The Climateurope2 Festival in Venice, held from March 11-13, 2024, served as an ideal platform to foster discussion and knowledge sharing among people from various sectors related to climate services. More than 120 people attended on-site, with an additional 50 participants connecting online. In total, the festival welcomed an audience from 17 different countries, representing diverse professional backgrounds, all with a shared interest in climate services and their standardization.

Given this lineup, we took the opportunity to conduct a series of interviews with 24 different participants, both external and internal to the project. We asked them about their views on the festival, what climate services mean to them, and why the standardization of climate services is meaningful.

Asun Lera, Climate Change Lead at DNV Group Research, provides a clear explanation of what climate services are in simple terms.

Francsico Doblas Reyes, Coordinator of the Climateurope2 project and Director of the Earth Sciences Department at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, elaborates on the importance of standardizing climate services and the fundamental role of Climateurope2 in achieving this goal.

Carlo Buotempo, Director of Copernicus Climate Change Service at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, briefly discusses the significant changes in the landscape of climate services over the past two decades and outlines the main challenges on the horizon.

Philip Tulkens, Head of Unit ‘Climate and Planetary Boundaries’ in the Research and Innovation, Directorate General of the European Commission, emphasizes the role of climate services in informing science-based policy-making within the EU Mission Adaptation.

Kailing DeLong, Researcher and lecturer in Science Communication at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the importance of uncertainties in climate communication and the decision making processes.

Ewa Paderweska, Head of the Environmental Protection Unit in Center for EU Transport Projects, talks about the importance of climate services in her field and shares how the festival has helped her achieve her networking goals.

Finally, Jaroslav Mysiak, Principal scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change and Director of the research division Risk Assessment and Adaptation Strategies, wraps up the festival and gives an insight into future activities organized by the festival.

Curious to watch the rest of the interviews? Watch all the videos on our YouTube channel