Helsinki for the ATCM and wished to stress their concern about the impacts of increasingly rapid climate warming on the Antarctic ice sheet, and the consequences of its melting ice for low-lying nations and small island states.

ICCI co-organized a side event during the UN Water Conference, highlighting the crucial importance of preserving the global cryosphere for water action by limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C and urgently perusing pathways toward needed adaptation. The event began with scientific talks on the importance of the global cryosphere and described projected future impacts of cryosphere melt at different levels of global warming. Government representatives shared knowledge and solutions from a national perspective.