Venice climate assessment report
Science for long-term climate resilience
The Venice Climate Assessment Report (VAR) is a transdisciplinary, data-supported initiative to bring together current knowledge on climate change impacts, risks, and response options for the Venice lagoon and its wider social and environmental contexts. In a pivotal period of opportunity to build on the experiences of the MOSE system, the VAR will enable a shared scientific foundation that supports informed, long-term decision-making for Venice in a changing climate.
Approach
The proposed VAR process will include gatherings of scientists, technical and policy experts, literature reviews, policy maker and other stakeholder engagement, and participatory workshops and outreach with the broader Venice community.
The VAR represents an opportunity for Venice to pioneer a regional-scale, transdisciplinary assessment approach that combines on the rigour of global assessments with local knowledge and cultural identity. By bringing diverse voices together and learning collaboratively, this process can help show how other climate-exposed, heritage-rich regions might approach similar challenges.
Goals
- Integrated Assessment: Synthesize a broad range of scientific and experiential knowledge from the region, ensuring that needs and perspectives of decision-makers, local communities and other interested parties are considered from the onset.
- Engagement: Establish a real-world laboratory in Venice where science, policy-making and civil society can jointly develop strategies for effective, socially accepted, and institutionally viable climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience. Foster sustained dialogue through participatory and transparent processes.
- Action: Share clear, usable information on how Venice could move toward a more resilient and sustainable future in the face of climate change.
Call for authors
Interested experts are invited to volunteer to help author the Venice Climate Assessment Report (VAR) as Working Group members. Working Groups are thematic author teams with expertise in climate science or policy, ecosystem studies, socioeconomics, urban planning, etc., corresponding to the main chapters of the VAR. Working Group members provide expertise in particular topics and help ensure that the report captures the wider body of knowledge and perspectives in their field. The Groups will have gender balance and a mixture of career stages.
Working Group co-chairs, who are themselves part of the Working Groups, will serve as big-picture coordinators between the thematic groups, and will be selected for their experience leading and coordinating interdisciplinary research or report projects.
Working Group Co-Chairs
Experts who are nominated but not selected are encouraged to contribute to the report as Expert Reviewers.
Fill in the form to submit a nomination for yourself or on another’s behalf. Nominations will be accepted until 8 May, 2026 and Working Group selections are anticipated later in May.