Co-designing climate services to support adaptation to natural hazards: Two case studies from Sweden

This SEI discussion brief shows how co-designed climate services can better support adaptation processes by focussing on users’ needs, and gaining greater understanding of the challenges they face in making real-world policy decisions.

Among the key messages of this study emerge:

• The types of climate services needed depend on context, including users’ prior experience, and the stage of the adaptation learning cycle.

• To deliver climate services that address stakeholder-specific needs and intended uses, providers and intermediaries must understand institutional and decision contexts.

• The co-design of climate services should better address the tendency for stakeholders to select and assess adaptation options one at a time, rather than considering multiple options.

• Co-design approaches should better reflect the need for decision-makers to address both climate- and non-climate-related concerns and priorities.

• Co-design processes may overcome common barriers (such as uncertainty in climate projections, and policy priorities that compete with climate adaptation) to the use of climate research in practice.