JPI Climate Highlights 2025 and Outlook for 2026

2025 has been an incredible year for JPI Climate, supported in its work by the MAGICA Project. As we reflect on 2025 we are already planning for upcoming projects to keep us busy this year.

January – Sea Level Rise in Europe and AMOC

Our busy year opened with the final element of the 1st Assessment Report on Sea Level Rise in Europe, with stakeholders giving positive feedback on the relevance and impact of the report. It had been a powerful project jointly led by JPI Climate and JPI Oceans, with MAGICA’s support, and it has since – and continues to – contribute to shaping future efforts on sea level rise adaptation in Europe.

JPI Climate, along with JPI Oceans, then launched a joint initiative to address the uncertainties, scientific debate and potential risks resulting from a weakening or collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Experts from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States convened in Brussels and online, on January 30th, to discuss the scope of the initiative.

Hans-Otto Pörtner (Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany) presented an initial concept paper which, over the course of the year, has developed into a concrete outline for a comprehensive review report building on the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, to provide a more focused and updated analysis of AMOC. With two co-chairs, a support unit and a fully established cohort of authors, the initiative has taken strong shape this year. A well-attended session at the Arctic Circle Assembly in October, and a busy side event at COP30 in November, have also been important stepping stones along the way. The new year will begin with the first writing workshop in January, bringing authors together in Italy to move the work forward.

The report is planned for 2026 and aims to provide  a thorough assessment of AMOC’s current state, stability and potential tipping points using insights from palaeoceanographic records, observational data and climate models. It will also explore the potential consequences of AMOC weakening, including shifts in global temperatures, sea-level rise and biodiversity loss, alongside economic and societal impacts. The report will include adaptation and mitigation strategies, policy recommendations and governance approaches to support informed decision-making.

February & March – fresh approach to ECCA2025

In February and March preparations for ECCA2025 – the 7th European Climate Change Adaptation Conference – gathered momentum, ensuring an event that would bring together cutting-edge climate science, policymakers and practitioners with a programme crossing sector boundaries, bringing in meaningful real-world case studies, powerful storytelling and even artistic performances. Time and thought were invested in developing a fresh approach, inviting proposals for complete sessions, which drew a fantastic response.

April – Climate Neutrality Forum

A comprehensive and useful report was published, drawing together the key insights and messages from our Climate Neutrality Forum, which had been held in October 2024 in Brussels, at the BELSPO HQ. The report was aimed at our core audience – scientists, policymakers and practitioners – and examined progress towards climate neutrality. It provided actionable insights into the pressing challenges facing that progress, highlighting the latest science and examining requirements for further development in critical areas. The Climate Neutrality Forum – CNF – is a new event from JPI Climate, held every two years, so look out for the 2026 date! If you want to make sure you don’t miss it, subscribe to our newsletter.

May & June – ECCA2025, three incredible days

600+ participants in Rimini, 400+ online, 39 sessions and three days – all add up to a hugely successful European Climate Change Adaptation Conference!

The vibrant conference and dynamic programme brought climate science and policy action, actors and stakeholders closer together in an intense but productive three days from June 16th-18th, organised by JPI Climate, MAGICA, and the CMCC Foundation. The innovative programme reached from NATO, to the Carabinieri, stage to screen, dance to photography, health to law, cities to coastlines, climate extremes to finance, space to communities, and much more in between. It was strongly supported by European policy and decision-makers as well as other projects in the European climate research landscape.

In a new communications initiative to widen the reach of the fantastic ECCA2025 content, a newsroom approach was developed to publish multiple articles each day, providing further insights from speakers and opportunities for readers on social media, the ECCA2025 website, and those in the conference halls to engage with sessions. There was also a reel of on-the-spot interviews with speakers to watch – Spotlight on Climate Voices.

We thank everyone who attended, presented, spoke, performed and discussed, and our wonderful team of hosts, partners and organisers who worked so hard behind the scenes.

August & September – What summer break?

Following up on networks created during the ECCA2025 conference, JPI Climate and MAGICA torchbearers went to The Vatican’s pan-European climate adaptation summit in Venice on August 28th-29th, ‘From Climate Crisis to Climate resilience in Europe at Local and Regional Levels’ organised by the Ponitifical Academies of Sciences and of Social Sciences, to highlight the Equinox Process.

The summit aimed to strengthen climate resilience through science-based evidence, including networking among science, policy and communities, catalysing mitigation and adaptation actions by enabling societal transformation.

October & November – Brazil beckoned

JPI Climate held its 30th Governing Board Meeting in Bonn, alongside the 6th General Assembly of MAGICA in October. The meetings were both an opportunity and time to reflect collectively as well as to look ahead to upcoming projects and brainstorm on decisions to be made.

The Equinox Process and its ethos are attracting attention not just around Europe but globally as well, and it was a popular topic at the UNFCCC’s annual world climate summit, COP, held this year in Belem, Brazil.

JPI Climate Vice Chair Dr Frank McGovern joined María José Sanz, Scientific Director at the BC3 – Basque Centre for Climate Change (a key speaker at our ECCA2025 conference) in the Spanish Pavilion on November 17th, to share how the Equinox Process operates as a collaborative knowledge framework. He discussed how it informs ambitious, inclusive and science-driven climate strategies.

Another of our topics in demand was the AMOC report, held up in the German Climate Pavilion’s Science for Action Evening on November 19th,  as a successful example of international cooperation in climate change research accelerating trustworthy climate science into policy action.

December – a winter Equinox

As the Christmas decorations started to go up, JPI Climate organised with partners the final Equinox Process events of 2025: the Equinox Workshop: Societal transformation in the face of climate change and the Equinox Dialogue: Modelling the Economics of Climate Change, held on December 11th-12th in a festive Brussels. A mixed audience followed dedicated programmes and welcomed opportunities for joint networking and reflections – one strong theme from 2025 is that it is often in the spaces in between our event agendas that the strongest and most productive bonds are forged.

2026 – busy months ahead

The Equinox Workshop and Dialogue are important milestones on the road to a major event in the New Year – the 2026 Climate Neutrality Forum! But that is not all that we have in our diary! Look out for another influential Equinox stocktake event to be held in March, and an Equinox workshop in February that will discuss the goal of keeping 1.5 degrees in reach. Also follow along as we progress towards our assessment work of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and a second assessment report on Sea Level Rise in Europe. Watch this space!

In the meantime we thank all of you for your support and engagement in the previous year, we wish you a successful 2026.