Accelerating Research on the Scientific Foundations of Regional Climate Risk Information

The US CLIVAR Working Group on Accelerating Research on the Scientific Foundations of Regional Climate Risk Information (“Climate Risk Information”) was initiated in June 2025 and will continue through summer of 2028. The group brings together 18 leading scientists from academia, the public sector, and industry to address gaps in climate risk science and identify paths forward.

There is growing demand for actionable information on climate hazards and risks to support effective climate adaptation. A wide range of users from both the public and private sectors need insights into the regional impact of climate change. This includes understanding the probabilities of extreme events, their sector-specific impacts, how these risks are evolving over time, and their associated uncertainties. Existing climate model data and research often fall short of meeting these needs due to model biases, low resolution, and poor representation of extreme events. In addition, the large data volumes require considerable skill and judgement to translate into relevant decisions. To accelerate progress, it is critical that the scientific assumptions and methodologies underlying regional climate risk information are widely shared in a coordinated manner and openly debated in the scientific community. 

The Climate Risk Information working group aims to advance the scientific foundations of climate risk as a research discipline, building on traditional climate science while distinguishing itself through a focus on actionable insights and the explicit representation of impacts. The Climate Risk Information working group will help the broader community address several key needs:

• Developing open models and data on physical climate risk.
• Characterizing model limitations and uncertainties to improve usability and support real-world decision making.
• Documenting and strengthening the scientific foundations needed to enhance model performance.