2026’s extreme heat, wildfires and droughts are underscoring just how quickly our climate is changing. At the same time, climate science is advancing rapidly, with thousands of new studies published every year. The 10 New Insights in Climate Science report distills influential, emerging, and policy-relevant findings from the latest research into ten key insights for decision-makers ahead of the UN climate negotiations at COP. The webinar will include an overview of this year’s findings, expert perspectives on selected insights and an audience Q&A.

Join the International Science Council, Future Earth, the Earth League and the World Climate Research Programme for the launch of the 10 new insights in climate science 2026-27 report. The webinar will be held on 6 October 2026 from 13:00-14:00 UTC.

Register

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Regional Information for Society (RIfS) Core Project will convene two online fora for the climate research community, anchored by panel discussions on overshoot trajectories, consequences, mitigation, and adaptation challenges. Mark your calendar for:

• Webinar 1 – September 30, 12:30–14:00 UTC –  Lived Experience: Trajectories and Consequences
• Webinar 2 – October 15, 07:30–09:00 UTC –  Navigating the Return: Mitigation and Adaptation Challenges

Sign-up to receive more details as they become available here. Read UNEP’s report: https://doi.org/10.59117/20.500.11822/49857 

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our friend and colleague Professor Krishna AchutaRao. Krishna was an active member of the WCRP Joint Scientific Community, a Lead Author of the IPCC and a highly regarded member of the Indian and international science community.

To quote a long-time colleague and friend of Krishna's, Prof. Roxy Koll
"Krishna was a long-time friend and colleague, and over the years we had many conversations and arguments about climate science. What brought me closer to him was his keen scientific temper, his extraordinary attention to detail, and above all, his sense of humour. He would question an argument until he was satisfied that it stood up scientifically, but our conversations would very often leave me smiling. He was also a clear and principled critic whenever scientific temper was compromised, something that has become increasingly important in the present political climate. That combination of scientific rigour, intellectual courage and humour is something I will always remember about him."

He was widely regarded as an excellent scientist and equally remembered as a nice person. There have been a number of articles in the Indian press outlining his many contributions:

• The Indian Express: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/krishna-achutarao-iit-delhi-climate-scientist-dies-62-10865578/
• Hindustan Times: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/others/renowned-scientist-prof-krishna-achutarao-passes-away-at-62-101788545205719.html
• Down To Earth: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/amp/story/climate-change/major-loss-to-indian-climate-science-scientific-community-civil-society-mourn-demise-of-krishna-achutarao

He will be sorely missed by many, including those in the WCRP community.

The call welcomes nominations, including self-nominations, to help strengthen the SSG’s regional, disciplinary, gender and career-stage representation. Applications are particularly encouraged from underrepresented regions and individuals with expertise in stakeholder engagement.

SSG members will contribute to the strategic development and coordination of the WCRP RIfS research, helping advance climate information that responds to regional needs and supports decision-making.

Deadline: 16 October 2026, 12:00 UTC
Self-nominations are welcome.

Learn more here.

Submit your nomination here.

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) congratulates Peter Van Oevelen, Director of the Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) Core Project, on receiving the Kenneth C. Spengler Award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS). The award recognizes his "distinguished leadership of the International GEWEX Project Office, bridging weather, water, and climate communities and fostering inclusive, global collaboration across Earth system sciences."

WCRP also congratulates Sara Pryor, recipient of the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Advance of Applied Meteorology, recognizing her "outstanding contributions to actionable research, leadership, international collaborations, and mentorship that have helped to advance the field of renewable energy."

Recipients will be honored at the 107th AMS Annual Meeting in Denver, 10–14 January 2027.

Read the AMS article: "American Meteorological Society Announces 2027 Weather, Water, and Climate Honorees"

• Interested experts are invited to register here by 23:59 CEST on 25 September 2026.
• To know more, visit the IPCC website.
• Guide for expert reviewers.
  
  

WCRP and the Ocean University of China (OUC) invite applications for the position of Staff Scientist at the International CLIVAR Project Office (ICPO), based at the Ocean University of China (OUC), Qingdao, China. CLIVAR is dedicated to understanding the role of the ocean in the variability, predictability, and change of climate and to the benefit of society and the environment in which we live. The ICPO Staff Scientist will provides technical support to the ICPO to serve as an executive arm of the WCRP Secretariat, specifically for the CLIVAR Scientific Steering Group (SSG) and its panels, research focus areas, and working groups. The call will remain open until August 17, 2026.

To know more about the position, please read the CLIVAR call webpage. 

We are pleased to announce that two proposals have been approved by the CLIVAR SSG as new Research Foci, with implementation set to begin in July 2026:

• The Ocean Oxygen to Carbon Heat Nexus in a Warming Climate (O2CH),  co-chaired by Lijing Cheng and Takamitsu Ito.
• Confronting Earth System Model Trends and Multidecadal Variability with Observations (CEMT-MV), co-chaired by Isla Simpson, Malte Stuecker, Noel Keenlyside and Tiffany Shaw.
  (The membership and webpage is being finalized and will be available on CLIVAR website soon). 

Learn more about the two new CLIVAR Research Foci.

The Regional Information for Society (RIfS) Core Project organized an expert meeting on the Robustness of Climate Change Information for Decisions in April 2024, hosted by the European Commission and co-sponsored by the Green Climate Fund. 

The workshop aimed to address the following issue: When sources of climate change information do not agree or are misaligned to decision contexts, there is a lack of consensus about how to overcome this barrier and inform local-to-regional decision making.  

Collectively the meeting sought to develop forward thinking on building new cross-community collaboration to advance and demonstrate the development of relevant information that is defensibly robust, aligned to context, in ways that are scalable and transferable, and thus broadly accepted and widely applicable. The meeting was explicitly designed to be a first step, a catalyst for new cross-community recognition of the challenge, and to stimulate new actions to address this. A new Interim Working Group is carrying on the work of organizing follow-on activities on these themes, including guidance and standards, global North/South partnerships, ethics and accountability, reducing epistemic uncertainties, and collaborations around responsible data use.  

 More information: https://www.wcrp-rifs.org/activities/workshops/  

The WCRP ESMO core project is poised to embark on an ambitious new phase of Earth system modelling and observational activities, as outlined at the project's first official series of meetings at the German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ) on 18-22 March 2024. During this first meeting, ESMO framed the future direction of the project, with an initial focus on three key aspects: better integration of observational and modelling activities, improved coordinated collaboration between different working groups and related WCRP initiatives, and the seamless incorporation of emerging topics within the existing workflow.

First, ESMO aims to bridge the gap between observational activities and Earth system modelling. This integration is crucial to produce more accurate climate projections and to understand complex climate dynamics. Prof. Susann Tegtmeier and Prof. Baylor Fox-Kemper, co-chairs of ESMO, emphasised the importance of this synergy and noted that the discussions during the meeting were instrumental in refining the project structure to better connect the observing and modelling communities. In particular, it was decided to create a new Working Group on Observations for Researching Climate, to focus on observational infrastructures, their accessibility and their integration with modelling activities and developments. A specific mandate for this working group would be to facilitate the production of data for specific communities and needs, and to be a focal point of contact for space agencies, in situ communities, industry and technology partners to communicate needs and requirements.

In relation to this last point, ESMO will particularly work to promote more coordinated collaboration among its working groups and between these groups and other related WCRP activities. Recent meetings have underlined the importance of such collaboration, with the newly formed ESMO Scientific Steering Group (ESMO SSG) identifying priorities and synergies to advance the work of each WG in an efficient manner, streamline common themes and reduce redundancies. A common set of guidelines and terms of reference, as discussed during the meeting, are currently under development to contribute to facilitating agreements and processes.

Finally, the project will intensify activities and focus on specific topics of emerging interest. Among the priorities and new pathways to improve the accuracy of climate projections, particular attention will be dedicated to measuring and monitoring carbon, energy and water cycles, improving the usability of observations in reanalysis, initialization and predictions, and promoting the sustainable integration of new technologies, including machine learning. The integration of machine learning techniques, in particular, is expected to evolve the way climate models are developed and refined, leading to more reliable and actionable climate data. A deliberate focus on new technologies is part of ESMO and WCRP's commitment to remain at the forefront of climate research and innovation.