IMPETUS4CHANGE (I4C): IMPROVING NEAR-TERM CLIMATE PREDICTIONS FOR SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATION

IMPETUS4CHANGE (I4C) will make significant scientific advances that will enhance our collective ability to act on and adapt to near-term climate change. The overarching objective of I4C is to improve the quality, accessibility and usability of near-term climate information and services at local to regional scales – where impacts are most keenly felt and on-the-ground adaptation is implemented – to strengthen and support end-user adaptation planning and action. Several specific objectives work towards this overarching goal: 1) Improve understanding and flow of climate information through knowledge networks; 2) Address persistent shortcomings to deliver seasonal to decadal predictions of improved quality; 3) Develop novel methods to downscale predictions to local scales; 4) Improve assessments of hazards and translate this into usable information for local risk assessments; 5) Make advances towards the goal of end-to-end seamless climate services; 6) Through transdisciplinary co-production approaches develop fit-for-purpose "Adaptation support packs" at municipal scales through our so-called urban Demonstrators; 7) Ensure high impact and visibility through robust and targeted communication and engagement; 8) Commit to Open Science through development of open access tools and exploitation of data/model outputs via relevant platforms thereby ensuring improved accessibility and usability of climate knowledge. The I4C approach is to address and improve the full value chain of near-term predictions from global climate to local impacts. Many of our fundamental science activities in modeling, downscaling, and tailoring near-term climate are novel and experimental. Additionally, the inclusion of an expert team of social scientists will allow a more rigorous co-production process as the project transforms data to information, information to knowledge and knowledge to action.