The European Commission’s launch of the Destination Earth (DestinE) system at the LUMI supercomputer center in Kajaani, Finland, on June 10, 2024, marked a milestone in the EU’s ambitious initiative to create a digital replica of the planet.
A series of pre-recorded testimonial videos were broadcast during the panel “Welcome to the future – Destination Earth unveiled”. The videos showcased the groundbreaking capabilities and diverse applications of DestinE and how different sectors will benefit from this ambitious initiative. Featuring representatives from esteemed organizations such as the Helmholtz Association, the IPCC, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, TenneT, and Colab +Atlantic these testimonials highlight how DestinE’s digital twins will support climate adaptation, the energy sector, urban planning, and environmental policies.
Otmar D. Wiestler is the President of the German Helmholtz Association. In his video, he emphasises the transformative potential of DestinE, and it’s Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin (Climate Adaptation DT) in addressing climate change.
Bart van den Hurk functions as Co-Chair of Working Group II at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He discusses the importance of DestinE’s precision of climate data for urban planning in his video.
Another testimonial user video comes from Roar Skålin. He holds the position of Director General at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway). Skålin provides an example of how the Weather-Induced Extremes Digital Twin (Extremes DT) can improve the monitoring and forecasting of extreme weather events.
As Director of Energy System Planning at TenneT, Kathrin Ballerstein explains how DestinE’s DT’s integrate weather data and climate projections into TenneT’s planning processes. According to Ballerstein, this will help to develop a resilient power grid and maintain energy affordability.
Ana Oliveira works as Chief Technology Officer at +ATLANTIC CoLAB. Oliveira discusses how DestinE contributes to more precise urban planning to combat heat waves.
Destination Earth is a European Union-funded initiative launched in 2022, with the aim to build a digital replica of the Earth system by 2030. The initiative is being jointly implemented under the leadership of DG CNECT by three entrusted entities: the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), responsible for the creation of the first two ‘digital twins’ and the ‘Digital Twin Engine’, the European Space Agency (ESA) responsible for building the ‘Core Service Platform’, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), responsible for the creation of the ‘Data Lake’.
We acknowledge the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking for awarding this project strategic access to the EuroHPC supercomputers LUMI, hosted by CSC (Finland), and the LUMI consortium, Marenostrum5, hosted by BSC (Spain) Leonardo, hosted by Cineca (Italy) and MeluXina, hosted by LuxProvide (Luxembourg) through a EuroHPC Special Access call.
More information about Destination Earth is on the Destination Earth website and the EU Commission website.
For more information about ECMWF’s role visit ecmwf.int/DestinE
For any questions related to the role of ECMWF in Destination Earth, please use the following email links: