Final Report Summary - JPI CLIMATE CSA (Joint Programming Initiative Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe - Coordination and Support Action)
Executive Summary:
1.1 Executive Summary
Climate change is a complex reality, which affects European society at large. Understanding and responding to climate change requires coordinated and large-scale European efforts, in research, innovation and governance.
JPI Climate (www.jpi-climate.eu) is a European Joint Programming Initiative of EU Members States and Associated Countries, in cooperation with the European Commission. JPI Climate, comprised of representatives of ministries and organizations for research funding, aims through its programme of activities to connect research, performers and funders across Europe to promote the creation of new knowledge in the natural and anthropogenic climate change domain that is fundamental and relevant for decision support.
JPI Climate
• provides the platform where these objectives can be met, aligning national research priorities according to a jointly agreed Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) with the aim of complementing and supporting initiatives at the European level (ERANETs, FP7 and Horizon 2020, Climate KIC, ESFRI Projects),
• facilitates the coordination, collaboration and exploitation of synergies while working against fragmentation and duplication of efforts. Coordination of the research base secured through national resources will help underpin European efforts to confront climate change,
• aims to respond to the needs of policy and decision makers and the European society at large for knowledge-based information and services to address climate change.
• is innovative in its interdisciplinary approach in connecting natural- with socio-economic sciences and it is guided, coordinated and managed through a flexible collaborative governance mechanism.
JPI Climate CSA was funded under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Innovation as a Coordination and Support Action (CSA).
The overarching aim of this CSA was to support the development of the JPI Climate into a viable, mature and sustained joint research effort. The CSA enabled JPI Climate to realize its goals of achieving a competitive advantage for Europe by improving the knowledge base for climate action, informing ongoing international negotiations and enhancing decision-making capacities on various levels with regards to climate change. The JPI Climate contributes to the overall EU objective of building the European Research Area through enhanced cooperation and coordination of national research programmes.
Project Context and Objectives:
1.2 A summary description of project context and objectives
In order to efficiently support the development of JPI climate into a viable, mature and sustained joint research effort, the CSA has strived for the following objectives during the runtime of the project (01/2013- 12/2015):
• Identify, coordinate and integrate national climate research funding programmes.
• Put forward and provide input to climate research programmes and policies of the EU.
• Establish a strategic collaboration with global programmes, neighbouring countries, climate policy actors at the international level (JPI Climate as fireplace).
• Extend the partnership of the JPI Climate to other EU member states, with special focus on eastern European countries.
• Develop an effective communication and dissemination strategy (including a strategic vision and action plan).
• Develop a detailed implementation plan which includes time plan and action plan.
• Derive an update of the Strategic Research Agenda, based on recent developments and experiences.
• Elaborate and apply concepts and mechanisms on how to best integrate activities of the four different modules to provide integrated climate knowledge.
JPI Climate CSA conducted a “parallel working approach” meaning that project activities basically run in a parallel way. Therefore, the realization of the project objectives had started in M1 of the project and completed in M36 of the project. The project consisted of five WPs, whereof WP1 included the general project management:
• WP1 – Coordination and management: Ensuring effective and high-quality coordination and management of the CSA project.
• WP2 – JPI Climate strategic research agenda and implementation: The development of joint activities within JPI Climate.
• WP3 – JPI Climate platform: The implementing of a strategic platform to liaise with other initiatives in order to strategically position the JPI Climate and become an important element in the policy landscape on European as well as global level.
• WP4 – JPI Climate framework conditions: The developing of common guidelines for effective and efficient transfer of knowledge and innovation to users and the promoting of common practices on these issues within the Joint Programming community.
• WP5 – JPI Climate Dissemination: Developing a strategy which will enhance the potential, realised reach and impact of the JPI Climate through effective communication and dissemination with policy, private and other stakeholders to achieve a high level of awareness and engagement as to the societal challenge of climate change.
The main advantages of the “parallel working approach” was that all JPI Climate CSA partners were involved in the project implementation process from the very beginning to the project’s end. This led to a high inter-connectedness of results, the creation of synergies between WPs and an assurance of the commitment of all partners throughout the duration of the project.
All project objectives could be achieved during the project’s 36 months, in some cases in a slightly modified way. In such cases, this was communicated to the EC.
Objectives for Work Package 2
The principle objective of WP2 was to support the development of joint activities within the JPI Climate. Following the strategic research agenda (SRA) adopted by the JPI Climate Governing Board (GB) in 2011, WP2 fostered the implementation of first activities for the four interconnected themes (see below) of the JPI Climate. It supported mapping, scoping and foresight activities which are crucial to enhance coordination and prepare for common activities, such as joint calls, and ensured the integration of the four modules.
The four themes are:
• theme 1: Moving towards Reliable Decadal Climate Predictions
• theme 2: Researching Climate Service Development and Deployment
• theme 3: Sustainable Transformations of Society in the Face of Climate Change
• theme 4: Improving Tools for Decision-Making under Climate Change
The following objectives were to be met during the project period:
• Preparing the implementation of joint activities within two main complementary areas of European climate change research: 1) coordination of model development and research and 2) coordination of climate observations.
• Supporting mapping, scoping and foresight activities and workshops with the objectives to elaborate common white papers, roadmaps and platforms in order to prepare first common joint calls and coordinated actions.
• Improving interface between climate research and its application through:
1. Researching and advancing climate services (CS) by assessing the quality of CSs.
2. Enhancing networking with CS communities.
3. Building up a network of CSs providers.
• Strengthening the contributions of social sciences and humanities (SSH) in climate change research.
• Strengthening the science-practice knowledge development and transfer including decision-support and science communication.
• Fostering the integration of global and regional climate change scenario analysis and assessment in different regions and sectors.
Objectives for Work Package 3
WP3 was to implement a strategic platform to liaise with other initiatives in order to strategically position the JPI Climate and become an important element in the policy landscape on European as well as global level.
The following objectives were to be met during the project period:
• Finalizing the implementation of the strategic platform by setting up the JPI Climate Central Secretariat for the JPI Climate member states’ internal and external coordination.
• Providing tools, means, and procedures to enhance the coordination and communication between the JPI Climate governance bodies and organize their meetings.
• Identifying and linking relevant European and international actors and stakeholders to the JPI Climate.
• Streamlining climate research funding policy collaboration and communication with member states and EC, European parliament and Council and similar actors.
Objectives for Work Package 4
The aim of WP4 was to enable continuous improvement in managing and implementing the JPI Climate. Efficient methods should have developed and applied in collaboration with WP2 to support the JPI Climate implementation plan.
The following objectives were to be met during the project period:
• Revision of the existing governance scheme and operationalization of the adopted governance principles
• Developing of instruments and demonstrators to implement the JPI Climate through joint actions.
• Developing common guidelines for effective and efficient transfer of knowledge and innovation to users.
• Promoting common practices on these issues within the Joint Programming community.
Objectives for Work Package 5
The overarching aim of WP5 was to develop a strategy which will enhance the potential, realised reach and impact of the JPI Climate through effective communication and dissemination with policy, private and other stakeholders to achieve a high level of awareness and engagement as to the societal challenge of climate change.
The following objectives were to be met during the project period:
• Developing communications products for external (and internal) audiences working with the four JPI Climate Working Groups and stakeholders to encourage participation.
• Linking with the dissemination actions of complementary international initiatives, including other JPIs, in developing and implementing outreach activities.
• Developing and maintain the JPI Climate’s website, including the external public site and a password-protected site for internal communication and information sharing.
• Encouraging the broader scientific community in partner countries to actively engage in the JPI Climate as well as expanding the programme beyond existing partners.
• Streamlining dissemination of JPI Climate related research results to relevant national and international stakeholders and engage them in identifying future programme priorities.
Project Results:
1.3. Description of the main S&T results / foreground
JPI Climate CSA was not a research project. It was rather a CSA that supports the development of a European Programming Initiative of EU Members States and Associated Countries, in cooperation with the European Commission. In doing so it supported different policy processes, developed and revised strategies, organized workshops and conferences and improved networking process between relevant European and international actors and stakeholders. Therefore, the foreground this project has been produced consists of a list of strategies, reports, successful workshops and conferences as well as other activities that aligned strategies, instruments, resources and actors at national and European levels.
1.3.1 Joint calls
Joint research funding is one out of several potentially beneficial ways of collaborating between European countries or rather between JPI Climate member states. Two joint calls were launched from WP 2 during the project lifetime of JPI Climate CSA.
A European JPI Climate Joint Call for Transnational Collaborative Research Projects with two topics has been launched in 2013:
Topic 1: Societal Transformation in the Face of Climate Change
Topic 2: Russian Arctic & Boreal Systems
Regarding topic 1, six projects with a total budget of approximately 7 Mio. €. In topic 2, three projects with a budget of approximately 3 Mio. € were selected. All projects have started in early 2015 accompanied by a kick-off-meeting in June 2015.
A Call for Climate Services Collaborative Research action on “Climate Predictability and Inter-regional Linkages (Drivers and mechanisms linking Poles & Monsoons for societal usefulness of climate services)” together with Belmont Forum in 2015.
Proposals should address one or more of the following topics:
Topic 1: Understanding past and current variability and trends of regional extremes
Topic 2: Predictability and prediction skills for near-future variability and trends of regional extremes
Topic 3: Co-construction of near term forecast products with users
Start of the projects will be June 2016. 6-8 projects will be fund with a total budget of about 15 Mio. €, the project lifetime will be 3 years.
1.3.2 Reports
As outcome of the immense and fruitful work within the WP numerous reports, mapping documents, factsheets, a white paper and a survey were written and mostly published on the JPI Climate website (http://www.jpi-climate.eu).
• A white paper was peer reviewed and published at Rev. Geophys.: Bellucci, A., R. Haarsma, N. Bellouin, B. Booth, C. Cagnazzo, B. van den Hurk, N. Keenlyside, T. Koenigk, F. Massonnet, S. Materia, et al. (2015), “Advancements in decadal climate predictability: The role of non-oceanic drivers”, Rev. Geophysi., 53, 165–202., Doi:10.1002/2014RG000473.
• A chapter on “Debating transformation in multiple crisis” in the 2013 World Social Science Report, Changing Global Environments, © ISSC, UNESCO 2013, has been published. Authors: Ulrich Brand, Achim Brunnengräber (lead authors), Steinar Andresen, Peter Driessen, Helmut Haberl, Daniel Hausknost, Sebastian Helgenberger, Kirsten Hollaender, Jeppe Læssøe, Sebastian Oberthür, Ines Omann and Uwe Schneidewind.
This chapter is based on the JPI CLIMATE WG3 literature review on 'societal transformation'. Abstract: Robust political and social action is required for humanity to stay within planetary boundaries and ensure socially just and sustainable development. The challenges that this involves are increasingly discussed in terms of socio-ecological and sustainable transformation. The term 'transformation' is an appropriate one because it points to the complex financial, economic, social, political, resource and climate dimensions of the crisis.
• A comprehensive survey on climate modelling (final version will be published in March 2016)
Regarding the roadmap on climate modelling, a survey study has been launched which, for the first time, analyses the “why, how and who” of climate models development in Europe. It reviews modelling centre priority setting, decision processes and project management, covers the core European global ESMs as well as their components and analyses all phases of model development, use and evaluation. It further lists where existing partnerships or collaborations within Europe or outside already exist and summarise the perceived costs and benefits of these collaborations as well as the perceived benefits of potential deeper collaborations. This survey emphasizes the role of WCRP international coordinated experiments as an important driver as well as the importance of sustaining European research and infrastructure projects that allow to
share knowledge and expertise. However, they also emphasize that core model developments still require a high level of institutional/national support. The survey also shows an emerging strong potential for enhanced European collaboration on model evaluation.
• Four reports on the development of Climate Services
Activities in 2014 continued with the release of 3 further documents as output from the Fast Track Activities carried out in Norway and Germany (download http://www.jpi-climate.eu ). The results reflected the heterogeneous landscape of Climate Services Development in Europe:
1. Torill Engen Skaugen (2014): Mapping Climate Services Providers in Norway. Deliverable to JPI Climate Working group 2 "Research for Climate Services Development and Deployment". JPI Climate Norwegian WG2 report 1.
2. Torill Engen Skaugen (2014): Climate Services Users' requirements in Norway. What do we know and what not? Deliverable to JPI Climate Working group 2 "Research for Climate Services Development and Deployment". JPI Climate Norwegian WG2 report 2, 2014.
3. M. Máñez, T. Zölch, J. Cortekar (2014): Mapping of Climate Service Providers - Theoretical Foundation and Empirical Results: A German Case Study, CSC Report 15, Climate Service Center, Germany
4. E. Banos de Guisasola (2014): Mapping of Climate Service provider in Italy, JPI Climate Italy, CMCC
• Factsheet on “Societal transformation in the face of climate change, Research priorities for the next decade”, July 2013
JPI Climate identifies key topics for future social science research and grounds them in existing literature, distinguishing ‘scientific analyses of societal transformations under climate change’ from ‘scientific analyses for societal transformations under climate change’. This factsheets informs on the joint call on Societal Transformations
• White paper on “Economics of the cost and benefits of climae change”, May 2013
This document addresses the main research gaps in the area of the cost and benefits of climate change impacts and adaptation with a particular emphasis on this last. Indications are the outcome of an ongoing debate within the JPI Climate. They are intended to be used in the JPI Climate discussion, therefore they have a scientific angle and an academic target. Nonetheless the policy relevance and the relevance for policy makers remain in fact a key selection criteria of the themes suggested.
• Report on “The role of loss data for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Europe”, December 2015
In December 2015, a two-day workshop was hosted by JPI Climate in Berlin, Germany, to discuss with representatives from academia, industry and public administration how to improve availability and quality of climate impact and loss data in Europe in order to meet the requirements of new international agreements.
• Report on “JPI Climate workshop on long-term observing networks”, November 2015
The workshop covered various issues and initiatives like the needs of the user community, the state of the art of the long term observation networks and investigated why and how working together for a better European coordination of observations.
• Report: “JPI Climate guidelines on open knowledge”, June 2015
The JPI Climate Guidelines on Open Knowledge summarizes a set of policy recommendations at both internal (i.e. JPI Climate network governance) and external (i.e. JPI Climate network activities) level. They are mainly focused on accessibility issues (i.e. Open Access to research publications and data), keeping in mind the wider context of the so-called “Open Knowledge” approach, i.e. emphasizing the need to make (climate) knowledge creation, transfer and exchange more transparent and interactive in order to contribute to narrow the gap between climate research communities and societal actors. The Guidelines are conceived to serve the network of research funders and policy makers involved in the JPI community.
• Synthesis Report: “JPI Climate scoping process: Societal transformation in the face of Climate Change”, May 2014
This synthesis report has been prepared on behalf of the JPI Climate Governing Board as product of the Fast-Track-Activity ‘Scoping, Reviewing and Facilitating Social Science contributions to Climate Change Research’
• Policy brief: Climate-friendly climate research: Recommendations in the fields of mobility, events, food, buildings, procurement and research programming, July 2014
The results of enquiries in the context of the “Climate Friendly Climate Research” project have been collated in the form of an overall check-list and six specific recommendation lists, which can be used as guidelines for concerned scientists and managers of research institutions
• Policy brief: Climate-friendly climate research: Assessing the carbon footprint of the research system, July 2014
Carbon emissions of universities and research organizations – and therefore also research programming – are high and, in most regions, on the rise. This paper focuses specifically on the emissions of universities, research programming and climate conferences
• Policy brief: Climate-friendly climate research: Feasibility Assessment: Compiling experiences in climate-friendly research, July 2014
This policy paper outlines a feasibility assessment to reduce the carbon footprint of research and research programming. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of ‘Climate Friendly Research’ was conducted in three main areas.
• Policy brief: Climate-friendly climate research: ‘Existing Solutions’: Options to reduce the carbon footprint of international research collaboration, June 2014
This policy brief reviews existing approaches to reduce the carbon footprint of research and research programming. On the basis of results from the policy brief, “problem analysis” and in the course of compiling existing solutions of “Climate Friendly Research” three main issues were identified.
• Report: “Societal Transformation in the face of Climate Change: 10 key messages from the future research leaders”, July 2013
1.3.3 Deliverables
Altogether, JPI Climate CSA had to submit 25 deliverables (CO, PU and PP deliverables). All of them have been submitted via the participant portal, some with a delay which has been communicated to the EC. Section A, table 3 shows the deliverables that have been produced. However, at this point, five important deliverables and their results will briefly be summarized.
D2.1 Updated SRA and implementation plan
Preparation of an implementation plan and updating of the SRA: The JPI-Climate Implementation Plan (IP) was developed based on the Strategic Research Agenda and further consideration of the evolving nature of the thematic modules to include specific integration activities, both between modules and to encompass cross-cutting themes. This also consisted of a preparation of a concise vision statement based on the existing vision documents within the JPI-Climate Strategic Research Agenda. The IP provides a programmatic and operational framework for JPI Climate to help foster integration at different levels and to support effective implementation planning (presented to and considered at the JPI Climate Governing Board meeting in December 2013).
Regarding the SRA at the GB meeting in December 2013 the existing SRA was considered to continue to reflect the current activities of each working group.
D2.3 Updated SRA and implementation plan
The origin SRA has been written predominantly by researchers according to the concept “truth speaks to power”. The Transdisciplinary Advisory Board (TAB) of JPI Climate recommended that in future SRA revisions, the problems should be framed more in collaboration with stakeholders. Another issue was the structure of the SRA with four major themes. From the beginning of the JPI Climate it was thought to merge the themes or to create another level which stronger links them together. The update of the SRA in M36 (D2.3) hast taken into account these points. The revised SRA is a powerful and convincing document which focuses on three challenges:
1. Understanding the processes and consequences of climate change.
2. Improving knowledge on climate-related decision-making processes and measures.
3. Researching sustainable societal transformation in the context of climate change.
D3.5 Outreach and liaison strategy and work plan
The general objective of the strategy was the identification of the relevant European and international bodies and stakeholders for liaison. The strategy formulated the plan on how to create the links with identified liaison partners as well as how to secure the sustainable cooperation with them in future. Another objective of the strategy was to develop an effective work plan, ensuring the success of the strategy. The strategy should, in general, give a strategic guidance and overall framework to JPI Climate liaison work and it should serve as a tool for the implementation of its Strategic Research Agenda. As part of the strategy, JPI Climate will improve the awareness and understanding of its missions, goals and accomplishments among its partners in order to establish the liaison links to other relevant initiatives and programmes at European and international level.
D4.3 Procedural guidelines for implementing joint activities
This deliverable summarizes the main outputs and synergies between CSA tasks to promote effective implementation of joint activities of JPI Climate, over the 2013-2015 period and beyond within the ERANET for Climate Services 2016-2020. Furthermore, it provides a suite of guideline principles as well as tracks for smart alignment, beyond transnational joint calls, for the second phase of JPIs, 2016-2020, including stronger bonds and coherence between JPI, MS, GPC and EC.
D5.1 Communication and dissemination strategy
The general objective of this JPI Climate dissemination and communication strategy is to specify the main objective of JPI Climate outreach, the target audiences, the content of the information to be disseminated and communicated, and the means to do that effectively within the constraints of the available budget.
The communication and dissemination strategy and associated implementation plan outlines the scope of JPI Climate outreach. At whom is the outreach directed? What is and is not included? Which tools and mechanisms suit the needs of the target audience best? Who is involved in implementing the strategy? The scope of the dissemination and communication strategy is the JPI Climate programme as a whole rather than the CSA project. This includes those joint activities that are implemented in the context of JPI Climate, i.e. emphasizing the added value of these joint activities. It does not cover climate research that is programmed and implemented at the national or European level which is not connected to specific JPI Climate actions. The strategy will be periodically reviewed and updated based on lessons learned, acknowledging the need to learn from experience, and identify when and where there is a need to update.
1.3.4 Workshops and conferences
JPI Climate CSA conducted many workshops and one stock-taking conference during the three years of the project’s lifetime. 16 workshops were held across WP 2-5 with two different formats:
1) Thematic workshops which addressed one or two specific thematic issues.
2) Project administrative meetings / workshops with the whole consortium / initiative, with the management committee of the JPI Climate CSA and regular JPI Climate Governing Board meetings dealing with project implementation, financial and administrative issues and dissemination activities.
Furthermore, numerous contributions to external activities to increase awareness of JPI Climate within the user community were made:
o Participation in inaugural meeting of the European Climate Service Partnership, Hamburg, 8 May 2014 and engaged them in a discussion on the role of JPI Climate.
o Presented JPI Climate at CIRCLE-2 ERANET final conference Adaptation Futures, Lisbon, March 2014.
o Organisation of a half-day workshop on “JPI Climate meeting on user-provider interaction” as part of the European Meteorological Society/European Conference on Applied Climatology “Creating Climate Services through partnerships” in Prague, October 2014.
o Organisation of two workshops with JPI Urban Europe & ICLEI on “Urban adaptation” and with Climate KIC on “Private sector engagement/entrepreneurship” at the 2nd European Climate Change Adaptation Conference, Copenhagen, May 2015
1) Thematic workshops
List of thematic workshops (WP2, 4 and 5)
JPI Climate workshops Date Venue
1 JPI Climate Workshop on “Future Research Leaders / Early Career Researchers” June 18/19, 2013 Oslo
2 JPI Climate Societal Stakeholders / Change Agents October 14/15, 2013 Venice
3 JPI Climate workshop on “Towards Open Climate Knowledge - Potentials and Weaknesses of the Access to Knowledge Approach on Climate Services” January 13/14, 2015 Vienna
4 JPI Climate Workshop “Improving knowledge for enhanced climate change response and decision-making” April 21/22, 2015 Brussels
5 JPI Climate Workshop “Demand driven climate services in Europe” June 11/12, 2015 Brussels
6 JPI Climate Kick-off meeting of the 1st Joint Call "Tackling global societal challenges through innovative climate research" June 16, 2015 Brussels
7 JPI Climate Workshop “Knowledge usability” June 17, 2015 Brussels
8 JPI Climate Workshop on “Updating the SRA” October 1/2, 2015 Brussels
9 JPI Climate Symposium “Designing Comprehensive Open Knowledge Policies to Face Climate Change” October 22/23, 2015 Vienna
10 JPI Climate Workshop “Outreach and Engagement” November 5, 2015 Venice
11 JPI Climate Workshop “European long-term observation networks” November 9/10, 2015 Paris
12 JPI Climate Symposium “Taking stock and inspiring the future” November 17/18, 2015 Madrid
13 JPI Climate Workshop “Greening the research system” jointly organised with Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) November 23-25, 2015 Potsdam
14 JPI Climate Workshop “Climate Impact and Loss Data for Europe” December 16/17, 2015 Berlin
2) Project administrative meetings / workshops
To ensure an efficient project implementation as well as an efficient development of the JPI Climate, JPI Climate CSA held a kick-off meeting and several management committee meetings where administrative or content-related questions and difficulties were discussed and solved. In addition to the personal meetings, several telephone conferences and some video-conferences were held with the management committees as well as with the chairs of the JPI Climate GB.
List of project administrative meetings / workshops
JPI Climate CSA administrative meetings, workshops Date Venue
1 JPI Climate CSA, Kick-Off-Meeting February 18/19, 2013 Paris
2 JPI Climate Management Committee Meeting April 12, 2013 Vienna
3 5th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting June 5/6, 2013 Bonn
4 JPI Climate Management Committee Meeting with Chairs of the JPI Climate Governing Board September 17, 2013 Brussels
5 6th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting December 12/13, 2013 Copenhagen
6 JPI Climate Management Committee Meeting May 19, 2014 Paris
7 7th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting May 20/21, 2014 Paris
8 JPI Climate Management Committee Meeting with Chairs of the JPI Climate Governing Board September 30, 2014 Oxford
9 JPI Climate Task force on “Updated SRA and Implementaion Plan” October 1, 2014 Oxford
10 8th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting November 25/26, 2014 Oslo
11 9th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting May 20/21, 2015 Brussels
12 10th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting November 18/19, 2015 Madrid
1.3.5 Other activities
The ERA-NET on Climate Services (ERA4CS) under negotiation for funding under Horizon 2020
After a favourable evaluation by the European Commission, the ERA-NET COFUND “European Research Area for Climate Services” (ERA4CS), proposed with the support of the JPI Climate, has been invited for a Grant Agreement with the Commission up to 25 Mio. €. The ERA4CS consortium kick-off is planned for January 2016.
Within the European Research Area (ERA), the ERA4CS Consortium is aiming to boost research for Climate Services (CS), including climate adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk management, allowing regions, cities and key economic sectors to develop opportunities and strengthen Europe’s leadership. CS are seen as driven by user demands to provide knowledge to face impacts of climate variability and change, as well as guidance both to researchers and decision-makers in policy and business.
ERA4CS will focus on the development of a “climate information translation” layer bridging “user communities” and “climate science system”. It implies the development of tools, methods, standards and quality control for reliable, qualified and tailored information required by the various field actors for smart decisions.
ERA4CS will boost the JPI Climate initiative by mobilizing more deeply, within EU Member States and Associated Countries, both the research performing organizations (RPOs) and the research funding organizations (RFOs), the distinct national climate services and the various disciplines of academia, including Humanities and Social Sciences.
ERA4CS will launch a joint transnational co-funded call, with 16 countries and up to 75 Mio. €, with two complementary topics:
1. a “cash” topic, supported by 12 RFOs, on co-development for user needs and action-oriented projects;
2. an “in-kind” topic, supported by 28 RPOs, on institutional integration of the research components of national CS.
Complementary to the call, ERA4CS additional activities will initiate a strong partnership between JPI Climate and other key European and international initiatives (as Copernicus, KIC-Climate, other JPIs, WMO/GFCS, Future Earth, Belmont Forum...) in order to work towards a common vision and a multi-year implementation strategy, including better co-alignment of national programs and activities up to 2020 and beyond.
JPI Climate Symposium “Taking stock and inspiring the future”
Madrid, 17/18 November 2015
At this “working symposium” highlights of JPI Climate’s activities in the past three years were presented. Based on this stock taking ways to improve the impact and efficiency of the science planning and science-practice interface were discussed in panel format and in group discussions by more than 60 participants. The status of the development of a new Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) was presented and the four key challenges as proposed in the current draft SRA were discussed in separate group discussions.
The four key challenges are:
1. Connecting disciplines and approaches in the understanding of relevant processes and impacts of climate change
2. Connecting climate change research to decision-making needs
3. Connecting climate change research, societal transformation and pathways to the wider realm of sustainable development goals
4. Connecting people, problems and solutions in a systemic approach
These four challenges were further discussed in four separate discussion groups. Suggestions for adaptations of the title were given. Without having the written draft Strategic Research Agenda on the table the discussion revealed diverse understanding of the possible content of these research areas based on the titles alone. Participants formulated expectations on what JPI Climate should cover or strengthen and what would be out of scope. Essence of the discussion was collected on flip charts from each discussion group.
Potential Impact:
1.4. The impact (incl. the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) and the main dissemination activities
The FP7 funded project JPI Climate CSA has successfully achieved almost all of its proposed project tasks and workshops as well as activities. The project has managed
• To identify, coordinate and integrate national climate research funding programmes
• To forward and provide input to climate research programmes and policies of the EU
• To establish a strategic collaboration with global programmes, neighbouring countries, climate policy actors at the international level (JPI Climate as fireplace)
• To make progress in engaging the partnership of the JPI Climate to other EU member states, with special focus on Eastern European countries
• To develop an effective communication and dissemination strategy (including a strategic vision and action plan)
• To develop a detailed implementation plan which includes time plan and action plan
• To derive an update of the Strategic Research Agenda, based on recent developments and experiences
• To elaborate and apply concepts and mechanisms on how to best integrate activities of the four different modules to provide integrated climate knowledge.
Thus, JPI Climate CSA has achieved most aspects to be addressed in the origin proposal. Based on these promising results the potential impact of all these activities is already appreciable and will becoming more considerable in future.
In order to effectively disseminate this knowledge to the relevant stakeholders (policy makers, decision makers, businesses and the European community, representing different disciplines, practically all economic sectors, private and public service organisations and various geographic and administrative levels), firstly JPI Climate has required a dissemination and communication strategy tailored to the various target audiences.
The first version of the JPI Climate dissemination and communication strategy was released in 2013, in the context of WP5. This strategy was periodically reviewed and updated based on lessons learned, acknowledging the need to learn from experience, and identifying when and where there was a need to update. After the end of the JPI Climate CSA the Central Secretariat (CS) of JPI Climate has been taking over the responsibility of streamlining the dissemination of results.
Dissemination activities:
• JPI Climate website
A JPI Climate leaflet with general information on the membership status, focus topics from the current Strategic Research Agenda and the structure of the implementation has been developed in early 2014 and approved by the Governing Board in May 2014. It has subsequently been distributed at JPI Climate events or conference participations to provide introductory information about JPI Climate.
• JPI Climate leaflet
The new version of the JPI Climate website was launched before summer of 2013. In this website, the visitors can find the latest news of the initiative and general climate news articles, events, a description of the JPI, organisation, governance, CSA, member countries, the Strategic Research Agenda and the Joint Actions, such as the latest Call. The homepage also provides the latest news, events and publications. In 2014, Governing Board (GB) members provided specific feedback on website pages. GB members supported the idea of having national pages that provide access to research information in their countries, but the number of countries has to be expanded.
In June 2015, the daily number of visitors was around 150, who consulted around 350 pages each day. The countries with the highest number of visitors are Germany, France, the Netherlands, USA, UK, Belgium and Austria. The most requested pages are: "2015 Call", "2013 Call", "About JPI Climate", "Projects", "JPI Climate Themes", "News & Events" and "Governing Board".
• JPI Climate intranet
Documentation can be placed and shared on the JPI Climate intranet (http://www.jpi-climate.eu/intranet). Members of the GB, Transdisciplinary Advisory Board (TAB) and associated task forces can use and share their own working space, find pictures for internal use, and search for people contact details in the Contact List. All intranet members have received their account details for logging onto this system. The usage of the intranet by GB members and associated task forces can be further strengthened, in particular during preparation of joint calls and evaluation and review of proposals.
• JPI Climate newsletter
The first issue of the JPI Climate newsletter was distributed in October 2013. Until December 2015, 6 newsletters were produced. Content can be delivered to the web manager.
The Central Secretariat is responsible for the elaboration and distribution of the JPI Climate newsletter. The proposed frequency of distribution is twice a year. In addition to the JPI Climate internal mailing list, external audiences can also subscribe to this newsletter in the JPI Climate webpage. Since July 2015, the mailing list has gained 23 new external subscribers (101 current subscribers as of September 2015).
• Social media
A LinkedIn Group
(http://www.linkedin.com/groups/JPI-Climate-5011791?trk=my_groups-b-grp-v) has been created and launched during the summer of 2013. 125 people are now registered as members. On a weekly basis, 1 or 2 news or discussion items are being posted in this group. Participation is still low, but growing.
A Twitter account has been created and launched during June 2014 (https://twitter.com/JPIClimate) to enhance the communication channels with the broader public. Currently, this account has 329 followers. New information and discussion items are being posted and retweets being done on a regular basis. The use of this social media channel could be intensified to reach a number of 1000 followers in 2016. The current number of 329 is quite good compared to other JPIs, but moderate compared to other climate initiatives.
A YouTube channel has been created and launched during June 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaL8q66yAUCeIfKugCUaSg). This channel hosts the recordings of the presentations from workshops organised by JPI Climate.
In the future, this channel will continue to be used as a vehicle to strengthen the JPI Climate community and to enhance the communication with the broader public.
• JPI Climate workshop “Improving knowledge for enhanced climate change response and decision-making”
The workshop “Improving knowledge for enhanced climate change response and decision-making” was held in Brussels April 21-22, 2015, at the JPI Climate Secretariat office. The workshop was the result of task 2.4 of WP4 work on knowledge transfer and enhanced decision making and has benefited from early research results of one of JPI Climate-funded projects investigating the uptake of IPCC’s Fifth assessment report (AR5).
The main goal of the workshop was to generate insights, debate and recommendations for JPI Climate Governing Board regarding challenges and opportunities to better connect JPI Climate research activities to decision makers from local to international scale, to improve science-policy-society interfaces, and to better engage with diverse stakeholders. In particular, the workshop addressed the gap in bridging scientific results with policy actors; the challenges and opportunities of co-design of research and co-production of knowledge with diverse stakeholders; and the lack of awareness of nonlinear relations between science and action that still pervades climate change research.
The workshop attracted a wide range of participants, including academics, politicians, civil society actors, staff of private sector organisations, representatives of the TAB and experts connected to the 4 working groups.
Particular topics discussed include implementation of stakeholder engagement activities (one of JPI Climate’s five core principles), decision-making contexts of transdisciplinary research, a better understanding of science-policy gaps, and the need for co-production of knowledge for solutions-oriented research. There was wide agreement among the participants that these issues and goals are often taken for granted, while they are in fact major research topics. There is a wealth of research findings and experience already offering major lessons for JPI Climate.
The report of this workshop is available at the JPI Climate website.
• Engaging with additional European countries
JPI Climate aims at expanding access to knowledge and evidence from research across Europe to better inform policy and practice initiatives. In order to achieve that, JPI Climate wishes to engage an even higher number of European countries in this initiative.
In fact, one of the current priorities for JPI Climate is widening the participation of European countries in this initiative. This is also consistent with JPI Climate's mission to contribute to the overall EU objective of developing a European Research Area.
JPI Climate is already working towards this goal by organising regional outreach and engagement workshops. The aim of these workshops is to explore engagement opportunities with funding agencies, stakeholders and researchers in countries and organisations not currently linked with JPI Climate. The outcomes of these workshops are summarised in a report that includes recommendations to the Governing Board and is available on the JPI Climate public website.
Based on the feedback from the participants, the organisation of more outreach and engagement workshops by JPI Climate is recommended in order to build trust and relationships with potential new member countries.
It is also important that the network of contacts be expanded in order to reach out to the national relevant ministries and present the added value of participating in this initiative.
• Engaging with the private sector
Climate change is a cross-cutting issue that requires all sectors of society to be engaged with common goals. It is also an equal opportunity problem, given that there are vast inequalities in access to needed knowledge and technology and unequal vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities. Addressing climate change, both through mitigation and adaptation/resilience actions, requires coordinated efforts by a broad range of actors, including governments and the private sector.
Furthermore, the Lund Declaration 2015 on societal challenges calls for a stronger participation of end-users, public sector and industry in the Joint Programming Process addressing societal challenges.
With this in mind, JPI Climate aims at developing a Private Sector Engagement Strategy, which will include a set of activities tailored to the inclusion of diverse sector actors in the co-design, development and achievement of JPI Climate goals.
Within the frame of such a strategy, JPI Climate is already developing some concrete actions to explore possibilities to enhance partnerships between science, private sector and public institutions to co-produce knowledge and innovations in the area of climate change.
For example, JPI Climate is currently in the process of learning from European companies about their needs for knowledge about climate change risks and solutions (using targeted questionnaires). The outcome is a brief analysis of the main research needs and topics for further science-private sector partnerships. This analysis will be used during science-practice discussions at the "Adaptation Futures" conference in 2016 and in follow-up activities planned for 2016 (including the development of the Private Sector Engagement Strategy).
Furthermore, JPI Climate is already planning several activities at the "Adaptation Futures" conference in 2016. These include a science-practice session aimed at consultancies providing adaptation support and researchers developing the knowledge that the consultants use, a side event aimed at learning from business needs and trying to build mutual trust (this will include a brokerage session to bring scientists potentially involved in the ERA4CS together with business) and a JPI Climate booth at the conference
List of Websites:
The website can be found following this link: www.jpi-climate.eu
Project Coordinator:
Dr. Armin Mathes
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.
Project Management Agency | Environment, Culture, Sustainability
Heinrich-Konen-Str. 1
53227 Bonn, Germany
Tel: +49-228-3821-1541
Fax: +49-228-3821-1540
E-mail: Armin.Mathes@dlr.de
1.1 Executive Summary
Climate change is a complex reality, which affects European society at large. Understanding and responding to climate change requires coordinated and large-scale European efforts, in research, innovation and governance.
JPI Climate (www.jpi-climate.eu) is a European Joint Programming Initiative of EU Members States and Associated Countries, in cooperation with the European Commission. JPI Climate, comprised of representatives of ministries and organizations for research funding, aims through its programme of activities to connect research, performers and funders across Europe to promote the creation of new knowledge in the natural and anthropogenic climate change domain that is fundamental and relevant for decision support.
JPI Climate
• provides the platform where these objectives can be met, aligning national research priorities according to a jointly agreed Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) with the aim of complementing and supporting initiatives at the European level (ERANETs, FP7 and Horizon 2020, Climate KIC, ESFRI Projects),
• facilitates the coordination, collaboration and exploitation of synergies while working against fragmentation and duplication of efforts. Coordination of the research base secured through national resources will help underpin European efforts to confront climate change,
• aims to respond to the needs of policy and decision makers and the European society at large for knowledge-based information and services to address climate change.
• is innovative in its interdisciplinary approach in connecting natural- with socio-economic sciences and it is guided, coordinated and managed through a flexible collaborative governance mechanism.
JPI Climate CSA was funded under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Innovation as a Coordination and Support Action (CSA).
The overarching aim of this CSA was to support the development of the JPI Climate into a viable, mature and sustained joint research effort. The CSA enabled JPI Climate to realize its goals of achieving a competitive advantage for Europe by improving the knowledge base for climate action, informing ongoing international negotiations and enhancing decision-making capacities on various levels with regards to climate change. The JPI Climate contributes to the overall EU objective of building the European Research Area through enhanced cooperation and coordination of national research programmes.
Project Context and Objectives:
1.2 A summary description of project context and objectives
In order to efficiently support the development of JPI climate into a viable, mature and sustained joint research effort, the CSA has strived for the following objectives during the runtime of the project (01/2013- 12/2015):
• Identify, coordinate and integrate national climate research funding programmes.
• Put forward and provide input to climate research programmes and policies of the EU.
• Establish a strategic collaboration with global programmes, neighbouring countries, climate policy actors at the international level (JPI Climate as fireplace).
• Extend the partnership of the JPI Climate to other EU member states, with special focus on eastern European countries.
• Develop an effective communication and dissemination strategy (including a strategic vision and action plan).
• Develop a detailed implementation plan which includes time plan and action plan.
• Derive an update of the Strategic Research Agenda, based on recent developments and experiences.
• Elaborate and apply concepts and mechanisms on how to best integrate activities of the four different modules to provide integrated climate knowledge.
JPI Climate CSA conducted a “parallel working approach” meaning that project activities basically run in a parallel way. Therefore, the realization of the project objectives had started in M1 of the project and completed in M36 of the project. The project consisted of five WPs, whereof WP1 included the general project management:
• WP1 – Coordination and management: Ensuring effective and high-quality coordination and management of the CSA project.
• WP2 – JPI Climate strategic research agenda and implementation: The development of joint activities within JPI Climate.
• WP3 – JPI Climate platform: The implementing of a strategic platform to liaise with other initiatives in order to strategically position the JPI Climate and become an important element in the policy landscape on European as well as global level.
• WP4 – JPI Climate framework conditions: The developing of common guidelines for effective and efficient transfer of knowledge and innovation to users and the promoting of common practices on these issues within the Joint Programming community.
• WP5 – JPI Climate Dissemination: Developing a strategy which will enhance the potential, realised reach and impact of the JPI Climate through effective communication and dissemination with policy, private and other stakeholders to achieve a high level of awareness and engagement as to the societal challenge of climate change.
The main advantages of the “parallel working approach” was that all JPI Climate CSA partners were involved in the project implementation process from the very beginning to the project’s end. This led to a high inter-connectedness of results, the creation of synergies between WPs and an assurance of the commitment of all partners throughout the duration of the project.
All project objectives could be achieved during the project’s 36 months, in some cases in a slightly modified way. In such cases, this was communicated to the EC.
Objectives for Work Package 2
The principle objective of WP2 was to support the development of joint activities within the JPI Climate. Following the strategic research agenda (SRA) adopted by the JPI Climate Governing Board (GB) in 2011, WP2 fostered the implementation of first activities for the four interconnected themes (see below) of the JPI Climate. It supported mapping, scoping and foresight activities which are crucial to enhance coordination and prepare for common activities, such as joint calls, and ensured the integration of the four modules.
The four themes are:
• theme 1: Moving towards Reliable Decadal Climate Predictions
• theme 2: Researching Climate Service Development and Deployment
• theme 3: Sustainable Transformations of Society in the Face of Climate Change
• theme 4: Improving Tools for Decision-Making under Climate Change
The following objectives were to be met during the project period:
• Preparing the implementation of joint activities within two main complementary areas of European climate change research: 1) coordination of model development and research and 2) coordination of climate observations.
• Supporting mapping, scoping and foresight activities and workshops with the objectives to elaborate common white papers, roadmaps and platforms in order to prepare first common joint calls and coordinated actions.
• Improving interface between climate research and its application through:
1. Researching and advancing climate services (CS) by assessing the quality of CSs.
2. Enhancing networking with CS communities.
3. Building up a network of CSs providers.
• Strengthening the contributions of social sciences and humanities (SSH) in climate change research.
• Strengthening the science-practice knowledge development and transfer including decision-support and science communication.
• Fostering the integration of global and regional climate change scenario analysis and assessment in different regions and sectors.
Objectives for Work Package 3
WP3 was to implement a strategic platform to liaise with other initiatives in order to strategically position the JPI Climate and become an important element in the policy landscape on European as well as global level.
The following objectives were to be met during the project period:
• Finalizing the implementation of the strategic platform by setting up the JPI Climate Central Secretariat for the JPI Climate member states’ internal and external coordination.
• Providing tools, means, and procedures to enhance the coordination and communication between the JPI Climate governance bodies and organize their meetings.
• Identifying and linking relevant European and international actors and stakeholders to the JPI Climate.
• Streamlining climate research funding policy collaboration and communication with member states and EC, European parliament and Council and similar actors.
Objectives for Work Package 4
The aim of WP4 was to enable continuous improvement in managing and implementing the JPI Climate. Efficient methods should have developed and applied in collaboration with WP2 to support the JPI Climate implementation plan.
The following objectives were to be met during the project period:
• Revision of the existing governance scheme and operationalization of the adopted governance principles
• Developing of instruments and demonstrators to implement the JPI Climate through joint actions.
• Developing common guidelines for effective and efficient transfer of knowledge and innovation to users.
• Promoting common practices on these issues within the Joint Programming community.
Objectives for Work Package 5
The overarching aim of WP5 was to develop a strategy which will enhance the potential, realised reach and impact of the JPI Climate through effective communication and dissemination with policy, private and other stakeholders to achieve a high level of awareness and engagement as to the societal challenge of climate change.
The following objectives were to be met during the project period:
• Developing communications products for external (and internal) audiences working with the four JPI Climate Working Groups and stakeholders to encourage participation.
• Linking with the dissemination actions of complementary international initiatives, including other JPIs, in developing and implementing outreach activities.
• Developing and maintain the JPI Climate’s website, including the external public site and a password-protected site for internal communication and information sharing.
• Encouraging the broader scientific community in partner countries to actively engage in the JPI Climate as well as expanding the programme beyond existing partners.
• Streamlining dissemination of JPI Climate related research results to relevant national and international stakeholders and engage them in identifying future programme priorities.
Project Results:
1.3. Description of the main S&T results / foreground
JPI Climate CSA was not a research project. It was rather a CSA that supports the development of a European Programming Initiative of EU Members States and Associated Countries, in cooperation with the European Commission. In doing so it supported different policy processes, developed and revised strategies, organized workshops and conferences and improved networking process between relevant European and international actors and stakeholders. Therefore, the foreground this project has been produced consists of a list of strategies, reports, successful workshops and conferences as well as other activities that aligned strategies, instruments, resources and actors at national and European levels.
1.3.1 Joint calls
Joint research funding is one out of several potentially beneficial ways of collaborating between European countries or rather between JPI Climate member states. Two joint calls were launched from WP 2 during the project lifetime of JPI Climate CSA.
A European JPI Climate Joint Call for Transnational Collaborative Research Projects with two topics has been launched in 2013:
Topic 1: Societal Transformation in the Face of Climate Change
Topic 2: Russian Arctic & Boreal Systems
Regarding topic 1, six projects with a total budget of approximately 7 Mio. €. In topic 2, three projects with a budget of approximately 3 Mio. € were selected. All projects have started in early 2015 accompanied by a kick-off-meeting in June 2015.
A Call for Climate Services Collaborative Research action on “Climate Predictability and Inter-regional Linkages (Drivers and mechanisms linking Poles & Monsoons for societal usefulness of climate services)” together with Belmont Forum in 2015.
Proposals should address one or more of the following topics:
Topic 1: Understanding past and current variability and trends of regional extremes
Topic 2: Predictability and prediction skills for near-future variability and trends of regional extremes
Topic 3: Co-construction of near term forecast products with users
Start of the projects will be June 2016. 6-8 projects will be fund with a total budget of about 15 Mio. €, the project lifetime will be 3 years.
1.3.2 Reports
As outcome of the immense and fruitful work within the WP numerous reports, mapping documents, factsheets, a white paper and a survey were written and mostly published on the JPI Climate website (http://www.jpi-climate.eu).
• A white paper was peer reviewed and published at Rev. Geophys.: Bellucci, A., R. Haarsma, N. Bellouin, B. Booth, C. Cagnazzo, B. van den Hurk, N. Keenlyside, T. Koenigk, F. Massonnet, S. Materia, et al. (2015), “Advancements in decadal climate predictability: The role of non-oceanic drivers”, Rev. Geophysi., 53, 165–202., Doi:10.1002/2014RG000473.
• A chapter on “Debating transformation in multiple crisis” in the 2013 World Social Science Report, Changing Global Environments, © ISSC, UNESCO 2013, has been published. Authors: Ulrich Brand, Achim Brunnengräber (lead authors), Steinar Andresen, Peter Driessen, Helmut Haberl, Daniel Hausknost, Sebastian Helgenberger, Kirsten Hollaender, Jeppe Læssøe, Sebastian Oberthür, Ines Omann and Uwe Schneidewind.
This chapter is based on the JPI CLIMATE WG3 literature review on 'societal transformation'. Abstract: Robust political and social action is required for humanity to stay within planetary boundaries and ensure socially just and sustainable development. The challenges that this involves are increasingly discussed in terms of socio-ecological and sustainable transformation. The term 'transformation' is an appropriate one because it points to the complex financial, economic, social, political, resource and climate dimensions of the crisis.
• A comprehensive survey on climate modelling (final version will be published in March 2016)
Regarding the roadmap on climate modelling, a survey study has been launched which, for the first time, analyses the “why, how and who” of climate models development in Europe. It reviews modelling centre priority setting, decision processes and project management, covers the core European global ESMs as well as their components and analyses all phases of model development, use and evaluation. It further lists where existing partnerships or collaborations within Europe or outside already exist and summarise the perceived costs and benefits of these collaborations as well as the perceived benefits of potential deeper collaborations. This survey emphasizes the role of WCRP international coordinated experiments as an important driver as well as the importance of sustaining European research and infrastructure projects that allow to
share knowledge and expertise. However, they also emphasize that core model developments still require a high level of institutional/national support. The survey also shows an emerging strong potential for enhanced European collaboration on model evaluation.
• Four reports on the development of Climate Services
Activities in 2014 continued with the release of 3 further documents as output from the Fast Track Activities carried out in Norway and Germany (download http://www.jpi-climate.eu ). The results reflected the heterogeneous landscape of Climate Services Development in Europe:
1. Torill Engen Skaugen (2014): Mapping Climate Services Providers in Norway. Deliverable to JPI Climate Working group 2 "Research for Climate Services Development and Deployment". JPI Climate Norwegian WG2 report 1.
2. Torill Engen Skaugen (2014): Climate Services Users' requirements in Norway. What do we know and what not? Deliverable to JPI Climate Working group 2 "Research for Climate Services Development and Deployment". JPI Climate Norwegian WG2 report 2, 2014.
3. M. Máñez, T. Zölch, J. Cortekar (2014): Mapping of Climate Service Providers - Theoretical Foundation and Empirical Results: A German Case Study, CSC Report 15, Climate Service Center, Germany
4. E. Banos de Guisasola (2014): Mapping of Climate Service provider in Italy, JPI Climate Italy, CMCC
• Factsheet on “Societal transformation in the face of climate change, Research priorities for the next decade”, July 2013
JPI Climate identifies key topics for future social science research and grounds them in existing literature, distinguishing ‘scientific analyses of societal transformations under climate change’ from ‘scientific analyses for societal transformations under climate change’. This factsheets informs on the joint call on Societal Transformations
• White paper on “Economics of the cost and benefits of climae change”, May 2013
This document addresses the main research gaps in the area of the cost and benefits of climate change impacts and adaptation with a particular emphasis on this last. Indications are the outcome of an ongoing debate within the JPI Climate. They are intended to be used in the JPI Climate discussion, therefore they have a scientific angle and an academic target. Nonetheless the policy relevance and the relevance for policy makers remain in fact a key selection criteria of the themes suggested.
• Report on “The role of loss data for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Europe”, December 2015
In December 2015, a two-day workshop was hosted by JPI Climate in Berlin, Germany, to discuss with representatives from academia, industry and public administration how to improve availability and quality of climate impact and loss data in Europe in order to meet the requirements of new international agreements.
• Report on “JPI Climate workshop on long-term observing networks”, November 2015
The workshop covered various issues and initiatives like the needs of the user community, the state of the art of the long term observation networks and investigated why and how working together for a better European coordination of observations.
• Report: “JPI Climate guidelines on open knowledge”, June 2015
The JPI Climate Guidelines on Open Knowledge summarizes a set of policy recommendations at both internal (i.e. JPI Climate network governance) and external (i.e. JPI Climate network activities) level. They are mainly focused on accessibility issues (i.e. Open Access to research publications and data), keeping in mind the wider context of the so-called “Open Knowledge” approach, i.e. emphasizing the need to make (climate) knowledge creation, transfer and exchange more transparent and interactive in order to contribute to narrow the gap between climate research communities and societal actors. The Guidelines are conceived to serve the network of research funders and policy makers involved in the JPI community.
• Synthesis Report: “JPI Climate scoping process: Societal transformation in the face of Climate Change”, May 2014
This synthesis report has been prepared on behalf of the JPI Climate Governing Board as product of the Fast-Track-Activity ‘Scoping, Reviewing and Facilitating Social Science contributions to Climate Change Research’
• Policy brief: Climate-friendly climate research: Recommendations in the fields of mobility, events, food, buildings, procurement and research programming, July 2014
The results of enquiries in the context of the “Climate Friendly Climate Research” project have been collated in the form of an overall check-list and six specific recommendation lists, which can be used as guidelines for concerned scientists and managers of research institutions
• Policy brief: Climate-friendly climate research: Assessing the carbon footprint of the research system, July 2014
Carbon emissions of universities and research organizations – and therefore also research programming – are high and, in most regions, on the rise. This paper focuses specifically on the emissions of universities, research programming and climate conferences
• Policy brief: Climate-friendly climate research: Feasibility Assessment: Compiling experiences in climate-friendly research, July 2014
This policy paper outlines a feasibility assessment to reduce the carbon footprint of research and research programming. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of ‘Climate Friendly Research’ was conducted in three main areas.
• Policy brief: Climate-friendly climate research: ‘Existing Solutions’: Options to reduce the carbon footprint of international research collaboration, June 2014
This policy brief reviews existing approaches to reduce the carbon footprint of research and research programming. On the basis of results from the policy brief, “problem analysis” and in the course of compiling existing solutions of “Climate Friendly Research” three main issues were identified.
• Report: “Societal Transformation in the face of Climate Change: 10 key messages from the future research leaders”, July 2013
1.3.3 Deliverables
Altogether, JPI Climate CSA had to submit 25 deliverables (CO, PU and PP deliverables). All of them have been submitted via the participant portal, some with a delay which has been communicated to the EC. Section A, table 3 shows the deliverables that have been produced. However, at this point, five important deliverables and their results will briefly be summarized.
D2.1 Updated SRA and implementation plan
Preparation of an implementation plan and updating of the SRA: The JPI-Climate Implementation Plan (IP) was developed based on the Strategic Research Agenda and further consideration of the evolving nature of the thematic modules to include specific integration activities, both between modules and to encompass cross-cutting themes. This also consisted of a preparation of a concise vision statement based on the existing vision documents within the JPI-Climate Strategic Research Agenda. The IP provides a programmatic and operational framework for JPI Climate to help foster integration at different levels and to support effective implementation planning (presented to and considered at the JPI Climate Governing Board meeting in December 2013).
Regarding the SRA at the GB meeting in December 2013 the existing SRA was considered to continue to reflect the current activities of each working group.
D2.3 Updated SRA and implementation plan
The origin SRA has been written predominantly by researchers according to the concept “truth speaks to power”. The Transdisciplinary Advisory Board (TAB) of JPI Climate recommended that in future SRA revisions, the problems should be framed more in collaboration with stakeholders. Another issue was the structure of the SRA with four major themes. From the beginning of the JPI Climate it was thought to merge the themes or to create another level which stronger links them together. The update of the SRA in M36 (D2.3) hast taken into account these points. The revised SRA is a powerful and convincing document which focuses on three challenges:
1. Understanding the processes and consequences of climate change.
2. Improving knowledge on climate-related decision-making processes and measures.
3. Researching sustainable societal transformation in the context of climate change.
D3.5 Outreach and liaison strategy and work plan
The general objective of the strategy was the identification of the relevant European and international bodies and stakeholders for liaison. The strategy formulated the plan on how to create the links with identified liaison partners as well as how to secure the sustainable cooperation with them in future. Another objective of the strategy was to develop an effective work plan, ensuring the success of the strategy. The strategy should, in general, give a strategic guidance and overall framework to JPI Climate liaison work and it should serve as a tool for the implementation of its Strategic Research Agenda. As part of the strategy, JPI Climate will improve the awareness and understanding of its missions, goals and accomplishments among its partners in order to establish the liaison links to other relevant initiatives and programmes at European and international level.
D4.3 Procedural guidelines for implementing joint activities
This deliverable summarizes the main outputs and synergies between CSA tasks to promote effective implementation of joint activities of JPI Climate, over the 2013-2015 period and beyond within the ERANET for Climate Services 2016-2020. Furthermore, it provides a suite of guideline principles as well as tracks for smart alignment, beyond transnational joint calls, for the second phase of JPIs, 2016-2020, including stronger bonds and coherence between JPI, MS, GPC and EC.
D5.1 Communication and dissemination strategy
The general objective of this JPI Climate dissemination and communication strategy is to specify the main objective of JPI Climate outreach, the target audiences, the content of the information to be disseminated and communicated, and the means to do that effectively within the constraints of the available budget.
The communication and dissemination strategy and associated implementation plan outlines the scope of JPI Climate outreach. At whom is the outreach directed? What is and is not included? Which tools and mechanisms suit the needs of the target audience best? Who is involved in implementing the strategy? The scope of the dissemination and communication strategy is the JPI Climate programme as a whole rather than the CSA project. This includes those joint activities that are implemented in the context of JPI Climate, i.e. emphasizing the added value of these joint activities. It does not cover climate research that is programmed and implemented at the national or European level which is not connected to specific JPI Climate actions. The strategy will be periodically reviewed and updated based on lessons learned, acknowledging the need to learn from experience, and identify when and where there is a need to update.
1.3.4 Workshops and conferences
JPI Climate CSA conducted many workshops and one stock-taking conference during the three years of the project’s lifetime. 16 workshops were held across WP 2-5 with two different formats:
1) Thematic workshops which addressed one or two specific thematic issues.
2) Project administrative meetings / workshops with the whole consortium / initiative, with the management committee of the JPI Climate CSA and regular JPI Climate Governing Board meetings dealing with project implementation, financial and administrative issues and dissemination activities.
Furthermore, numerous contributions to external activities to increase awareness of JPI Climate within the user community were made:
o Participation in inaugural meeting of the European Climate Service Partnership, Hamburg, 8 May 2014 and engaged them in a discussion on the role of JPI Climate.
o Presented JPI Climate at CIRCLE-2 ERANET final conference Adaptation Futures, Lisbon, March 2014.
o Organisation of a half-day workshop on “JPI Climate meeting on user-provider interaction” as part of the European Meteorological Society/European Conference on Applied Climatology “Creating Climate Services through partnerships” in Prague, October 2014.
o Organisation of two workshops with JPI Urban Europe & ICLEI on “Urban adaptation” and with Climate KIC on “Private sector engagement/entrepreneurship” at the 2nd European Climate Change Adaptation Conference, Copenhagen, May 2015
1) Thematic workshops
List of thematic workshops (WP2, 4 and 5)
JPI Climate workshops Date Venue
1 JPI Climate Workshop on “Future Research Leaders / Early Career Researchers” June 18/19, 2013 Oslo
2 JPI Climate Societal Stakeholders / Change Agents October 14/15, 2013 Venice
3 JPI Climate workshop on “Towards Open Climate Knowledge - Potentials and Weaknesses of the Access to Knowledge Approach on Climate Services” January 13/14, 2015 Vienna
4 JPI Climate Workshop “Improving knowledge for enhanced climate change response and decision-making” April 21/22, 2015 Brussels
5 JPI Climate Workshop “Demand driven climate services in Europe” June 11/12, 2015 Brussels
6 JPI Climate Kick-off meeting of the 1st Joint Call "Tackling global societal challenges through innovative climate research" June 16, 2015 Brussels
7 JPI Climate Workshop “Knowledge usability” June 17, 2015 Brussels
8 JPI Climate Workshop on “Updating the SRA” October 1/2, 2015 Brussels
9 JPI Climate Symposium “Designing Comprehensive Open Knowledge Policies to Face Climate Change” October 22/23, 2015 Vienna
10 JPI Climate Workshop “Outreach and Engagement” November 5, 2015 Venice
11 JPI Climate Workshop “European long-term observation networks” November 9/10, 2015 Paris
12 JPI Climate Symposium “Taking stock and inspiring the future” November 17/18, 2015 Madrid
13 JPI Climate Workshop “Greening the research system” jointly organised with Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) November 23-25, 2015 Potsdam
14 JPI Climate Workshop “Climate Impact and Loss Data for Europe” December 16/17, 2015 Berlin
2) Project administrative meetings / workshops
To ensure an efficient project implementation as well as an efficient development of the JPI Climate, JPI Climate CSA held a kick-off meeting and several management committee meetings where administrative or content-related questions and difficulties were discussed and solved. In addition to the personal meetings, several telephone conferences and some video-conferences were held with the management committees as well as with the chairs of the JPI Climate GB.
List of project administrative meetings / workshops
JPI Climate CSA administrative meetings, workshops Date Venue
1 JPI Climate CSA, Kick-Off-Meeting February 18/19, 2013 Paris
2 JPI Climate Management Committee Meeting April 12, 2013 Vienna
3 5th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting June 5/6, 2013 Bonn
4 JPI Climate Management Committee Meeting with Chairs of the JPI Climate Governing Board September 17, 2013 Brussels
5 6th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting December 12/13, 2013 Copenhagen
6 JPI Climate Management Committee Meeting May 19, 2014 Paris
7 7th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting May 20/21, 2014 Paris
8 JPI Climate Management Committee Meeting with Chairs of the JPI Climate Governing Board September 30, 2014 Oxford
9 JPI Climate Task force on “Updated SRA and Implementaion Plan” October 1, 2014 Oxford
10 8th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting November 25/26, 2014 Oslo
11 9th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting May 20/21, 2015 Brussels
12 10th JPI Climate Governing Board Meeting November 18/19, 2015 Madrid
1.3.5 Other activities
The ERA-NET on Climate Services (ERA4CS) under negotiation for funding under Horizon 2020
After a favourable evaluation by the European Commission, the ERA-NET COFUND “European Research Area for Climate Services” (ERA4CS), proposed with the support of the JPI Climate, has been invited for a Grant Agreement with the Commission up to 25 Mio. €. The ERA4CS consortium kick-off is planned for January 2016.
Within the European Research Area (ERA), the ERA4CS Consortium is aiming to boost research for Climate Services (CS), including climate adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk management, allowing regions, cities and key economic sectors to develop opportunities and strengthen Europe’s leadership. CS are seen as driven by user demands to provide knowledge to face impacts of climate variability and change, as well as guidance both to researchers and decision-makers in policy and business.
ERA4CS will focus on the development of a “climate information translation” layer bridging “user communities” and “climate science system”. It implies the development of tools, methods, standards and quality control for reliable, qualified and tailored information required by the various field actors for smart decisions.
ERA4CS will boost the JPI Climate initiative by mobilizing more deeply, within EU Member States and Associated Countries, both the research performing organizations (RPOs) and the research funding organizations (RFOs), the distinct national climate services and the various disciplines of academia, including Humanities and Social Sciences.
ERA4CS will launch a joint transnational co-funded call, with 16 countries and up to 75 Mio. €, with two complementary topics:
1. a “cash” topic, supported by 12 RFOs, on co-development for user needs and action-oriented projects;
2. an “in-kind” topic, supported by 28 RPOs, on institutional integration of the research components of national CS.
Complementary to the call, ERA4CS additional activities will initiate a strong partnership between JPI Climate and other key European and international initiatives (as Copernicus, KIC-Climate, other JPIs, WMO/GFCS, Future Earth, Belmont Forum...) in order to work towards a common vision and a multi-year implementation strategy, including better co-alignment of national programs and activities up to 2020 and beyond.
JPI Climate Symposium “Taking stock and inspiring the future”
Madrid, 17/18 November 2015
At this “working symposium” highlights of JPI Climate’s activities in the past three years were presented. Based on this stock taking ways to improve the impact and efficiency of the science planning and science-practice interface were discussed in panel format and in group discussions by more than 60 participants. The status of the development of a new Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) was presented and the four key challenges as proposed in the current draft SRA were discussed in separate group discussions.
The four key challenges are:
1. Connecting disciplines and approaches in the understanding of relevant processes and impacts of climate change
2. Connecting climate change research to decision-making needs
3. Connecting climate change research, societal transformation and pathways to the wider realm of sustainable development goals
4. Connecting people, problems and solutions in a systemic approach
These four challenges were further discussed in four separate discussion groups. Suggestions for adaptations of the title were given. Without having the written draft Strategic Research Agenda on the table the discussion revealed diverse understanding of the possible content of these research areas based on the titles alone. Participants formulated expectations on what JPI Climate should cover or strengthen and what would be out of scope. Essence of the discussion was collected on flip charts from each discussion group.
Potential Impact:
1.4. The impact (incl. the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) and the main dissemination activities
The FP7 funded project JPI Climate CSA has successfully achieved almost all of its proposed project tasks and workshops as well as activities. The project has managed
• To identify, coordinate and integrate national climate research funding programmes
• To forward and provide input to climate research programmes and policies of the EU
• To establish a strategic collaboration with global programmes, neighbouring countries, climate policy actors at the international level (JPI Climate as fireplace)
• To make progress in engaging the partnership of the JPI Climate to other EU member states, with special focus on Eastern European countries
• To develop an effective communication and dissemination strategy (including a strategic vision and action plan)
• To develop a detailed implementation plan which includes time plan and action plan
• To derive an update of the Strategic Research Agenda, based on recent developments and experiences
• To elaborate and apply concepts and mechanisms on how to best integrate activities of the four different modules to provide integrated climate knowledge.
Thus, JPI Climate CSA has achieved most aspects to be addressed in the origin proposal. Based on these promising results the potential impact of all these activities is already appreciable and will becoming more considerable in future.
In order to effectively disseminate this knowledge to the relevant stakeholders (policy makers, decision makers, businesses and the European community, representing different disciplines, practically all economic sectors, private and public service organisations and various geographic and administrative levels), firstly JPI Climate has required a dissemination and communication strategy tailored to the various target audiences.
The first version of the JPI Climate dissemination and communication strategy was released in 2013, in the context of WP5. This strategy was periodically reviewed and updated based on lessons learned, acknowledging the need to learn from experience, and identifying when and where there was a need to update. After the end of the JPI Climate CSA the Central Secretariat (CS) of JPI Climate has been taking over the responsibility of streamlining the dissemination of results.
Dissemination activities:
• JPI Climate website
A JPI Climate leaflet with general information on the membership status, focus topics from the current Strategic Research Agenda and the structure of the implementation has been developed in early 2014 and approved by the Governing Board in May 2014. It has subsequently been distributed at JPI Climate events or conference participations to provide introductory information about JPI Climate.
• JPI Climate leaflet
The new version of the JPI Climate website was launched before summer of 2013. In this website, the visitors can find the latest news of the initiative and general climate news articles, events, a description of the JPI, organisation, governance, CSA, member countries, the Strategic Research Agenda and the Joint Actions, such as the latest Call. The homepage also provides the latest news, events and publications. In 2014, Governing Board (GB) members provided specific feedback on website pages. GB members supported the idea of having national pages that provide access to research information in their countries, but the number of countries has to be expanded.
In June 2015, the daily number of visitors was around 150, who consulted around 350 pages each day. The countries with the highest number of visitors are Germany, France, the Netherlands, USA, UK, Belgium and Austria. The most requested pages are: "2015 Call", "2013 Call", "About JPI Climate", "Projects", "JPI Climate Themes", "News & Events" and "Governing Board".
• JPI Climate intranet
Documentation can be placed and shared on the JPI Climate intranet (http://www.jpi-climate.eu/intranet). Members of the GB, Transdisciplinary Advisory Board (TAB) and associated task forces can use and share their own working space, find pictures for internal use, and search for people contact details in the Contact List. All intranet members have received their account details for logging onto this system. The usage of the intranet by GB members and associated task forces can be further strengthened, in particular during preparation of joint calls and evaluation and review of proposals.
• JPI Climate newsletter
The first issue of the JPI Climate newsletter was distributed in October 2013. Until December 2015, 6 newsletters were produced. Content can be delivered to the web manager.
The Central Secretariat is responsible for the elaboration and distribution of the JPI Climate newsletter. The proposed frequency of distribution is twice a year. In addition to the JPI Climate internal mailing list, external audiences can also subscribe to this newsletter in the JPI Climate webpage. Since July 2015, the mailing list has gained 23 new external subscribers (101 current subscribers as of September 2015).
• Social media
A LinkedIn Group
(http://www.linkedin.com/groups/JPI-Climate-5011791?trk=my_groups-b-grp-v) has been created and launched during the summer of 2013. 125 people are now registered as members. On a weekly basis, 1 or 2 news or discussion items are being posted in this group. Participation is still low, but growing.
A Twitter account has been created and launched during June 2014 (https://twitter.com/JPIClimate) to enhance the communication channels with the broader public. Currently, this account has 329 followers. New information and discussion items are being posted and retweets being done on a regular basis. The use of this social media channel could be intensified to reach a number of 1000 followers in 2016. The current number of 329 is quite good compared to other JPIs, but moderate compared to other climate initiatives.
A YouTube channel has been created and launched during June 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaL8q66yAUCeIfKugCUaSg). This channel hosts the recordings of the presentations from workshops organised by JPI Climate.
In the future, this channel will continue to be used as a vehicle to strengthen the JPI Climate community and to enhance the communication with the broader public.
• JPI Climate workshop “Improving knowledge for enhanced climate change response and decision-making”
The workshop “Improving knowledge for enhanced climate change response and decision-making” was held in Brussels April 21-22, 2015, at the JPI Climate Secretariat office. The workshop was the result of task 2.4 of WP4 work on knowledge transfer and enhanced decision making and has benefited from early research results of one of JPI Climate-funded projects investigating the uptake of IPCC’s Fifth assessment report (AR5).
The main goal of the workshop was to generate insights, debate and recommendations for JPI Climate Governing Board regarding challenges and opportunities to better connect JPI Climate research activities to decision makers from local to international scale, to improve science-policy-society interfaces, and to better engage with diverse stakeholders. In particular, the workshop addressed the gap in bridging scientific results with policy actors; the challenges and opportunities of co-design of research and co-production of knowledge with diverse stakeholders; and the lack of awareness of nonlinear relations between science and action that still pervades climate change research.
The workshop attracted a wide range of participants, including academics, politicians, civil society actors, staff of private sector organisations, representatives of the TAB and experts connected to the 4 working groups.
Particular topics discussed include implementation of stakeholder engagement activities (one of JPI Climate’s five core principles), decision-making contexts of transdisciplinary research, a better understanding of science-policy gaps, and the need for co-production of knowledge for solutions-oriented research. There was wide agreement among the participants that these issues and goals are often taken for granted, while they are in fact major research topics. There is a wealth of research findings and experience already offering major lessons for JPI Climate.
The report of this workshop is available at the JPI Climate website.
• Engaging with additional European countries
JPI Climate aims at expanding access to knowledge and evidence from research across Europe to better inform policy and practice initiatives. In order to achieve that, JPI Climate wishes to engage an even higher number of European countries in this initiative.
In fact, one of the current priorities for JPI Climate is widening the participation of European countries in this initiative. This is also consistent with JPI Climate's mission to contribute to the overall EU objective of developing a European Research Area.
JPI Climate is already working towards this goal by organising regional outreach and engagement workshops. The aim of these workshops is to explore engagement opportunities with funding agencies, stakeholders and researchers in countries and organisations not currently linked with JPI Climate. The outcomes of these workshops are summarised in a report that includes recommendations to the Governing Board and is available on the JPI Climate public website.
Based on the feedback from the participants, the organisation of more outreach and engagement workshops by JPI Climate is recommended in order to build trust and relationships with potential new member countries.
It is also important that the network of contacts be expanded in order to reach out to the national relevant ministries and present the added value of participating in this initiative.
• Engaging with the private sector
Climate change is a cross-cutting issue that requires all sectors of society to be engaged with common goals. It is also an equal opportunity problem, given that there are vast inequalities in access to needed knowledge and technology and unequal vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities. Addressing climate change, both through mitigation and adaptation/resilience actions, requires coordinated efforts by a broad range of actors, including governments and the private sector.
Furthermore, the Lund Declaration 2015 on societal challenges calls for a stronger participation of end-users, public sector and industry in the Joint Programming Process addressing societal challenges.
With this in mind, JPI Climate aims at developing a Private Sector Engagement Strategy, which will include a set of activities tailored to the inclusion of diverse sector actors in the co-design, development and achievement of JPI Climate goals.
Within the frame of such a strategy, JPI Climate is already developing some concrete actions to explore possibilities to enhance partnerships between science, private sector and public institutions to co-produce knowledge and innovations in the area of climate change.
For example, JPI Climate is currently in the process of learning from European companies about their needs for knowledge about climate change risks and solutions (using targeted questionnaires). The outcome is a brief analysis of the main research needs and topics for further science-private sector partnerships. This analysis will be used during science-practice discussions at the "Adaptation Futures" conference in 2016 and in follow-up activities planned for 2016 (including the development of the Private Sector Engagement Strategy).
Furthermore, JPI Climate is already planning several activities at the "Adaptation Futures" conference in 2016. These include a science-practice session aimed at consultancies providing adaptation support and researchers developing the knowledge that the consultants use, a side event aimed at learning from business needs and trying to build mutual trust (this will include a brokerage session to bring scientists potentially involved in the ERA4CS together with business) and a JPI Climate booth at the conference
List of Websites:
The website can be found following this link: www.jpi-climate.eu
Project Coordinator:
Dr. Armin Mathes
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.
Project Management Agency | Environment, Culture, Sustainability
Heinrich-Konen-Str. 1
53227 Bonn, Germany
Tel: +49-228-3821-1541
Fax: +49-228-3821-1540
E-mail: Armin.Mathes@dlr.de