Climate service for decision makers
As the planet's climate changes, our way of life must change with it. This includes how we build infrastructures and reinforce our assets in the face of increasingly fluctuating weather phenomena. The EU-funded project 'Enabling climate information services for Europe - ECLISE' (ECLISE) helped to establish a European platform where policymakers, climate scientists and other stakeholders can advance policies on the subject. The project team built a climate service to support climate-vulnerable regions in Europe and touched on topics such as energy production, coastal defence, cities and water resources. It defined similarities in the needs of local users for climate services and identified any generic solutions that addressed these needs. Project partners organised a workshop that brought users together to define the requirements of 26 cases or scenarios that required climate services. These use cases generated valuable data sets such as maps of sea state and sea level, precipitation and temperature. These were related to coasts and urban areas in Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The case studies provided useable data, information and advice for local users who must take decisions regarding infrastructure vulnerable to climate and weather extremes. The climate services supported decisions on flood defence, water management, urban and coastal planning, and energy usage. ECLISE also provided an analysis of the present organisation of climate services initiatives in Europe and a set of recommendations for future projects. The conclusion was that the introduction of a Climate Service Documentation Centre would considerably help the user community and provide support to climate service providers. It would take the form of a web-based portal, enabling users to easily navigate the myriad of climate services available in Europe. Results from the ECLISE project will therefore help policymakers reduce infrastructure vulnerabilities to climate change and enable communities to strengthen flood defence, coastal planning and energy use. It will also have a positive impact on the economy and society by avoiding damage caused to property and reducing the likelihood of loss of human life.
Keywords
Climate service, energy use, coastal zones, infrastructures, climate information
