asked Her Majesty's Government:
For each year from 1988 to 2007 inclusive, (a) how much was paid by the United Kingdom to or for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or any technical panel or other division thereof; and (b) what was the total income and expenditure of the IPCC and any technical panel or other division thereof. [HL3112]
The UK contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) trust fund from 1988 to 2007 is shown in Swiss francs in the tables below.
1988-89 1990-91 1992-93 1994-95 1996-97 1998-99 90,579 566,850 551,140 248,848 370,965 552,078
2000-01 2002-03 2004 2005 2006 2007 708,750 456,830 250,000 250,203 250,000 250,000
In addition to our voluntary contribution to the trust fund, the UK committed to support the Technical Support Unit (TSU) for the Working Group II (WGII), which is co-chaired by Professor Parry and the TSU for the Synthesis report (SYR) for the production of the fourth assessment report. Details of such contribution in Swiss francs are as follows:
2003-04 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total (over 6 years) TSU WGII + co-chair 1,158,915 790,720 1,148,851 1,253,734 322,185 4,674,405 TSU SYR 242,020 169,656 105,037 516,713 Total 1,158,915 790,720 1,390,871 1,423,390 427,222 5,191,118
Previously Defra (formerly known as DETR) funded the TSU for Working Group I, which Sir John Houghton co-chaired for 14 years. We do not currently hold details of the contribution.
(b) At the beginning of 2007 the IPCC Panel started with an adjusted balance of 10,790,573. Total income was 6,639,354. Total expenditure 7,802,741. The carryover remained approximately the same over the years.
The IPCC budget includes the flow of voluntary contributions from different countries, meetings arranged for governing bodies, lead authors, scoping meetings, expert meetings and workshops, translation, publications, software, running of the secretariat and outreach events. The budget, and therefore the figures above, do not include the running costs for the three working groups nor for the task force on the inventories, supported independently, by individual countries.
Details of the budget for the whole fourth assessment report cycle should be obtained at the next IPCC Plenary (1-3 September 2008). We are not able to trace back the income and expenditure of the IPCC since 1988. This needs to be queried to the IPCC secretariat.
I am unable to provide a full Answer as some of the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
N.B. All currency is in Swiss Francs—currency rate as per 4 April: 1£=2.01683 CH.