European climate services

Abstract

The launch of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS, Hewitt et al., Nature Climate Change 2(12): 831-832, 2012) just a few years ago helped to redirect the focus of the climate community towards the users and their information needs. A number of national and international initiatives such as the Climate Service Partnership, or the Climate Science for Services Partnership between China and the UK, were designed to build upon such an international framework. The role of the European Commission appears to be very prominent in the international climate services landscape as it supported a largenumber of research and innovation programmes in the field. The chapter discusses the role climate services could play for the energy sector starting from an analysis of the interactions that already exist and building upon a few specific examples that indicate some good practice in climate service development.