As the world economy develops and population grows, the climate of the planet is changing and will further change in the future. The Kyoto protocol has called the nations to take remedial action to mitigate the impact of anthropogenic climate change. Improved assessments of climate change and it’s societal impacts will be required particularly at the regional level.

This will require an improved understanding of the climate system and it’s interaction with the socio-economic systems. Earth system models are the only analytical tools available for prediction of the future climate evolution either under natural conditions or under the influence of humankind. The development and use of realistic climate models requires a sophisticated software infrastructure and access to the most powerful supercomputers and data han-dling systems.

Several scientific institutions, universities, governmental organisations and industrial partners in Europe have developed a world class expertise in different aspects of Earth System Modelling and have contributed to international assessments of climate change.