WMO Lecture Series Highlights Climateurope2: Building Standards and Trust in Climate Services
The second session of the WMO Lecture Series – Bridging Research and Operations brought together over 60 participants from across Europe and beyond. Attendees included representatives from national meteorological and hydrological services, research institutions, universities, and intergovernmental agencies, such as WMO, ECMWF, and the European Commission’s JRC and RTD. This diverse audience reflected the project’s multi-stakeholder approach and its focus on connecting research, operational, and policy communities.
The event, organized by the WMO Working Group on Research for Region VI (Europe), featured the Horizon Europe project Climateurope2, which is working to support and standardize climate services through a strong community of practice. Moderated by Murat Altinyollar (Turkish State Meteorological Service) and Jutta Thielen-del Pozo (Joint Research Centre, European Commission), both members of the Working Group, the session facilitated dialogue between research, operational, and policy stakeholders, focusing on improving the equity, reliability, and practical use of climate services.
Opening the session, the moderators welcomed Francisco (Paco) Doblas-Reyes, Director of the Earth Sciences Department at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and coordinator of Climateurope2. In his keynote, Prof. Doblas-Reyes presented the project’s progress and outlined its main objectives:
- Developing procedures and recommendations for the standardisation and quality assurance of climate services;
- Strengthening a community of practice connecting providers, users, and stakeholders;
- Improving the taxonomy, assessment, and uptake of climate services; and
- Integrating fairness and equity considerations into climate information and decision-making.
“Standardisation and trust are key to ensuring that climate services are not only scientifically sound but also relevant, inclusive, and legitimate in decision-making processes,” Prof. Doblas-Reyes underlined.
A panel discussion followed, featuring experts from the operational, private, and academic sectors. Discussions explored how to sustain the uptake of research results in operational services, the potential for standardizing climate information across Europe, and how communication and fairness can strengthen trust in climate services.
The session also addressed the standardization of climate services, a crucial step for ensuring transparency and interoperability across Europe. Prof. Doblas-Reyes noted that the technical committees developing such standards at the European level are composed of representatives of Member States, but not necessarily of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs). Therefore, the active engagement of WMO and NMHSs in Climateurope2 is vital to ensure that any emerging European standards remain aligned with WMO guidelines and operational practices.
As part of the project’s next steps, a dedicated one-day online workshop is planned to be tentatively held in January 2026 for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in WMO Region VI. The session, coordinated by partners from national meteorological and hydrological services participating in Climateurope2, will build on the project’s community engagement model used in previous sectoral workshops. Participants will explore key components of climate services identified in the project and discuss the main priorities and challenges related to standardization from an operational perspective.
The WMO Lecture Series serves as a forum for connecting research, operational, and policy communities, highlighting EU and international initiatives that strengthen the bridge between science and services.
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Resources:
ClimateEurope 2 Project website
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Recording of past lecture is made available on the WMO YouTube channel, and future sessions will continue to spotlight ongoing collaboration between WMO and its partners in advancing authoritative and user-oriented climate services.