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International Social Impact Award for the CLIMAX project

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January 27, 2022

The European-South American research consortium CLIMAX has won the prestigious international JPI Climate Excellence Award for Social Impact 2021! The consortium consists of Argentine, Brazilian, French, German and Dutch researchers, under which our two colleagues dr. Ronald Hutjes and dr. Wouter Greuell. CLIMAX cocreates models with users that predict the weather for the longer term. The models also include predictions for suitable crops for the coming season, or the management of hydroelectric power stations.

About CLIMAX

The researchers of CLIMAX focuses on southeastern South America, where weather is stronly influenced by, among others, El Niño, a natural phenomenon in which seawater periodically warms up strongly. They study the interaction between land use changes – such as deforestation in the Amazon – and changes in climate. They also test models that predict the weather for a season.

So why do this? With the long-term weather forecasts, insurers can better assess their risks and help their customers avoid damage. Farmers and energy suppliers can base their decisions on them. Local weather stations can use the forecasts to properly inform their public. The CLIMAX consortium looks for serviceable forms of advice, in cooperation with all these stakeholders.

Local experience experts benefit from our advice, and we need their practical knowledge to improve our models.
Ronald Hutjes

From forecasts to useful advice

Our researchers Ronald Hutjes (project leader) and Wouter Greuell focus on translating meteorological seasonal forecasts into concrete and useful advice for farmers and energy suppliers. Will it be a dry, hot summer? The researchers then calculate the expected yields for different agricultural crops and varieties, a decision aid for farmers. Is a lot of rainfall expected?

Co-creation as succesfactor

Ronald believes that the intensive collaboration between scientists and local experience experts from the very beginning has been the most important success factor of CLIMAX. That works both ways. "They benefit from our advice, and we need their practical knowledge to improve our models. If a prediction does not come true, what causes this? You can't get that knowledge from the literature."

And indeed does CLIMAX owes its impact award to the widespread network it has built and the concrete results it has achieved. Farmers large and small have taken CLIMAX's advice to heart, and local authorities have relied on it when faced with drought and flooding. The forecasts have proved so successful that regional governments and companies are now investing themselves in the use of seasonal forecasts.