• Energy Research

[EN] Climate services were initially established with the aim to make the vast amount of climate data, projections and other climate science output publicly available to support the development of responses to society's vulnerability to climate change. In Europe embraced the concept was not only embraced to provide access to scientific knowledge and reduce vulnerability, but also as an opportunity to promote innovation, business opportunities and employment, highlighting the importance of involving users in developing climate services. However, not only differences in knowledge and skills, but also in framing of climate risks and information needs, pose a serious gap between suppliers and users of climate information, sometimes called the "valley of death". Focusing on urban and rural development at the regional and local level as key areas of application for climate services, the paper characterizes this valley of death and suggests options to bridge the gap. We suggest that reframing of the concept of climate services can help expand their applications and effectiveness, taking local non-climate challenges, opportunities and narratives into account. We provide examples from the European ERA4CS project INNOVA. The current focus of climate service development is very much on digital forms of climate change information. While this may provide a useful "back office" function, active brokerage and mediated transfer of knowledge between public and private actors, face-to-face collaboration between providers and clients ("front office"), and integration of social, economic and non-climate environmental challenges with climate risks can help bridging the "valley of death". We acknowledge the European Research Area for Climate Services (ERA4CS) project INNOVA (Grant Agreement number 690462) for the financial support to this research. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for detailed comments on a previous draft and many excellent suggestions

Non-technical summary The ‘last mile’ is a transportation planning term that describes the movement of people and goods from a transportation hub to a final destination; a local place such as a home or a shop. This is the final step of the logistics process that unites the product with its new owner. We present and explain challenges of science-guided adaptation at the local level, and how this is an equivalent ‘last mile’ challenge for climate adaptation. Technical summary The ‘last mile’ issue, a term used in transportation planning, describes the movement of people and goods from a transportation hub to a final destination, a local place such as a home or a shop. This is the critical final step of the logistics process that unites the product with its new owner, and the point of the value chain. This analogy aptly describes the last steps between presenting scientific evidence of climate change to decision-makers for use in local adaptation and planning. Climate change data (observational and model simulation data e.g. climate change projections and predictions) remain under-utilised, especially by local institutions and actors for which adaptation is a priority. The assumptions and assertions of the classical data–information–knowledge–wisdom are challenged, and a derivative form of the information hierarchy is proposed. Elements of the classical information hierarchy are offset by four balancing elements of access (to data); usability (of information); governance (of knowledge) and politics (of wisdom). These balancing elements and their relatedness coincide with newer models of innovation relating to the interaction between different stakeholders across the different levels of governance, the inclusion of stakeholder expectations, transparency and accountability. Social media summary Climate data to wise decision-making in the ‘last mile’: a novel perspective on science-guided local adaptation.

AbstractClimate services are tools or products that aim to support climate‐informed decision making for the adaptation to climate change. The market for climate services is dominated by public institutions, despite the efforts made by the European Commission to increase private enterprise in the market. The business model perspective has been proposed as a framework for enabling market growth through the development of appropriate business models for the provision of climate services. However, there is a lack of structured knowledge on how to approach climate service design and development from a business model standpoint. In this contribution, we first analyze the role of stakeholders in the design and development of climate services and identify opportunities for engaging users in the creation process. Afterward, we explain our approach to climate service design and development using a business model perspective. To illustrate the proposed approach, we describe the co‐creation of a climate service to support the adaptation to climate change of the urban water supply system in Valencia, Spain, and discuss the main findings and lessons learned from applying this approach.

Abstract There is a complex interaction between pollution, climate change, the environment and people. This complex interplay of actions and impacts is particularly relevant in coastal regions, where the land meets the sea. To achieve sustainable development in coastal systems, a better understanding is necessary of the role and impact of pollution and the connectedness of the elements, namely, pollution, climate and the people, as well as associated impacts unfolding in an integrated social–ecological system (SES). In this context, the enabling capacity of tools connecting scientific efforts to societal demands is much debated. This paper establishes the basis for climate-smart socially innovative tools and approaches for marine pollution science. The goal of developing a set of innovative tools is twofold: first, to build on, integrate, and further improve the well-founded strengths in diagnosis and process understanding of systemic environmental problems; and, second, to provide decision-making with usable information to create actionable knowledge for managing the impact of marine pollution on the SES under a changing climate. The paper concludes by establishing the scope for a ‘last mile’ approach incorporating scientific evidence of pollution under climate change conditions into decision-making in a SES on the coast. The paper uses case studies to demonstrate the need for collaborative tools to connect the science of coastal pollution and climate with decision-making on managing human activities in a SES.

[EN] Climate information plays a foundational role in achieving a green recovery and climate neutrality in Europe, and a central one for a climate resilient Europe. This role can materialize if climate information is delivered appropriately and used effectively. Climate services, understood as the provision of climate information for use in decision making, have been created to provide climate information addressing these aspects. The utility of climate services is determined by the level of user engagement and co-design, employed during their development, while resource limitations for any of these aspects constrain their full potential. Co-design together with users is increasingly seen as a necessary good practice approach to provide efficient services that bring together supply and demand. In this paper, we focus on how climate services can contribute to climate neutrality by considering the cultural dimension of the users and their regions for whom specific climate services are codesigned. We specifically address dimensions of vulnerability and resilience to changing climatic conditions in five case studies worldwide while analysing the influence of culture on risk coping and enabling mechanism of key stakeholders and their needs for specific climate services in these regions. We found that user needs, desires and actions hinge on value prepositions formed by specific socio-cultural, climatic, spatial and bio-ecological contexts. Hence, when co-designing climate services, it is vital to understand users' needs, based on their values and experiences with climate and weather and to seek ways to influence, alter and change them. We acknowledge the ERA4CS project INNOVA (Grant Agreement number 690462) for the financial support of this research.

Abstract Post-industrial society is driving global environmental change, which is a challenge for all generations, current and future. The Anthropocene is the geological epoch in which humans dominate and it is rooted in the past, present, and future. Future sustainability is building on the momentum of the fundamental importance of studying human dynamics and governance of coupled social and ecological systems. In the Anthropocene, social innovation may play a critical role in achieving new pathways to sustainability. This conventional narrative review uses a qualitative analysis anchored in the Grounded Theory Method and a systematic collection and analysis of papers to identify broad types of social innovations. Scientific journal articles published since 2018 were prioritised for inclusion. The six types of social innovation proposed are (a) authentic engagement; (b) artful and engaging communication; (c) urging and compelling change; (d) governance for social-ecological systems; (e) anticipation in governance; and (f) lived experiences and values. The six innovations proposed in this paper can be embedded within, and form part of, social action using a science–society compact for the sustainable development of coasts in the Anthropocene.