While climate change policies need to be informed by scientific evidence, research outcomes in return, are shaped by new policy developments and technological innovations. An outstanding panel of scientists and policymakers met at the CMCC official side event at COP27 to discuss how to build a constant synergy between the academic community and the decision-making world to build interdisciplinary, inclusive and policy-relevant advice for the European transition to carbon neutrality.

All levels of the policy sphere, from local to global, are called to make urgent decisions to bring the world on track to meet the Paris Agreement goals. Policies need to be designed to shape a climate-neutral and resilient future, managing at the same time the social and economic transformations that such a transition will trigger.

At the official COP27 side event “Launching a European Climate Science Assessment Mechanism for Policy Support”, held on Thursday, 17 November, in Room Tutankhamun, Blue Zone, at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, a distinguished panel of scientists and policymakers met to discuss how science can support policy-making most effectively to put climate data and knowledge at the service of the society.

The event, organized by the CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change in collaboration with the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) and Società Italiana per le Scienze del Clima (SISC), was also live-streamed on the official COP27 YouTube channel. The video of the full event is available at this link.

Frank McGovern, Chair of JPI Climate, introduced the debate by highlighting the leading role of Europe in climate change research and innovation, and the need for an assessment of the returns from Europe’s considerable investments in climate observation and analysis systems. “We are working on a European assessment mechanism to enhance our understanding of the scientific basis of action for climate change”, he stated, announcing the launch of a European scientific assessment and stocktaking process to address climate resilience, climate neutrality and societal transformation, which will take place at the Equinox Summit organized by JPI Climate in Brussels, Belgium in March 2023.

“We are proud of the leading role that the Italian and CMCC research is playing in supporting and promoting this new policy-relevant assessment mechanism for Europe, and we look forward to the Equinox Summit in Bruxelles”, commented Giulia Galluccio, Director of the CMCC division Information Systems for Climate science and Decision-making and Vice-Chair of JPI Climate, underlining the support of Ireland, Belgium and Finland as the first evidence of the importance of this initiative for European governments.

A clear example of the relevance of scientific research in helping design European policies emerged from the speech of Marinella Davide, Marie Sklodowka-Curie fellow at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Harvard University, and affiliated researcher at CMCC Foundation and SISC. “The EU Green Deal recognizes that just transition policies should be an integral element of the EU low-carbon strategy. This principle is reiterated in several initiatives, aimed at preventing or compensating for the social impacts of climate and energy policies on vulnerable areas in Europe, or on vulnerable groups of households”. Davide’s work focuses on the role of energy prices in current and future temperature-mortality relationship, a crucial topic as shown also by the current energy price crises. By increasing heating and cooling consumption, households manage to adapt to extreme temperatures, but only up to certain price limits” she explained. “In 2030, under a 2°C scenario, energy prices may exacerbate the impact of extreme temperatures on mortality if just transition measures to protect households are not effectively implemented.”

The issue of how policies can be informed by the best available science, and how synergies between research and policies can be maximised was also addressed by Terhi Lehtonen, State Secretary at Finnish Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Professor of Environmental Sciences at the UCLouvain and Belgian candidate for the IPCC Chair position, and Massamba Thioye, Executive, Climate Change Innovation Hub, UNFCCC.

Besides these topics, panelists also presented instruments to align different policies that are being implemented worldwide, such as the ETS – Emissions Trading Schemes, and highlighted the role of the private sector in financing the climate transition.

Simone Borghesi, EAERE President-Elect, Director FSR Climate, EUI and University of Siena, showcased the Life Dicet project as an example of exchange of knowledge from research to policy-makers and viceversa that deepens international cooperation for the development and possible integration of carbon markets.

“Public money is not enough, we need the private sector. And we need to transform the private sector in order to become SDG and ESG compatible” affirmed Phoebe Koundouri, EAERE President, AUEB and Co-Chair UN SDSN Europe calling on the need to integrate the evaluation of green capital into a more holistic economic framework.

“Beyond the policy framework, we need more information to be streamed into the capital market itself to make better decisions” said Markus Müller, Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer ESG & Global Head of Chief Investment Office, Deutsche Bank. “Information is the fuel for international finance flowing in the right direction.”

The event was supported by MAGICA project “Maximising the Synergy of European Research Governance and Innovation for Climate Action” funded by the European Union and co-organised with the European joint programming initiative JPI Climate.