National climate services to support standardisation - examples from Switzerland

In the construction sector in particular, climate change is increasingly being factored into planning due to the long service life of structures. Among other things, standards aim to prevent damage through their specifications. Many of these are dependent on weather parameters. They are regularly reviewed and this offers the opportunity to incorporate more up-to-date or newly available data, to apply modernize the used methods, and to take climate change into account.

MeteoSwiss has been working closely with the Swiss standardisation associations for many years with the aim of supporting optimal foundations for forward-looking standardisation and adaptation to climate change in the construction sector. This not only involves drawing on existing data, but also developing new foundations and co-designing climate services in joint projects. 

In these interactions, MeteoSwiss often takes on a coordinating role as well as providing the scientific expertise for the climate data and the statistical evaluations. In addition, as a national weather service, the experience as a provider of reliable operational services is key. On the stakeholder side, the knowhow about the specific problem, the risk landscape and the needs of the end-users are essential for the creation of the products and services.

In this presentation, some of these collaborations and their results will be presented. These include the heating and cooling of buildings, hail protection and property drainage. These examples will also be used to reflect on which elements are important for the long-term interaction between a national weather and climate service and stakeholders, how uncertainties can be dealt with by engaing into a risk dialogue and what lessons have been learned by both sides over the years in order to put actionable climate services into practice.