Innovating Climate services through Integrating Scientific and local Knowledge

Project Information

I-CISK

Grant agreement ID: 101037293

DOI

10.3030/101037293

Project closed

EC signature date 13 September 2021

Start date 1 November 2021

End date 31 October 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 4 998 806,88

EU contribution

€ 4 998 806,88

Coordinated by

STICHTING IHE DELFT INSTITUTE FOR WATER EDUCATION
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - I-CISK (Innovating Climate services through Integrating Scientific and local Knowledge)

Reporting period: 2024-11-01 to 2025-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Climate change is one of the major challenges of the 21st century, with severe weather events such as floods, droughts and extreme heat occurring more frequently and with greater intensity. Climate Services (CS) are crucial to address these challenges but often fall short in achieving their full value-proposition due to a lack of integration of social and behavioural factors, local needs, knowledges and customs, and spatial and temporal scales relevant for end-users. The I-CISK project contributed to overcoming this through a next-generation of CS, co-created with users and following a social and behaviourally informed approach to meet the climate information needs of citizens, decision makers and stakeholders for multiple sectors at the spatial and temporal scale relevant to them. The research and innovation action demonstrated that by building on interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, multi-hazard and multi-actor approaches, and through co-creation with the users as well CS providers and purveyors, CS can be co-developed that are human centred and respond to the climate information needs of society. Importantly, the human-centred CS that were co-created in seven living labs (LL) I-CISK established across Europe (Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Greece and Georgia) and Africa (Lesotho) considered the local knowledges that stakeholders and users have and recognised how local and scientific knowledge are used in decision making. The novel insights and advancements made substantially contribute to demonstrate how the rich resource of global climate relevant data, such as from Copernicus and GEO, can be seamlessly integrated with local knowledge and data to generate next-generation CS to support sustainable adaptation decisions and advance EU’s goals related to building climate resilience, empowering people and catalysing climate service sector.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Using a co-creation framework developed in the project, fifteen tailored and human centred pre-operational climate service were co-created through collaboration between the interdisciplinary project team and multi-actor platforms (MAP) established in the seven Living Labs (LL). These MAP brought together >50 voluntary organizations and >100 individuals, displaying innovative and successful co-creation actors across the climate service value chain. The co-created CS are available to users in the LL and other stakeholders through the novel I-CISK web-based platform designed on open-source cloud-native components that allows seamless integration of Copernicus, GEO, and local data. The platform also includes a novel AI-driven CS composer, allowing even non-experts to design a climate service using natural language prompts. The co-creation framework to guide developing human-centred climate services beyond the project is a key output, with the framework refined during the project using the feedback and experience of users. The project also generated novel insights, datasets, tools and models to analyse human-system feedback and risk of maladaptation; enhanced the reliability of global data and models such as sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasts through bias correction using machine learning and through integration of local data and knowledges; produced policy recommendations, and; created education and capacity development materials (e.g. mini-documentary videos, an open online course, or MOOC, and an-online version of the co-creation guidelines). Results were widely communicated and disseminated through appropriate channels and activities (e.g. website, social media, journal articles, conference presentations and side/brokerage events, science-policy interfacing at high-level meetings such as with UN, WMO, UNESCO, ECCA). Embracing open science and the FAIR principles, all I-CISK outputs are publicly available as open access publications, making deliverables available on the I-CISK website and through a Zenodo repository ensuring long-term access, and the open source I-CISK CS web-based platform and tools available on GitHub. Along with the exploitation and business strategies for the key exploitable assets (co-creation framework; pre-operational CS; AI-enabled I-CISK CS platform and linked tools; MOOC; and co-creation guidelines) these ensure wider access, high usability potential and long-term impact within the LL regions, EU member states and beyond. In several LL, the CS co-created by the project are transferred to members of the MAP to deploy as operational services, supported by partners from the consortium, and ensuring continuity beyond the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has made substantial progress in advancing the state-of-the-art in the broad context of climate services (CS) in several dimensions by:
• Successfully demonstrating a truly interdisciplinary and multi-actor enabled co-creation approach in co-creating human-centred CS and several other novel results of scientific and societal significance.
• Delivering a novel and well-tested framework for co-creation of human-centred CS supported by guidelines and integrated into educational materials (MOOC). This serves as a learning and replicable model for students, the CS community and related sectors in Europe and Beyond.
• Making a step change in enhancing the understanding and value of local knowledges and data, and how integrated use of these alongside scientific knowledge, data and tools can advance CS field and support well-informed climate adaptation decision and policy making processes.
• Developing and applying novel system dynamic based archetypes, frameworks and models to examine human-climate feedback and the risk of maladaptation. These tools and new insights contribute to a more systemic and long-term approach ensuring that CS support sustainable and equitable adaptation.
• Advancing the state-of-the-art in sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting and climate predictions, including novel machine learning methods to improve skill, especially in human influenced systems. Novel approaches in user-centred co-evaluation of forecasts and predictions and customised visualisations, including uncertainty, advance interpretation and usability.
• Co-designing a novel I-CISK cloud-based Climate Services Platform that fosters interoperability, and automated ingestion of multi-source climate data (e.g. Copernicus, SMHI and local sources). The project released a first-of-its-kind AI-driven CS Composer to enable expert and non-expert users generate customised CS using natural language prompts. This strengthens the CS community and other related sectors and users.
Beyond advancing the state of the art, the outputs and outcomes of the project have societal impacts at several levels. Within the seven LL the project contributed to empowering stakeholders, citizens and decision makers and building climate resilience through enhanced knowledge of climate risks and adaptation. Additionally, new alliances were formed among stakeholders, promoting cooperation in increasing climate resilience. Policy briefs and targeted dialogues have informed EU and international discourses on human centred CS and the role these have in supporting multiple sectors and citizens in sustainable adaptation and coping with climate extremes. These contribute to climate resilience in Europe and beyond, aligning with the EU Adaptation Strategy and the Green Deal. The key results from I-CISK work provide a replicable blueprint for upscaling human centred CS across Europe and beyond.

The I-CISK co-creation framework for human centred climate services