4th Stakeholder Workshop takes the science and economic discussion online
Over 87 participants representing both climate science and industry joined our 4th Stakeholder Workshop online on 15 June 2020. Attendees registered from across the world (see map) to join the latest workshop:
Seasonal Climate Forecasts for Industry Decision Making
The 4th Stakeholder Workshop, one of a series of five throughout the project, explored the seasonal forecast science, the decision making and the trial climate services being developed by the EU H2020 SECLI-FIRM project for the energy and water industries.
Due to the impact of COVID-19 the Workshop was moved online. It was split into two sessions and at the start of each session a live poll revealed the diversity of attendees from across science and industry sectors.
Session 1
The first session welcomed 58 participants, 30% from academic and research institutions and just under 20% classed themselves as energy producers. NGOs (non-governmental organisations), National Met Service, Policy makers, Grid operators, private/commercial climate services and water companies formed the remainder of the audience.
A project overview and introduction to the SECLI-FIRM case studies, that explore heatwaves, dry winters, low winds and dry spring/summers was provided by Alberto Troccoli (UEA) with contributions from the project team.
In the first session, scientific climate experts explained how the various aspects of calibration, downscaling and multi-models have been explored in the project with presentations from:
– Marcello Petitta (ENEA), pictured – Downscaling and Bias Correction, with input from Alice Crespi (EURAC)
– Phil Bett (Met Office) – Skill, Probabilistic Forecasts and Bias Correction
– Kristian Nielsen (UL) – Multi-Models
Discussion followed, including debate around the need for adjustments of seasonal forecast model output to achieve probabilistic reliability. Further points raised can be viewed via the recording of the first session. A photograph of participants was encouraged prior to the session concluding and many attendees joined in too (see main photo).
Session 2
The afternoon session focused on how climate services can help energy and water decision. We welcomed 48 participants. More than a third, of those responding to the introductory poll, acknowledged they were looking to explore how their organisation could use the trial climate service in this session. A short project overview and introduction to the SECLI-FIRM case studies was provided by Alberto Troccoli (UEA).
This was followed by a presentation exploring ‘An Assessment of Value for Management Decisions,’ delivered by Nicholas Vasilakos (UEA), pictured. This provided an opportunity to showcase the economic evaluation methods adopted by the SECLI-FIRM project.
Joe Osborne (Met Office) then presented on the Trial Climate Services for Industry showing what progress had been made and encouraging discussion. Live polls were run too, gathering participant feedback on what types of climate services their organisation would gain value from, their organisational interest in using a climate service and how far in advance they had to make weather-dependent decisions.
About SECLI-FIRM
The Added Value of Seasonal Climate Forecasts for Integrated Risk Management Decisions (SECLI-FIRM) is an EU H2020 funded project, led by the University of East Anglia working with research scientists and industry partners from across Europe and South America. The project launched in February 2018 and will run for 42 months, currently due to end July 2021.
Discover more
Sign-up for project updates and information on our 5th Stakeholder Workshop, planned for the first half of 2021 here. Information about all the SECLI-FIRM Stakeholder Workshops held to date is also available here.
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