The Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise is a joint effort by JPI Climate and JPI Oceans, focusing on regional to local sea level changes in Europe. It supports the development and implementation of related policies at local, national and European levels by providing a collaborative platform for knowledge exchange, synthesis and integration on regional and global, historical and future sea level rise. Through its work, the Hub brings together research and policy professionals from diverse disciplines to assess and communicate recent scientific and socio-economic developments in ways tailored to current policy debates and decision-making needs.
Cycle 2 is now underway, co-chaired by Kristin Richter and Alessio Rovere, exploring new ways of making sea level rise knowledge accessible and usable for policy and practice, alongside continuing the Hub's assessment work across Europe's ocean basins.
The long-term ambition of the Knowledge Hub is to provide periodic assessments of knowledge on sea level rise drivers, impacts and policy options for each of Europe's major ocean basins. These assessments offer regularly updated, policy-relevant knowledge at regional and local scales, complementing existing global and European reports with additional geographical and contextual detail.
By addressing knowledge gaps and facilitating exchange across ocean, climate and social sciences, the Knowledge Hub supports well-informed, evidence-based decisions on protection and adaptation measures in Europe. Its more frequent, regionally tailored assessments can assist national authorities in developing effective policies. The Hub's interdisciplinary and cooperative approach promotes knowledge sharing among European member states, helping to address the global challenge of sea level rise and its specific regional manifestations.
Cycle 1 activities, led by Nadia Pinardi (Italy) and Bart van den Hurk (Netherlands), culminated in a series of basin-specific scoping workshops in 2022 and the large-scale expert Sea Level Rise Conference held on 17–18 October 2022 in Venice, Italy. These efforts provided the basis for the First Assessment Report on Sea Level Rise in Europe, published in 2024 in collaboration with the State of the Planet initiative, alongside a policy-focused brochure.
The JPI Oceans Management Board and JPI Climate Governing Board approved the Terms of Reference for the Knowledge Hub in 2019, launching the preparatory phase. Meetings with interested funding organisations and ministries in 2020 further consolidated support from participating member countries.
In 2020, the two Boards approved the Roadmap for Cycle 1, including the expert scoping conference in Venice. The Governance Structure, comprising a Governing Council, Management Committee, and four Task Groups—was established and later refined following feedback in 2021. The Management Committee held its first meeting in 2021 to initiate Task Group activities.
In 2025, the Boards mandated the Secretariat to set up a 2nd Cycle of implementation, with the governance refresh and scoping process beginning in early 2026.
Global sea level rise is expected to be among the most costly and irreversible consequences of climate change. Since 1900, the global mean sea level has risen by approximately 20 cm and it is continuously rising at increasing rates of currently more than 3 mm per year, associated with anthropogenic climate change. Publications from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), such as the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), have strengthened the evidence for a predominant role of anthropogenic climate change in the observed global mean sea level rise and in the acceleration over recent decades. Current global sea level rise projections for the end of the 21st century vary between 40 cm and 2.5 m. This broad projection range results from uncertainties regarding the future greenhouse gas emissions, thermal expansion, melting of ice sheets and glaciers, and isostatic adjustments.
The long-term ambition of the Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise is to provide periodic assessments of knowledge on sea level rise drivers, impacts and policy options for each of the major ocean basins around Europe, providing easy access to usable and regularly updated knowledge on regional-local sea level change in Europe.