Report on the Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin and its Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals

Project Overview and Recognition

The Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin (Climate DT), a component of the European Commission’s Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative, has been shortlisted for the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Gordon Bell Prize for Climate Modelling. This nomination follows previous recognition, including two HPCwire Readers’ Choice Awards, underscoring the project’s significant contributions to high-performance computing and climate science.

Advancing SDG 13: Climate Action through High-Performance Computing

The Climate DT project is a direct and powerful tool for advancing Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action) by providing unprecedented insights into Earth’s climate system. Its primary function is to equip policymakers and scientists with actionable data to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

• High-Resolution Projections: The initiative operationalises multi-decadal climate projections at kilometre scales (5–10 km), a significant improvement over previous ~100 km models. This resolution is critical for observing the local and regional impacts of climate change and extreme weather events, enabling more effective adaptation strategies.
• Scenario Modelling: The system supports “what-if” scenario simulations, such as replaying past events in a hypothetical 2°C warmer world. This capability is vital for understanding potential future climate impacts and testing the effectiveness of different policy interventions, directly supporting SDG Target 13.2 (integrate climate change measures into national policies).
• Data for Impact Sectors: By transforming raw climate data into sector-specific information, the project provides the necessary intelligence for building resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards, aligning with SDG Target 13.1.

Fostering SDG 9 and SDG 17 through Technological Innovation and Collaboration

The success of the Climate DT is built on a foundation of technological innovation (SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) and robust international partnerships (SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals).

1. Innovative Infrastructure (SDG 9): The project leverages Europe’s world-class EuroHPC supercomputers, including LUMI and MareNostrum 5. These systems provide the computational power necessary to run complex, kilometre-scale Earth system models. The project’s scalability tests, reaching 1 km global resolution, demonstrate a future-proof architecture ready for Europe’s upcoming exascale systems like JUPITER.
2. Collaborative Framework (SDG 17): The Climate DT is a pan-European effort implemented by a consortium of leading institutions. This includes CSC – IT Center for Science, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), and numerous other supercomputing centres, climate centres, and academic partners. This collaboration exemplifies the multi-stakeholder partnerships required to achieve the SDGs.

Supporting Broader Sustainable Development Goals

The high-fidelity climate information generated by the Climate DT has cascading benefits for a wide range of Sustainable Development Goals beyond climate action.

• SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): The infrastructure supporting the project demonstrates a commitment to sustainability. The LUMI supercomputer, for instance, runs entirely on renewable hydropower and reuses its waste heat for local district heating, embodying the principles of clean energy and energy efficiency.
• SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities): High-resolution climate data allows for more accurate risk assessments for urban areas, helping cities plan for resilience against floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related hazards.
• SDG 2, 6, 14, 15 (Zero Hunger, Clean Water, Life Below Water, Life on Land): The project’s three kilometre-scale Earth system models (ICON, IFS-NEMO, and IFS-FESOM) cover all components of the Earth system, including atmosphere, land, ocean, and sea ice. The resulting data can inform sustainable practices in agriculture, water resource management, and the protection of marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Key Achievements and Future Outlook

The project has achieved critical milestones that set a new global benchmark for climate modelling and directly support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

1. First-Ever Kilometre-Scale Projections: The teams delivered the first multi-decadal, fully coupled global climate projections at approximately 5 km resolution, producing multi-petabyte datasets now available via the DestinE platform.
2. Demonstrated Scalability: The submission for the Gordon Bell Prize highlighted the unprecedented scalability of the coupled models to 1 km global resolution, proving the system’s readiness for future challenges.
3. Future Production Runs: New operational workflows are planned to produce simulations covering the period 1990–2050 at 5 km resolution, providing a comprehensive dataset for long-term climate adaptation planning.

Relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13: Climate Action

• The article’s central theme is the “Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin (Climate DT),” a sophisticated tool designed to create “multi-decadal climate projections at kilometre scales.” Its purpose is to understand the “impacts of climate change and extreme events” and to support “climate change and adaptation to it.” This directly aligns with the core objective of SDG 13, which is to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• The project relies heavily on advanced infrastructure, specifically “Europe’s world-class EuroHPC supercomputers, including LUMI” and “MareNostrum 5.” The article highlights the technological innovation involved, such as developing “kilometre-scale Earth system models” and achieving “unprecedented scalability to 1 kilometer.” This focus on building resilient infrastructure and fostering scientific innovation is central to SDG 9.

SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

• The article explicitly mentions the sustainable practices of the infrastructure used. It states that the LUMI supercomputer “runs entirely on renewable hydropower, and reuses its waste heat to warm the city of Kajaani.” This demonstrates a direct contribution to increasing the share of renewable energy and improving energy efficiency, which are key components of SDG 7.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

• The success of the Climate DT is attributed to a “strong collaborative effort across the continent.” The article details a multi-stakeholder partnership involving the European Commission, CSC, ECMWF, “supercomputing centres, climate centres, national meteorological services, and academia across Europe.” This extensive collaboration to share knowledge, technology, and resources for a common goal exemplifies the spirit of SDG 17.

Specific SDG Targets

SDG 13: Climate Action

• Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters. The Climate DT is designed to deliver “globally consistent climate information at scales where the impacts of climate change and extreme events are observed,” which is crucial information for building resilience and planning adaptation strategies.
• Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. The project itself represents a massive enhancement of institutional capacity for climate modeling. By creating tools that can run “what-if scenario simulations,” it directly improves the capacity for impact reduction analysis and early warning.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• Target 9.1: Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure. The article describes the EuroHPC systems like LUMI and MareNostrum 5 as “world-class supercomputers,” which are prime examples of resilient, high-quality scientific infrastructure.
• Target 9.5: Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors…and encourage innovation. The entire initiative is focused on enhancing scientific research. The article notes the project achieved a “leap from ~100 km global models” to “~5 km resolution,” demonstrating a significant upgrade in technological capability and scientific innovation.

SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

• Target 7.2: Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. The statement that the LUMI supercomputer “runs entirely on renewable hydropower” is a direct fulfillment of this target for a major piece of research infrastructure.
• Target 7.3: Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency. The project contributes to this target through the practice of reusing LUMI’s “waste heat to warm the city of Kajaani,” a clear example of improving energy efficiency.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

• Target 17.6: Enhance regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation. The project is described as a “strong collaborative effort across the continent,” involving numerous European institutions like ECMWF, Max Planck Institute, CSC, and BSC, showcasing a powerful model of regional cooperation in science and technology.
• Target 17.16: Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships. The Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative is a multi-stakeholder partnership that mobilizes and shares “knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources” among government bodies (European Commission), academic institutions, and technology centers to achieve a common sustainable development objective.

Indicators for Measuring Progress

SDG 13: Climate Action

• Implied Indicator: Resolution of climate models. The article quantifies the improvement from “~100 km global models” to projections at “5–10 km resolution,” with scalability tests at “1 km global resolution.” This increased resolution is a direct measure of the improved quality and precision of data available for climate adaptation planning.
• Implied Indicator: Data production and availability. The project produced “multi-petabyte datasets now available via the DestinE platform.” The volume and accessibility of this data serve as an indicator of the enhanced capacity to inform climate policies and strategies.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• Implied Indicator: Computational throughput of simulations. The article mentions a “production throughput of ~0.6 simulated years per day,” which is a quantifiable metric of the performance and efficiency of the scientific infrastructure and innovative models.
• Implied Indicator: Investment in and development of advanced research infrastructure. The mention of LUMI, MareNostrum 5, and the preparation for “JUPITER, Europe’s first upcoming exascale supercomputer” indicates ongoing investment and development in cutting-edge scientific infrastructure.

SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

• Mentioned Indicator: Percentage of energy from renewable sources for operations. The article provides a clear indicator for the LUMI supercomputer, stating it “runs entirely on renewable hydropower,” which translates to a 100% share for that facility.
• Mentioned Indicator: Implementation of energy efficiency measures. The practice of reusing “waste heat to warm the city of Kajaani” is a specific, verifiable indicator of an energy efficiency system in place.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

• Implied Indicator: Number and diversity of collaborating institutions. The article lists a wide range of partners, including “supercomputing centres, climate centres, national meteorological services, and academia across Europe,” as well as specific entities like ECMWF, CSC, BSC, and the Max Planck Institute. The breadth of this collaboration is an indicator of a successful multi-stakeholder partnership.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis

Source: hpcwire.com