Jean-Pascal van Ypersele

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele de Strihou (born 1957) is a Belgian academic climatologist. He is a professor of Environmental Sciences at the UCLouvain (Belgium). As a previous vice-chair of the IPCC, Van Yp (as he is called by his peers) is one of the forerunners of climate change mitigation through strong decrease of fossil fuel consumption.

Quote "The debate has shifted from a scientific one 40 years ago to a very political one today, involving economic interests, geopolitics, different priorities given to environment or development, and a clash between short-term and long-term visions." (2015).

Biography Early life Van Ypersele was born in Brussels in 1957.

Astronomy was his youth passion. Aged ten, he built his first telescopes with gutter scrap and lenses that he got from opticians in Brussels. Twelve years old, he was an assiduous reader of Sky & Telescope. In 1971 he became secretary of the amateur Cercle Astronomique de Bruxelles club, which put him into contact with professional astronomists. On 30 June 1973 he was part of an international team of astronomists that travelled to Kenya to observe the longest solar eclipse of the 20th century.

van Ypersele received a PhD in physics from UCLouvain in 1986 (with highest honours), with his dissertation on his work done at the United States National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) on the effect of global warming on Antarctic sea ice. The choice for the National Center for Atmospheric Research was related to its large available technological means for atmospheric science research. At the NCAR he worked with climatologist Stephen Schneider. (National Center for Atmospheric Research and Naval Postgraduate School in the United States), one of the developers of the Modular Ocean Model.

At the UCLouvain, van Ypersele became professor of climatology and environmental sciences. He further specialised in the numerical simulation of climate change in an interdisciplinary perspective, and has worked at global and regional scales. He is particularly interested in the effect of human activities on climate, the impact of climate variability and change on ecosystems and human activities, and what can be done about it (adaptation and mitigation).

Climate summits He developed his qualities as negotiator at about all Conferences of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, for over 20 years.

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele was one of the lead authors of the Third Assessment Report of the IPPC in 2001.

He remains an active member of IPCC and contributes strongly to the development and dissemination of its scientific message. He established the Walloon platform for the IPCC, with the assistance of the Walloon government in Belgium to facilitate contacts between the IPCC, the scientific world and politicians. He was appointed by UNESCO to be part of a group of experts tasked with drafting a Declaration on Ethical Principles in relation to Climate Change (approved by the UNESCO assembly in November 2017). The UN Secretary General appointed him in 2016 as a member of a 15-member group of scientists tasked with the preparation of the first quadrennial Global Sustainable Development Report. In 2017, he was appointed as a member of the high-level Advisory Group for the COP23 Presidency by the Fiji Prime Minister.

He endeavours to demonstrate the operation of climate confusers and of the fossil fuels lobby.

Diplomacy and persuasion

He participates in numerous events related to climate change – personally or virtually – thanks to his lectures and networks. All over the world. One day he is in Lima, Geneva or Marrakesh. The next day he may talk in Brussels for an auditorium filled with students or trade unionists. Two days later he addresses senior staff of a multinational bank, European bishops or a group of freemasons. For 20 months, he travelled around the world to present an elaborate programme to decision makers, scientists, industrialists and journalists. His aim was to increase the influence of the IPCC.

Main publications PhD thesis A Numerical Study of the Response of the Southern Ocean and Its Sea Ice to a CO2-Induced Atmospheric Warming, National Center for Atmospheric Research and Université catholique de Louvain, Boulder (USA) and Louvain-la-Neuve, 1986.

Books In het oog van de klimaatstorm [in Dutch], Epo, Berchem, 2018 Meeting report of the IPCC Expert Meeting on Communication. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization, IPCC, 2016. Une vie au cœur des turbulences climatiques [in French], Bruxelles, De Boeck supérieur, 2015, 128 p. van Ypersele, J-P. & Hudon, M. (eds.), Actes du 1er Congrès interdisciplinaire du développement durable : quelle transition pour nos sociétés ? [in French], 6 volumes, Service Public de Wallonie, 2013. Climate change and the Belgian development cooperation policy: challenges and opportunities, FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and Université catholique de Louvain, Brussel, 2008. Le Treut, H., J.P. van Ypersele, S. Hallegatte et J.C. Hourcade (ed.), Science du changement climatique – Acquis et controverses [in French], IDDRI, Paris, 2004.

Articles in scientific journals 2014. Comparison of one-moment and two-moment bulk microphysics for high-resolution climate simulations of intense precipitation: Atmos. Research 2010. The impact of the unilateral EU commitment on the stability of international climate agreements: Climate Policy 2009. Assessing dangerous climate change through an update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "reasons for concern": Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2009. PRIMES scenario analysis towards 2030 for Belgium: European Review of Energy Markets, Energy Policy Studies 2008. Internal variability in a regional climate model over West Africa: Clim. Dyn. 2007. The 1979-2005 Greenland ice sheet melt extent from passive microwave data using an improved version of the melt retrieval XPGR algorithm: Geophys. Res. Lett. 2006. L'injustice fondamentale des changements climatiques [in French]: Alternatives Sud 2006. The 1988-2003 Greenland ice sheet melt extent using passive microwave satellite data and a regional climate model: Clim. Dyn. 2002. Are natural climate forcings able to counteract the projected anthropogenic global warming?: Clim. Change 2001. Managing climate risk: Science 2000. Nous empruntons la Terre aux enfants d'aujourd'hui et de demain [in French]: Lumen Vitae 1999. Potential role of solar variability as an agent for climate change: Clim. Change 1999. Volcanic and solar impacts on climate since 1700: Clim. Dyn. 1992. Simulation of the Last Glacial Cycle By a Coupled, Sectorially Averaged Climate-ice Sheet Model. 2. Response To Insolation and CO2 Variations: J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos. 1991. Simulation of the Last Glacial Cycle By a Coupled, Sectorially Averaged Climate-ice Sheet Model.1. The Climate Model: J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos. 1986. Climate and Desertification – Editorial, in van Ypersele J.P. & M. Verstraete (eds), Climate and Desertification Special Issue: Climatic Change

Book chapters 2012. Comment le GIEC gère-t-il les incertitudes scientifiques? [in French] 2008. The fundamental injustice of climate change 2006. The Relationships Between Population and Environment 2004. A few, ou comment affaiblir un texte du GIEC [in French] 2002. The Kyoto Protocol: an economic and game-theoretic interpretation

Involvement with the society Since 1993, he is a member of the Belgian Federal Council for Sustainable Development, and since 1998 he chairs its Working Group on Energy and Climate.

From July to December 2001, he was scientific advisor for climate affairs with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In 2011, he co-organised the First Stephen Schneider Symposium (Boulder, Colorado, US). In 2013, he co-chaired the First interdisciplinary Symposium on Sustainable Development in Namur (Belgium), and co-chaired its second edition in 2015 in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). He personally briefed several heads of state, many ministers and CEOs about climate issues, and has been or is member of several international scientific advisory or editorial boards established by Stephen Schneider).

In 2019 he became member of a think tank of climate experts that was established in synergy with the climate strikes of the Belgian Youth For Climate, in which secondary school students left classes to demonstrate in favour of measures against climate change. Throughout 2019 he appeared as an assiduous supporter of the young activists.

Awards and honours 2006: Energy and Environment Award of the International Polar Foundation 2007: Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to Al Gore and the IPCC (van Ypersele was vice-president of IPCC's working group II) 2008: Francqui-Chair at the Université libre de Bruxelles 2009: Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium 2010: Honorary member of the Club of Rome (EU Chapter) 2011: Francqui-Chair at the KULeuven and HUBrussel 2014: Grand Officer in the Order of the Crown (Belgium) 2018: Leadership Prize by the Harvard Club of Belgium

Renown Van Ypersele has delivered hundreds of lectures and has given more than a thousand interviews in international media;

Controversy Van Ypersele's work is sometimes challenged by “climate confusers”; there was a petition signed by eight Belgian academics and opinion makers opposing his candidacy as IPCC chair in 2015. Most known of these opponents is his colleague from UCLouvain, Professor who produced a large scientific output in the field of organic chemistry, but not climatology.