DG Research and Innovation

Climate services at EU level On-going and planned initiatives

Anastasios Kentarchos

Deputy Head, Climate Action & Earth Observation Unit

DG Research and Innovation – European Commission, Brussels

With contributions from: B. Pinty (1), H. Zunker (1), C. Donati (1) and M. Dowell (2), M. Jambou (3)

(1) Copernicus unit G.2/DG ENTR

(2) Joint Research Centre

(3) DG-DEVCO

DG Research and Innovation

Contents:

• Outline on-going and planned actions and initiatives under Horizon 2020 (EU's Framework Programme for Research &

Innovation, 2014-2020)

• MESA (Monitoring for Environment & Security in Africa)

• COPERNICUS (the European Earth Observation Programme)

(Climate Change Service component)

DG Research and Innovation

European Commission Research and Innovation

Horizon 2020 (2014-2020)

Climate Services under Societal Challenge 5: Climate action, environment, resource

efficiency and raw materials

DG Research and Innovation

Climate services research in the EU Framework Programme (1)

• The European Commission has a long tradition on supporting climate modelling research:

• FP7 projects such as COMBINE, EUCLIPSE and EMBRACE are focusing on various aspects, such as new processes in Earth-System modelling, the cloud-aerosol problem and model biases.

• On top, EU funded research on seasonal-to-decadal forecasting since 2000 (e.g. PRUDENCE, ENSEMBLES), with the view of building a future seamless weather-to-climate modelling capability

DG Research and Innovation

Climate services research in the EU Framework Programme (2)

• As an immediate response to the WMO GFCS initiative the EC launched two calls for proposals on climate information (2010 and 2012).

• Two successful projects took first steps towards the realisation of a European climate service.

ECLISE (develop regional/local CS and demonstrate their utility in support of adaptation)

CLIM-RUN (protocol for new methodologies for modelling and downscaling tools)

• Three more projects have been selected in 2012 to satisfy societal demands for reliable short term climate information, to developing tailored, user oriented concepts to support management decisions NACLIM (evaluate ability to model key processes in North Atlantic and Arctic oceans)

SPECS (seasonal-to-decadal climate predictions for the improvement of European climate services)

EUPORIAS (develop reliable climate impact prediction systems, focusing on high-risk events)

DG Research and Innovation

…and more

• GEO

• Research Infrastructure Programme

• European Environmental Agency - Climate Adapt

• Strategic cooperation with Member States

(e.g. JPI-Climate)

• Joint Research Centre (JRC)

• European Institute of Innovation & Technology EIT

(e.g. Climate-KIC)

DG Research and Innovation

And now a look into the future….

• In setting the strategy for Horizon 2020 of the Societal Challenge 'Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and sustainable supply of raw materials', we have identified the field of Climate Services as one of our few new flagship initiatives.

DG Research and Innovation

What do we intend for "climate services"?

We attribute to the term "climate services" a broad meaning, which covers the transformation of climate-related data into customised products such as projections, forecasts, information, trends, economic analysis, assessments (including technology assessment), counselling on best practices, development and evaluation of solutions and any other service in relation to climate that may be of use for the society at large.

DG Research and Innovation

What is our ambition

We wish, making use of both supply- & demand-side actions, to help creating a European market for climate services in which public bodies and businesses provide cutting-edge customised information services and adaptation solutions to a range of end-users, both in the business to business domain, in the public decision-making domain, to consumers, making Europe a leading actor in this domain.

DG Research and Innovation

'Towards a European market for Climate Services'

• Workshop held 14 March 2014 in Brussels

• 130 participants from Climate service providers and users

• Launched a process leading, through the work of an Expert Group, to:

★ the definition of a long-term Research & Innovation Roadmap

★ the identification of most promising sectors on which to launch actions through the establishment of a Climate Services User Forum and the future launch of 'user-driven' demonstration projects

★ the identification of key supply- and demand-side measures for promoting the growth of a European market of Climate Services

★ a long-lasting partnership between providers and users of climate information for the co-design and co-production of future Climate Services

• The conclusions of the Expert Group will be discussed in a second workshop in early 2015.

DG Research and Innovation

Some considerations…

•Operational services still need and will need for long time a sustained research and innovation support

•The supply side is today mainly providing climate information

•For passing from information to services we need:

• to co-design and co-produce the Services with the users

• crossing climate intelligence with multiple data sources, competences, actors

• appropriate data/HPC infrastructures

• to develop standards, quality assurance and a "validation" system (credibility issue)

• Origin: Ouagadougou Declaration signed in September 2010 by the African Union Commission, the ACP Secretariat and the African Regional Economic Communities.

• Aims: Continuity of past investments on the use of Earth Observation data in Africa and to provide an initial contribution to the GMES and Africa Initiative (Maputo Declaration - Joint EU-Africa Strategy )

• Budget : 37 Mo€ - Sources of Funding: 10th European Development Fund

• Final date for Implementation: September 2017

• Beneficiary Countries: 48 ACP countries of five African Regions

Expected results

• Improved access to EO data

• Operational information services are established

• Cross-fertilisation and continentalisation of services

• Political and policy frameworks are strengthened

• Adequate technical level is ensured

Climate services for Disaster Risks

Reduction in Africa • ACMAD/continental • € 2.3 M • 36 months starting from September 2014

(1)Climate Change Assessment Service •Climate information and projections for policies and strategies on climate change adaptation •Model outputs, climate indices maps, climate trend and variability diagrams and African Climate Outlook Reports. (2)Drought Service and Seasonal Climate Forecast •Strategic planning ahead of season through assessing seasonal and intra-seasonal variability and to forecast the probability of drought events. •Drought Information System

Services Component

Services Component

Marine

Land

Atmosphere

Emergency Manageme

nt

Security

Climate Change

The European Earth Observation Programme

Copernicus Climate Change service

The second step

New COPERNICUS regulation (EU) 377/2014:

"the Climate Change service shall provide

information to increase the knowledge base to support adaptation and mitigation policies. It shall in particular contribute to the provision of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), climate analyses, projections and indicators at temporal and spatial scales relevant to adaptation and mitigation strategies for various Union's sectoral and societal benefit areas."

Strategy for the Copernicus Climate Change service

Knowledge in support of

Adaptation and Mitigation

Space & in-situ

Observations

Climate data &

re-analyses

Seasonal forecasts &

Climate projections

Set of ECVs, indicators and indices for

the Climate drivers and Climate impacts

EU-funded Research

Programmes

from other bodies e.g., MS,

ESA, Eumetsat, EEA, WMO..

Observed, analysed and simulated Essential

Climate Variables plus derived set of indicators

relevant to consistently monitor and simulate

Earth Climate responses to forcings

CDS Architecture of the Copernicus Climate Change service

Consistent Climate Data Store

In situ & remote sensing observations/analyses

EU-funded Research

Programmes

MS and other users & customers

Selected set of information for

customer DGs

from other bodies e.g., MS,

ESA, Eumetsat, EEA, WMO..

Consistent Climate Data Store

Customization platform

Sectorial Information System

Source: Legos/CNES/CLS

Source: ice2sea

Sea-level

Source: CLS

CDS Architecture of the Copernicus Climate Change service

In situ & remote sensing observations/analyses

from European commission

e.g.,FP7 Space call

MS and other

users & customers

Selected set of information for

customer DGs

from other bodies e.g., ESA,

Eumetsat, EEA, WMO..

Harmonization/Coordination & QA platform

Climate Indicator Data Store

Customization platform

Source: JRC Source: ice2sea

Forestry Coastal zones

SIS Architecture of the Copernicus Climate Change service

Climate indices relevant to the various

EU sectoral policies

Sectoral Information System

from European commission

e.g.,FP7 Space call

Selected set of information for users

(Global Scale with European Focus)

from other bodies e.g., MS,

ESA, Eumetsat, EEA, WMO..

CDS platform: Harmonization & Coordination

Consistent Climate Data Store

SIS platform: Customization

Sectoral Information System

Monitoring, QC of the service and

feedbacks to production or R&D

Ou

treach

& D

issem

inatio

n

Education, general public and

authorities, reports, media, bulletin

Evalu

ati

on

&

QC

fu

ncti

on

A logical view

Architecture of the Copernicus Climate Change service

Copernicus Climate Change service

Provisional timing

Y1 Y0 Y3 Y2 Y4 Y5 Y6

2014/15 2020/21

~ 20 ECVs ~ 5-6 sectors

Operational Phase

2017/18

Stage 0

PoC & testing

Stage I

pre-Op

Stage II Stage III

~ 33 ECVs ~ 8-10 sectors

The Climate Change service will address climate change issues at global

scale with a European dedicated focus.

There is a clear framework and initial roadmap for implementation of the

Service

Consistent with global efforts on climate datasets (i.e. GCOS

requirements, CEOS implementation) and climate Services (i.e. GFCS).

The C3 service should be considered as a European contribution to

building Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)

developed within the framework of the Group on Earth Observations

(GEO).

Copernicus Climate Change service

Concluding remarks

DG Research and Innovation

COPERNICUS

Climate Change Service

research component

ESA

EUMETSAT

JRC

EEA

GEO

GEOSS Copernicus

climate service

delegated entity

Transnational,

national and

regional

Climate Service

Centres

JPI-Climate

Specialised

high added-value

services delivered

by the business

sector

Horizon 2020 SC5, Infrastructure, Space

EIT

Climate-KIC

WMO

GFCS

GCOS

ERANET

INFORMATION PROVIDERS

Institutional

users

Business

sectors

Citizens

USERS

DG Research and Innovation

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!