Context and objectives

Over the past decades, climate science has demonstrated that human activities are responsible for global warming and a range of associated environmental impacts.

In addition, climate science has contributed to the development of a suite of emission trajectories and recommendations for mitigating or adapting to these changes.

The current generation of Earth System Models (ESMs) has been a centrepiece of these achievements, providing an important scientific basis for understanding climate change and informing policy action, both in relation to mitigation and adaptation to global change.

However, ESMs need further development to reach their full potential to thoroughly design and assess the options necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, including the environmental impacts of both the mitigation pathways themselves and climate change associated with these pathways.

The objective of ESM2025 is therefore to develop the next generation of European ESMs, with an improved representation of the full Earth system response to anthropogenic emissions, with a particular focus on the improved treatment of human land use change. By improving the coherence of climate and mitigation processes in these models, the project aims to provide underpinning scientific support and the most robust guidance for mitigation actions targeting a successful achievement of the Paris Agreement.