Application of climate services
Climate services and climate information sources (3.1)
This microlearning introduces climate services and highlights how tailored climate information supports decision-making across sectors like energy, health, agriculture, and tourism. The module emphasizes co-designing services with end-users to ensure relevance and effectiveness. It also introduces key concepts like Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), Climate Impact Indicators (CIIs), and Climate Impact Drivers (CIDs), which help track and understand climate changes and their effects. By integrating scientific data with user needs, climate services become vital tools for enhancing resilience and informing adaptation strategies.
Climate services development process (3.2)
The climate services development process outlines a structured, collaborative approach to creating effective climate services tailored to user needs. It emphasizes a three-phase process: data acquisition (gathering climate and socio-economic data), data processing (analyzing and interpreting data), and delivering outcomes (producing user-friendly tools and information). The module highlights the importance of co-production, involving stakeholders throughout to ensure relevance and usability. It also stresses selecting appropriate timescales and understanding key variables driving risk. By integrating scientific data with stakeholder input, the process aims to produce actionable climate services that support informed decision-making and resilience-building.
Application of climate services (3.3)
This section emphasizes the integration of climate services into urban planning to enhance resilience and sustainability. It showcases how cities can utilize tailored climate information—such as risk assessments, projections, and adaptation tools—to inform decisions across sectors like infrastructure, health, and urban development. By co-developing these services with stakeholders, cities ensure relevance and effectiveness in addressing local challenges. The module highlights examples and application from REACHOUT project, demonstrating the importance of climate services in fostering adaptive, climate-resilient urban environments.
References
Charron, I. (2016). A Guidebook on Climate Scenarios: Using Climate Information to Guide Adaptation Research and Decisions, 2016 Edition.
Ouranos, 94p. Available at: https://www.ouranos.ca/sites/default/files/2022-12/hors_proj-2016-charron-guide_scenario_en.pdf (accessed: March 2025)
Climate-ADAPT. Climate Services. Available at: https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/en/knowledge/adaptation-information/climate-services/ (Accessed: February 2025)
Copernicus. Climate Copernicus. Available at: https://climate.copernicus.eu/ (Accessed: February 2025)
Dierickx, F. (2019). Copernicus Climate Change Programme: uses Learning Service Content. Available at: https://bookdown.org/floriandierickx/bookdown-demo/ (Accessed: February 2025).
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (2015). A European Research and Innovation Roadmap for Climate Services. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/horizon2020/items/24392/en (Accessed: February 2025)
European Commission (2021). EU Adaptation Strategy. Available at: https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/adaptation-climate-change/eu-adaptation-strategy_en (Accessed January 2025)
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). About Essential Climate Variables. Available at: https://gcos.wmo.int/site/global-climate-observing-system-gcos/essential-climate-variables/about-essential-climate-variables (Accessed: March 2025)
Global Framework for Climate Service. What are climate services? Available at: https://gfcs.wmo.int/site/global-framework-climate-services-gfcs/what-are-climate-services (Accessed: February 2025)
IPCC, 2021: Annex VI: Climatic Impact-driver and Extreme Indices [Gutiérrez J.M., R. Ranasinghe, A.C. Ruane, R. Vautard (eds.)]. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 2205–2214, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.020.
REACHOUT (2023), Online Training Module II. Learning Program for the City Hubs. Available at: https://reachout-cities.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/5.3-Online-Training-Modules-II.pdf (Accessed: January 2025)
REACHOUT (2024). Facilitating Urban Innovation: Climate services co-creation and their use in urban environments. Available at: https://reachout-cities.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/bo_policybrief-nr2-Reachout-v5.pdf (Accessed: January 2025)
REACHOUT. Tools. Available at: https://reachout-cities.eu/tools/ (Accessed: January 2025)
World Meteorological Organization, Climate Data and Monitoring. Available at: https://community.wmo.int/en/climate-data-and-monitoring (Accessed: February 2025)
