Climateurope2 held its kick-off meeting (KOM) on the 27 and 28 September 2022 in Lecce, Italy. The event was hosted by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) and marked the start of the project, which will run until February 2027. The KOM was attended by more than 90 people from at least 13 countries, making it a great success.

The first day started with a welcome speech from the local organisers, followed by a project overview given by Prof. Francisco J. Doblas-Reyes from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), the Climateurope2 coordinator. Breakout groups for the different work packages were then organised to discuss the framework for equitable standardisation and support to be adopted by the project, business innovation in the field, and how to coordinate and engage with the community of climate services in Europe and beyond. In the afternoon, Dr Roger Street, Research Associate of the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) from Oxford University and co-author of the EU Roadmap for Climate Services, gave an inspirational talk on ‘Rethinking the value chain of climate services’. Further discussions were held on data and processes, market development for climate services, policy support and project’s communication, dissemination and exploitation aspects. The day ended with a guided tour of Carlo V castle in Lecce and the project’s social dinner.

On the second day, technical developments on the project platforms were discussed,  including the Climateurope2 community platform and the internal data repository. Special attention was devoted to discussing the dissemination strategy and engagement with the community, both including internal and external stakeholders. A representative from the Horizon Europe project MAGICA, a Coordination and Support Action that aims to maximise the synergy of European research governance and innovation for climate action, was invited to deliver a presentation at the event. Later, the break-out group meetings resumed, tackling cross-cutting issues in the project regarding standardisation, community support, and case studies. After the lunch break, the last plenary session started with a debate about the scientific and technical challenges faced within the project, as well as the measures required to ensure the smooth interaction among the project partners. The KOM concluded with a discussion about the actions to be addressed in the next six months (meetings, milestones, and deliverables) and, finally, with the habitual closing remarks.

Overall, the KOM allowed for fruitful discussions, while the participants were able to share a common understanding regarding the main project issues and plan the next steps to be undertaken to fulfil the milestones and goals established.