Four methodological guidelines to evaluate the research impact of co-produced climate services

Despite recent advancements in risk and vulnerability assessments, climate impact studies and adaptation research, the use of such knowledge remains limited in practice.

While co-production emerges as an increasingly practiced means for developing adaptation climate services and decision support, the question remains whether co-produced climate services fulfill the needs they were designed to address. Evaluation can bridge this gap by contributing to a broader evidence base that can inform future climate service practices to maximize their impact.

The authors of this journal article proposes four methodological guidelines to assess co-produced climate services:

• Engaging in adaptive learning by applying developmental evaluation practices
• Building and refining a theory of change
• Involving stakeholders using participatory evaluation methods
• Combining different data collection methods that incorporate visual products

Adequate evaluation is essential to enhancing research impact of climate services, as it can reveal strengths and weaknesses of the current approaches and pave the way for more effective and demand-driven systems. Most importantly, this can better inform the adaptation efforts urgently needed to combat climate change.