Page 55 - APEC CLIMATE CENTER 2025 Annual Report

APEC CLIMATE CENTER 2025 ANNUAL REPORT

2025 APCC Marks 20th Anniversary with APEC Climate 2025 yield forecasting. Professor Hyungjun Kim from KAIST emphasized that climate change

is a complex crisis caused by human activity, advocating for an integrated adaptation ap-
APCC News Symposium 2025 APCC News proach that considers interconnected sectors like the water-food-energy nexus, encom-
passing socio-economic scenarios and Earth system models. Meanwhile, Dr. Martin Okata
01 Marking the Republic of Korea’s chairmanship of APEC, the APCC successfully hosted the 01 from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) presented ADB’s plans to integrate climate risk
into development decision-making and expand climate finance investments, offering
‘2025 APEC Climate Symposium’ to celebrate its 20th anniversary in Busan from 7 to 9
August 2025. Under the theme “Addressing APEC’s Climate Challenges: Complexity of Cli- practical implementation strategies.
mate Change Adaptation and the Way Forward,” the event was co-hosted with the Korea The panel discussion, which concluded the symposium, reaffirmed that “integration and
Meteorological Administration (KMA) and Busan Metropolitan City. The event gathered cooperation” are key to responding to the climate crisis. Experts agreed on the need to
around 180 climate scientists, policymakers, and representatives from APEC member elevate climate change adaptation to a standing agenda within APEC and to facilitate data
economies and international organizations from 26 countries, to explore scientific solu- sharing and the exchange of scientists among member economies. Notably, the “APEC
tions and enhance coordination between science and policy to address the climate cri- Member Economy Knowledge Sharing Session” showcased APCC’s effective cooperative
sis. This symposium was significant for reflecting on APEC’s achievements over the past network, with China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and member economies presenting
20 years as a climate information hub in the Asia-Pacific region and declaring a vision for best practices in climate adaptation using climate information and services.
leading future climate responses.
The APEC Climate Symposium 2025 reaffirmed APCC’s role not just as a provider of climate
The symposium commenced with the “APCC 20th Anniversary Ceremony.” Key dignitar- information, but as a bridge connecting science, policy, and society, and as an enduring
ies, including Acting Executive Director Hyung-jin Kim, KMA Administrator Dong-eon Jang, partner to the Asia-Pacific climate community. Moving forward, APCC remains committed
Vice Mayor of Busan Jun-seung Lee, and APEC Secretariat Executive Director Eduardo Pe- to expanding customized climate services that meet the needs of member economies,
drosa, delivered welcome remarks, praising APEC’s journey from its inception in Busan in building upon its 20 years of achievement.
2005 to becoming a leading climate prediction institution in the region. During the subse-
quent vision declaration ceremony, key figures participated in an LED touch performance,
pledging to play a pivotal role in future climate change responses based on the achieve-
ments of the last two decades. Additionally, the awards ceremony for the “Climate Crisis
Short-form Video Contest,” designed to convey the value of climate science to the public,
added meaning to the event by raising public awareness of climate change. During the
keynote session, IPCC Chair Jim Skea and Director Axel Timmerman of the IBS Center for
Climate Physics emphasized that “overcoming the limits of climate adaptation requires an
integrated approach that encompasses social aspects such as health and poverty, along-
side the refinement of scientific prediction,” thereby enriching the academic discourse of
the symposium.

The main sessions of the symposium were organized around two key pillars: “Climate Pre-
diction and Attribution,” representing recent advancements in climate science, and “Adap-
tation and Cooperation,” offering practical solutions. In the first session, various attempts
to reduce climate model uncertainty and increase prediction reliability were shared. Dr.
Doug Smith from the UK Met Office emphasized the importance of accounting for model
errors. Professor Yu Kosaka from the University of Tokyo pointed out the discrepancy be-
tween observed La Niña-like trends and model-predicted El Niño-like warming, analyzing
the tropical Pacific as a key factor in prediction uncertainty. Professor Seung-Ki Min from
POSTECH presented his research on the impact of human-induced warming on typhoons
and extreme precipitation through high-resolution simulations. Professor Yukiko Imada
from the University of Tokyo introduced various event attribution methods to bridge the
gap between complex climate data and decision-making, while Professor Ted Shepherd
drew significant attention by proposing “Physical Climate Storylines,” an innovative ap-
proach to support rational decision-making under uncertain future conditions.

The second session featured concrete discussions on how climate science can converge
with other sectors such as health, agriculture, and climate finance to enhance social resil-
ience. Professor Ho Kim from Seoul National University proposed applying the “Health in
All Policies (HiAP)” concept to climate action. Dr. Toshichika Iizumi from Japan’s National
Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) presented research on global crop

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