Research Seminar - Tackling Societal Challenges with Climate Science

This talk will present how climate science is effectively used to address applications in agriculture and energy. One case study illustrates predicting the rainy season in Eastern African countries a few months in advance, starting from the knowledge of large-scale climate signals and atmospheric circulations. Another case involves using climate projections to assist European transmission system operators in ensuring the adequacy of the electricity system. Additional examples will draw on research into the interannual variability of solar radiation and long-term wind speed trends in Australia. Central to developing these applications is the concept of service co-production, which encompasses co-exploration, co-design, co-development, delivery, and co-evaluation: interdisciplinarity is crucial for successful co-production. The presentation will also feature the Teal visualization tool (https://tealtool.earth) to demonstrate the delivery of climate information. Finally, the talk will mention plans for an ambitious project aimed at regenerating and rebalancing regional and rural Australia in the context of climate change.

Prof. Alberto Troccoli is the co-founder and Managing Director of the World Energy & Meteorology Council, co-founder and CEO of Inside Climate Service srl, and a visiting professor at the University of East Anglia (UK). He has over 25 years of experience in the fields of meteorology and climate, and in the last 15 years has been exploring their applications to the energy, and other, sectors. His career includes time at several leading institutions such as NASA, ECMWF (UK), the University of Reading (UK) and CSIRO (Australia). Alberto has published extensively and is also the chief editor and an author of four books.  He is also the main author of a few United Nation’s World Meteorological Organization’s publications such as the Global Framework for Climate Services’ Energy Sector Exemplar (2017), the Integrated Weather and Climate Services in Support of Net Zero Energy Transition (2023), and the 2022 Year in review: Climate-driven Global Renewable Energy Potential Resources and Energy Demand (2023, upcoming). He is also the leader of the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s Energy operational service. In addition, he has led the development of the Teal tool (https://tealtool.earth), a user-friendly free interactive visualisation tool which allows global historical climate and carbon emissions data (and soon climate projections too) to be easily visualised, understandable and accessible. Alberto holds a PhD in Physical Oceanography from the University of Edinburgh (UK).