A European market for climate services through innovative EU research
Climate change remains one of the world’s most pressing challenges and the European Commission is committed to a ‘forward-looking climate policy’ that will see a reduction of fossil fuel emissions by 80 to 95 % by 2050 – and their complete phase-out by 2100 – and significant adaptation efforts to society and the economy to make this happen. Climate services will be a significant component in the creation of effective adaptation strategies solutions. Whilst a relatively new and specialised sector, the European Commission, as recognised through its 2015 European Research and Innovation Roadmap for Climate Services, believes that it has the potential to become, in essence, a key resource and intelligence behind the transition to a climate-resilient and low-carbon society. Today’s pressing challenge for climate services is to analyse and disseminate information on the full range of likely impacts of climate change (under different scenarios) and provide effective responses and bolstering the resilience of vulnerable communities. The use of the best available climate data and knowledge is essential to create effective tools, products and services that will spark innovation on adaption, mitigation and disaster risk reduction. This will allow for better and more informed decision-making, enable a more robust approach to risk management, foster the development of a market for climate services, create jobs, and make a positive contribution to Europe’s future and sustainable economic growth. This Results Pack casts a light on four innovative and ground-breaking projects funded through the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) that are making big and exciting advances in developing Europe’s climate services market. Each of the four projects is contributing to the advancing of our scientific understanding on climate change and the role that we humans are playing in this process. The projects’ successes have helped to plug some of the many gaps in our collective understanding and have laid the groundwork for a thriving sector that will continue to be supported by the EU over the coming years through ongoing and future research support through the Horizon 2020 programme and other relevant funding mechanisms.