The Met Office is joining experts from around the world this week at the 7th International Scientific Conference on the Global Water and Energy Cycle.
The conference will help set the stage for the next phase of research into water and energy resources.
Freshwater and energy resources are under increasing pressure due to increasing global population, economic growth and changes in water availability due to climate change - which is now a major global concern.
The conference – Trending Now:Water - marks the 25th anniversary of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) who organise the conference. New research will revolve around water resources and climate, and WCRP will also look at training for the next generation of scientists. The United Nations estimates global demand for water will increase by 55 percent by 2050.
Professor Adam Scaife, who leads the Met Office's monthly to decadal prediction team, has been invited to talk about modelling and predicting extreme events at the conference. He said:
"Water availability is a critical impact of extreme weather events. These events are often governed by large scale climate variability so the best way of predicting the risk of climate extremes months or years ahead is to work out how to best predict the large scale climate variability."
The "Trending Now: Water" Conference is running from the 14th to 17th July in The Hague, Netherlands. It aims to highlight new ideas on how to resolve long-standing water problems and develop better information systems on water and climate variations.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
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Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
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