Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

A digital twin of Earth for the green transition

For its green transition, the EU plans to fund the development of digital twins of Earth. For these twins to be more than big data atlases, they must create a qualitatively new Earth system simulation and observation capability using a methodological framework responsible for exceptional advances in numerical weather prediction.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. The European Green Deal (European Commission, 2019).

  2. A European Strategy for Data (European Commission, 2020).

  3. Destination Earth (DestinE). European Commission https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/destination-earth-destine (2020).

  4. Europe investing in digital: the Digital Europe Programme. European Commission https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/europe-investing-digital-digital-europe-programme (2020).

  5. Voosen, P. Science https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf0687 (2020).

  6. Satoh, M. et al. Curr. Clim. Change Rep. 5, 172–184 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bauer, P., Thorpe, A. & Brunet, G. Nature 525, 47–55 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Shepherd, T. Nat. Geosci. 7, 703–708 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Palmer, T. & Stevens, B. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 24390 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Blayo, E., Bocquet, M., Cosme, E. & Cugliandolo, L. F. (eds) Advanced Data Assimilation for Geosciences (Oxford Univ. Press, 2014).

  11. Stephens, G. L. et al. IEEE T. Geosci. Remote 58, 4–13 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Sheridan, I. Roy. Soc. Open Sci. 7, 191494 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Levin, L. A. et al. Front. Mar. Sci. 6, 241 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Saiz-Rubio, V. & Rovira-Más, F. Agronomy 10, 207 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Marjani, M. et al. IEEE Access 5, 5247–5261 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Reichstein, M. et al. Nature 566, 195–204 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. ETP4HPC’s SRA-4 (European Technology Platform for High-Performance Computing, 2020).

  18. Hallegatte, S. Glob. Environ. Change 19, 240–247 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Bauer, P. et al. Nat. Comput. Sci. (in the press).

  20. Khan, H. N. et al. Nat. Electron. 1, 14–21 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Tao, F. & Qi, Q. Nature 573, 490–491 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Y. Schrader for her graphical assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

P.B. conceived the Comment and P.B., B.S. and W.H. contributed to the writing and revision of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Bauer.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Climate Change thanks Antje Weisheimer and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bauer, P., Stevens, B. & Hazeleger, W. A digital twin of Earth for the green transition. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 80–83 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-00986-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-00986-y

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing