New Climate Change Center of Saudi Arabia: Advancing Understanding and Prediction for the Arabian Peninsula Climate

The desert climate of the Arabian Peninsula (AP), marked by sparse rainfall, extreme temperatures, and frequent dust events, significantly impacts its 80‐million population, environment, and economy. Rising temperatures and dust incursions exacerbate these harsh conditions, yet the AP’s climate is underrepresented in global climate research. Understanding its variability is crucial for improving predictions on subseasonal‐to‐seasonal timescales and for developing reliable climate change projections. Existing climate models fail to capture the region’s unique environment, topography, and land‐use changes, leading to poor representation of key processes like local convection, aridity, and moisture transport. To address these gaps, Saudi Arabia established the Climate Change Center (CCC) in 2022, part of the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative. The CCC aims to study climate variability and project future changes using advanced Earth system models developed in collaboration with international partners. This study presents the CCC’s roadmap, focusing on its relevance for global climate research and policymaking, including the Saudi and Middle East Green Initiatives. We also discuss regional uncertainties in the IPCC’s climate projections for the AP and highlight the development of high‐resolution regional models that account for local atmospheric, land, and oceanic processes. The CCC is developing subseasonal‐to‐seasonal forecasting systems and drought monitoring tools, alongside user‐friendly dashboards to offer stakeholders customized climate data. These tools, set for launch in 2025, will aid informed decision‐making in addressing extreme weather events and climate‐related challenges in Saudi Arabia. The Arabian Peninsula (AP) has a very dry desert climate with little rainfall, extremely high temperatures, and frequent dust storms affect the lives of over 80 million people in the region. As climate change makes things worse—like rising temperatures and more dust—it’s important to understand how the climate works here and how it may change in the future. However, most global climate studies don’t focus much on this region. Large‐scale climate models also struggle to capture the AP’s unique features, such as its deserts, mountains, and coastal areas. To address this, Saudi Arabia started the Climate Change Center (CCC) in 2022 as part of Vision 2030. In this study, we detail the CCC’s goals to study the region’s climate, improve predictions for the future using advanced climate models, develop tools for seasonal forecasting and drought monitoring, and create easy‐to‐use dashboards that will let people access climate data. These tools, launching in 2025, will help decision‐makers in Saudi Arabia tackle problems like extreme weather, rising sea levels, and planning for greener and more sustainable cities. This study presents a Climate Change Center as a hub for research, data, and forecasting, supporting adaptation and sustainability The center will develop a climate database, models, and forecasts to improve climate projections and weather predictions for the Arabian Peninsula It will assess extreme weather impacts and provide a climate portal for stakeholders, policymakers, and the public to access key data This study presents a Climate Change Center as a hub for research, data, and forecasting, supporting adaptation and sustainability The center will develop a climate database, models, and forecasts to improve climate projections and weather predictions for the Arabian Peninsula It will assess extreme weather impacts and provide a climate portal for stakeholders, policymakers, and the public to access key data