News Item
Energy in the decades ahead: new OSCE platform maps weather-related risks to the energy sector
- Issued on:
- Issued by:
- Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities
This summer brought our energy systems to the brink. Extreme heat and flash floods are just some of the risks to our energy infrastructure and supply.
A new OSCE platform shows how the energy infrastructure across three regions is projected to face the most pressure from heat, drought and heavy rain by around 2050, and where wind and solar power are projected to hold up better, giving anyone who plans or studies energy a place to start.
As recent heatwaves and droughts have shown, power plants, grids, and hydropower systems are increasingly strained by extreme temperatures, low river levels, and more unpredictable weather. Yet, an OSCE assessment revealed that about half of the countries that are part of this project seldom or never use climate risk data for long-term energy planning.
This new platform gives energy sector experts and decision‑makers the practical, location‑specific information they need to plan for these changing conditions.
The platform links high‑resolution climate projections directly to real energy infrastructure: from hydropower and thermal plants to solar, wind, transmission lines, and future electricity demand. Users can zoom into specific regions across South‑Eastern Europe, Algeria, Jordan, Ukraine, and Moldova to see where rising heat, drought, heavy rainfall, or shifting wind and solar patterns may affect energy security.
The geospatial tool uses a smaller subset of 60 climate indices to provide high resolution data on future climate risks to existing energy systems, including hydropower, solar, wind, thermal, nuclear, oil and gas.
With this tool, experts, policymakers and governments can spot where solar and wind potential is likely to grow or shrink, and where hotter summers may push up electricity demand.
The tool is a result of the 2025-26 work of the OSCE project “Mitigating Climate Change Threats to Critical Energy Infrastructure” funded by Austria, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Poland, the United States. In the next two years, the Platform will be expanded to broader energy systems risk analysis.
Test out the platform here
More information on the project here