Towards an Ethics of Modeling and Data Use for Actionable Climate Science

Considerable risk is involved in the use of climate models or their products (i.e., simulations and data) when there is a lack of adequacy or fitness for one’s purpose. Of specific concern is the risk of generating information in response to an actionable or applied question or aim that is irrelevant, misleading, inappropriate, inconsistent, or highly inaccurate, as this can lead to downstream harms such as maladaptation. This form of “misuse” is innocent or unintentional, and is largely a function of a user’s misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the intended purposes of a model and/or modeling exercise and the applicability of the model’s products. Ineffective communication and lack of transparency into the intended purposes, assumptions, representational features, adequacies, as well as inadequacies and limitations of a model, can lead to this form of inappropriate and unjustified repurposing. Currently, there is an increase in the demand for open and accessible data, and an increase in the use of climate data, especially data from high-resolution modeling efforts, for applied and actionable purposes (contexts in which derived products are used to inform decision-making). Given both conditions, the reduction and management of possible inappropriate repurposing, i.e., misuse, has become a highly salient consideration for any modeling effort. Producers of models and their products have a moral duty to implement mechanisms to aid users in the identification, understanding, and control of this risk. This can happen by way of the distribution of expert guidance, increase in intentional transparency, and instantiation of systematic norms for clearly and plainly communicating the fitness of purpose and inadequacies of models and their products. This would provide a large step forward toward the reduction of misuse of information in climate science that could lead to harmful consequences, and pave the way for the development of an ethics of scientific practice for the climate science community.