Resolution 2 of the 24th CGPM (2011)

On the importance of international collaboration so as to place measurements to monitor climate change on an SI traceable basis

The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), at its 24th meeting,

recalling

• Resolution 4 adopted by the General Conference on Weights and Measures at its 21st meeting in 1999 concerning the need to use SI units in studies of Earth resources, the environment, human wellbeing and related issues,
• Resolution 11 adopted by the General Conference on Weights and Measures at its 23rd meeting in 2007 on the importance of SI traceable measurements to monitor climate change,

considering

• the expansion in the number of international and national initiatives to address the challenges and implications of climate change for the world,
• the deliberations of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the outcomes on the Copenhagen climate change conference 2009,
• the collaboration between the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO),
• the signing by the WMO of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement of National Measurement Standards and of Calibration and Measurement Certificates issued by National Metrology Institutes (CIPM MRA),
• the outcome of the joint BIPM/WMO workshop on "Measurement challenges for global observation systems for climate change monitoring: Traceability, stability and reducing uncertainty", held on 30 March to 1 April 2010,
• the deliberations of the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance – Metrology in Chemistry (CCQM), the Consultative Committee for Thermometry (CCT), the Consultative Committee for Photometry and Radiometry (CCPR), their Recommendations to the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) and the interactions between the National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) that are members of these Committees and relevant structures of the WMO, and
• the increase in interest from Governments in a global carbon trading and capture framework as well as mitigation initiatives,

welcomes

• the initiatives of the WMO to work more closely with the BIPM and the NMI community,
• the reaction of the BIPM, in its proposed programme of work for the years 2013 to 2016, to address measurement issues related to climate change and global warming, and
• the initiatives taken by a number of NMIs to become involved in research and other activities to underpin policies on the "carbon economy",

recommends

• relevant bodies take steps to ensure that all measurements used to make observations which may be used for climate studies are made fully traceable to SI units,
• that any system agreed between Governments on carbon trading and capture includes a commitment to make relevant measurements traceable to the SI,
• that appropriate bodies support the development of techniques which can make possible a set of SI-traceable radiometric standards and instruments to allow such traceability to be established in terrestrial and space-based measurements,
• that NMIs continue to develop techniques and measurement systems that would enable biofuel processes and carbon sequestration to be modelled and monitored in an SI traceable and internationally equivalent way,
• that Governments and relevant intergovernmental organizations and international bodies commit themselves to adopt an internationally agreed and recognized system of measurement units and standards, and
• that the BIPM takes steps to contribute to the coordination of this activity with the full support of the States Parties to the Metre Convention.

DOI : 10.59161/CGPM2011RES2E