The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) elected Hoesung Lee of the Republic of Korea as its new Chair on Tuesday.

Hoesung Lee was elected by 78 votes to 56 in a run-off with Jean–Pascal van Ypersele. A total of six candidates had been nominated for the position. The new Chair said:

"I am honoured and grateful that the Panel has elected me as the IPCC’s new Chair. The IPCC remains deeply committed to providing policymakers with the highest quality scientific assessment of climate change, but we can do more.

The next phase of our work will see us increase our understanding of regional impacts, especially in developing countries, and improve the way we communicate our findings to the public. Above all, we need to provide more information about the options that exist for preventing and adapting to climate change. I look forward to working with my IPCC colleagues to reach these goals and I thank them for their support."

Congratulating Hoesung Lee as new Chair of the IPCC, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said:

"The sound, solid and impartial assessments of the IPCC continue to provide the best available science as an indispensable foundation upon which the world is building a transformational response.

Assessments of science will continue to set the direction in the coming years and decades. The promise of the universal Paris climate agreement will be turned into reality through the steady decline in global emissions necessary to limit warming to well below the upper limit of a 2 degrees Celsius global average temperature rise. We will also need good science to help us build resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The IPCC will be central to that effort and I look forward to working with the new leadership of the Panel and of its Working Groups."

The election took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where the IPCC is holding its 42nd Session.

Elections for other positions on the IPCC Bureau, including the Co-Chairs of the IPCC Working Groups, will take place over 6 -8 October.

Lee, aged 69,   is professor   in the economics   of   climate   change,   energy   and   sustainable development at Korea University’s Graduate School of Energy and Environment in the Republic of Korea. He is currently one of the IPCC’s three vice-chairs.

The election of the new Bureau, which will have 34 members including the Chair, opens the way for work to start on the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, expected to be completed in 5 -7 years.

The IPCC completed its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in November 2014.

The key findings of the AR5 Synthesis Report are:

• Human influence on the climate system is clear;
• The more we disrupt our climate, the more we risk severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts; and
• We have the means to limit climate change and build a more prosperous, sustainable future.

Read the full IPCC press release

Image: IPCC, Twitter