EUMETSAT adopts renewed Climate Service Development Plan

The EUMETSAT Council, meeting in Darmstadt, Germany, today, approved the organisation’s Climate Services Development Plan for 2023-2027, which lays the groundwork for developing climate data records from its past, current, and next-generation satellites.

“EUMETSAT’s climate data records already stretch back more than 40 years, providing the long-term homogenous data required to assess changes in the climate,” Director-General Phil Evans said.

“Our climate data records play a key role in the fight against climate change, as reliable, accurate accounts of changes in the climate over decades that are relied upon by authoritative reports such those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“This Climate Service Development Plan contains a strengthened focus on user engagement to help enhance the use of these data for a wide range of applications, including assessing the state of the climate, monitoring greenhouse gases, increasing renewable energy use, and mitigating climate risks.”

The EUMETSAT Council also approved the organisation’s joining the Space Climate Observatory.

The observatory is a network of agencies that aims to provide tools and studies to help make data from space accessible and useful to local entities to inform decisions and measures to mitigate and respond to the climate crisis.

Benefits of joining the observatory include improved international coordination for the use of EUMETSAT data, joint analysis of climate risks, and enhanced cooperation.

This could lead to better understanding of vulnerability and adaptation to changing patterns of severe-impact weather and the drivers of economic damage and impacts to people from weather extremes in a changing climate.

About EUMETSAT