![Climate: the EU takes a new step with its digital twin of the Earth Climate: the EU takes a new step with its digital twin of the Earth](https://media.lesechos.com/api/v1/images/view/66671a526ab8c76ce417be0b/1280x720/01101705778538-web-tete.jpg)
Help local and regional authorities test specific actions in the event of flooding to save lives and reduce property damage. Assess the consequences of an imminent storm on the production and demand of renewable energies. Determining what heat waves will look like in a world two or four degrees warmer and how local infrastructure could be adapted in cities…
All this will soon be possible with a precision and granularity never before achieved, thanks to the ambitious European project to build a digital twin of the Earth, aimed at anticipating natural disasters and adapting the European Union (EU ) to climate change.
Launched a little over two years ago and called Destination Terre (DestinE), it took a new step on Monday with the provision of two first digital twins: one on extreme weather events and the other on adaptation to climate change.
“2023 was the hottest year on record. Hundreds of people have lost their lives in floods and fires in recent years, commented Margrethe Vestager. We know what we must do: keep global warming below the 1.5 degree limit and become the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. DestinE is one of the most promising tools to transform these words into actions.”
The Vice-President of the European Commission was speaking at a press conference organized from Kajaani, Finland, home to the EU’s largest supercomputer (LUMI), used for this project.
Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes
Today, the EU uses Copernicus to conduct real-time monitoring operations – it was used for the latest forest fires and floods that ravaged the EU – but DestinE must go further by making it possible to predict and plan actions.
These twins are intended to predict, simulate and measure the impacts of extreme weather phenomena, including, ultimately, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and other earthquakes. Decision-makers would thus be able to anticipate and assess potential socio-economic and political impacts.
The project required multiple partnerships, notably with the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). And funding of more than 315 million euros.
Zoom in a few hundred meters
“The digital twin on extreme weather events will combine data with simulation capabilities at unprecedented levels of speed and interactivity, meaning very high spatial resolution and near real time,” assures a senior European official.
“The ability to zoom in to just a few hundred meters of localized events will allow us to have much more data to test and simulate future climate scenarios,” underlined Margrethe Vestager.
These climate data as well as the forecast tool will be available to local and European decision-makers, scientists but also non-experts and the public. However, access to the most advanced simulations will be reserved for the Commission, Member States or the largest public authorities.
This second phase of Destination Earth will extend until mid-2026 during which the system must be further improved, notably with the integration of other digital twins covering the oceans, biodiversity, geophysical phenomena, or even the floors. The official timetable calls for a complete digital replica of the Earth “by 2030”.