ESM2025

About the project - ESM2025 About the project From Vision to Results 2021-2025      What we set out to deliver The goal of ESM2025 is to advance the understanding of the Earth system and […]

For those wishing to explore the final project outputs, you can visit:

www.esm2025.eu/about-the-p...

ESM2025 review process is near the end. Thank you to all who shaped this project & helped make climate science more open & relevant for Europe.

The knowledge & networks created through ESM2025 will continue to support climate research, education & policy long after the project ends.

#ESM2025isOver

You can find our publications, research highlights, open code and data here: www.esm2025.eu/research/

ESM2025 leaves a strong scientific legacy: open data, open code, 131+ peer-reviewed papers, and advances to tools like OS-MAGICC, used to explore emissions pathways and carbon budgets.

Its insights feed into CMIP, community MIPs and future IPCC work.
#ESM2025isOver

With the inputs of many of the network members!

This Social Media Strategy Wheel grew out of a CRC-net 2024 meeting on social media for EU research projects, held with the contribution of @maiaresilience.bsky.social communications experts.
Collective lessons from EU climate project comms and management teams, distilled into practical strategies!

World Café Workshops for Stakeholder Engagement - ESM2025 Sience-policy World Café Workshops Policy Briefings & reports World Café Workshops Climate Research Communication Network How are we connecting to national and local stakeholders? World Café Summaries World Café 1 […]

You can find more about our World Café workshops for stakeholder engagement here:
👉 www.esm2025.eu/science-pol...

We also engaged directly with local stakeholders through World Café workshops, bringing together practitioners, NGOs, civil servants & scientists to discuss risks, uncertainties & climate information needs.

A key lesson: Engagement works best when co-designed with the stakeholders.

#ESM2025isOver

Check out this great community-built resource on how to make social media work for your research project!

Policy briefings & reports - ESM2025 Sience-policy Policy Briefings & Reports Policy Briefings & reports World Café Workshops Climate Research Communication Network Science-to-Policy Briefing #1​ A first policy forum was held in October 2021, where current […]

You can find here more about our policy engagement activities, and our policy briefings: 👉 www.esm2025.eu/science-pol...

Policy briefings were then prepared as summaries/follow-ups to these discussions, clarifying where the science stands and supporting the UNFCCC Global Stocktake and future IPCC assessments.

A key lesson: Clustering with other EU projects helps deliver clearer messages & avoid stakeholder fatigue.

ESM2025 co-organised three policy fora with the European Commission, bringing together the EU comission and researchers to discuss carbon budgets, overshoot risks, land-based mitigation and the role of Earth System Models in climate policy.

#ESM2025isOver

New educational resources - ESM2025 Educational resources on climate science and earth system modelling developed by ESM2025 and partner institutions.

Explore our climate education resources here:
👉www.esm2025.eu/education-a...

ESM2025 also created new classroom-ready resources on climate modelling and curated material from EU climate projects — helping teachers bring up-to-date science into their lessons.
Another way an EU research project can strengthen climate literacy across Europe.

#ESM2025isOver

Climate Educ. Summer Universities CESU are professional development workshops for teachers and teacher trainers on climate change and climate modelling.

Explore the climate education summer universities here:
👉www.esm2025.eu/education-a...

Many participants went on to implement climate awareness, mitigation or adaptation projects in their own schools and communities — extending the impact of CESU far beyond the events themselves.
A clear example of EU-level added value for education.

A standout part of ESM2025 was its investment in climate education.
Through the Climate Education Summer Universities (CESUs), teachers from across Europe met researchers, explored climate processes and uncertainties, and exchanged approaches to climate teaching.

#ESM2025isOver

For a concise overview of these key scientific messages and the policy questions they can help to address, you can explore our high-level policy briefing here: bit.ly/44ymKy8

In strong net-negative scenarios, some models showed unexpected ocean circulation responses, influencing how much cooling occurs per tonne of CO₂ removed.
A reminder that overshoot recovery depends on Earth-system feedbacks, not just emissions curves.

ESM2025 explored climate behaviour after net-zero CO₂. Cumulative emissions remain a strong predictor of warming, but small deviations can shift when temperatures peak — a critical insight for assessing overshoot pathways.

#ESM2025isOver

For a concise overview of these key scientific messages and the policy questions they can help to address, you can explore our high-level policy briefing here: bit.ly/44ymKy8

To explore these budgets and pathways more realistically, ESM2025 supported the move toward emission-driven CO₂ experiments in the next CMIP cycle, helping connect socio-economic pathways directly to Earth-system responses when assessing future mitigation strategies.

ESM2025 reinforced the basis for carbon budgets, confirming how closely global warming tracks cumulative CO₂ emissions. It also showed how non-CO₂ gases, especially CH₄, can shift the timing and scale of Paris-compatible pathways — a key nuance for 1.5°C and 2°C planning.

#ESM2025isOver

🥵 2024 El Niño pushed us over 1.5°C, making it the hottest year on record:

heatwaves
floods
hunger for +110 mln people
$3.4 trn in costs

Could such extremes trigger tipping points too?

@aromanou.bsky.social #NASA explains in next #ClimTipWebinar

Join 👉 3 Feb 2–3pm CET
bit.ly/climtip-webi...

Modelling Ice sheets in Earth System Models: pushing the boundaries of our scientific and technical capabilities Recent advances on the interactive modelling of ice sheet dynamics in Earth System Models.

Linking terrestrial sinks, rivers and the coastal ocean in this way strengthens the basis for future global carbon budget assessments.

Our end-of-project news article → bit.ly/48hsZYg
Our research highlight on the LOAC → bit.ly/3Znpl9L

ESM2025 also moved towards including land-to-ocean carbon fluxes directly in Earth System Models, by coupling inland-water processes into a land surface scheme and assessing how human activities since 1850 have altered riverine carbon exports.

#ESM2025isover

Modelling Ice sheets in Earth System Models: pushing the boundaries of our scientific and technical capabilities Recent advances on the interactive modelling of ice sheet dynamics in Earth System Models.

Our end-of-project news article → bit.ly/48hsZYg
Our research highlight on the LOAC → bit.ly/3Znpl9L

This work shows that a large share of the carbon leached from land is transformed or returned to the atmosphere before reaching the open ocean, and helps close the global carbon budget by clarifying where and how those fluxes occur.

Carbon doesn’t flow straight from land to the open ocean.
In ESM2025, we have used the land-to-ocean aquatic continuum (LOAC) framework to follow carbon through rivers, floodplains, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters – and to quantify what happens along the way.
#ESM2025isOver

ESM2025 comes to an end: a new generation of Earth system models for climate action ESM2025 officially ends on 30 November 2025 after four and a half years developing a new generation of “mitigation-oriented” Earth system models to better link emissions, climate responses and policy-relevant pathways.

👉End-of-project news article: bit.ly/48hsZYg