Building the next generation of climate scenarios
A new international community is taking shape around the challenge of understanding possible climate futures and the complex interactions between climate, ecosystems, economies and societies. As these connections become increasingly important for assessing future risks and responses, different scientific communities need to work together. Forty international climate institutions gathered in Milan to launch FUTURA, a four-year Horizon Europe project coordinated by CMCC designed to strengthen these connections across climate science, impact assessment, socio-economic pathways and data infrastructure. Together, they aim to create a more integrated way of exploring and informing international climate policy on the futures that climate change may bring.
Socio-economic models, energy and land-use models, climate models, impact models and infrastructure models each contribute a piece of the picture of building future scenarios. Each community has its own expertise, methods and priorities. They have been working alongside one another for years, but building a common language and objectives go far beyond that.
This was one of the core aims at the heart of FUTURA – a four-year Horizon Europe project coordinated by CMCC that brings together 40 institutions working across different parts of the climate scenario landscape. The kickoff meeting was held in Milan on 23–25 September 2026 with a key ambition to strengthen the connections between these communities, so that the development of scenarios becomes a more integrated process rather than a succession of separate steps.