The Working Group on Regional Climate sunset at the end of 2020.

The mission of WGRC is to prioritize and coordinate regional climate research within WCRP and serve as the conduit for two-way information exchange between WCRP and the various institutions and coordinating bodies that provide climate services, including the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS).

The demands for scientifically-based climate information are growing rapidly, spurred by the increasing recognition that human-caused climate change is a serious issue for all countries, that it will continue even with intense mitigation efforts, and that adaptation to changing climate is necessary in order to minimize negative impacts and capitalize, where possible, on positive impacts.

Detailed regional climate information (both historical and future) is required to develop policies, to assess impacts and risks, and to plan adaptation measures (e.g. changes to building codes or infrastructure planning). In addition, recent progress in climate prediction, on timescales from months to years, offers the possibility to implement better near-term decision-making in climate-sensitive areas such as agriculture, transportation, tourism, energy production and water resource management. Furthermore, coordinated regional modelling and observational studies can lead to an increased understanding of, and ability to simulate, processes that are important in determining regional climate variability and change, and in realizing the potential for improved regional-scale climate predictions.

In order to better equip countries with suitable regionally-specific climate information, WMO implemented the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). An important aspect of this framework is the research that underpins climate information products and services. It is the role of WCRP to coordinate this research internationally. The research activities in which WCRP has been involved have contributed in important ways to improving our knowledge of the climate system, and to our ability to make quantitative predictions of future climate at global and regional scales. WCRP ensures that its research is informed by and responsive to the needs of climate service providers and the users they serve, and WGRC is charged with advancing this objective.