Global Flood Partnership (GFP) Keynote – UN-SPIDER & ECMWF

15 September 2025, AHEAD delivered a prime-time keynote presentation at the Global Flood Partnership Annual Meeting in Budapest, on invitation by UN-SPIDER and ECMWF. This high-level intervention showcased PHASE 2’s Digital Twin flood foresight capabilities to the global flood risk community, reinforcing AHEAD’s leadership in climate intelligence.

Council of Europe Formal Recognition

29 July 2025, in its conclusions, the Council of Europe cited “the bottom-up foresight and top-down coordination enabled by Malta’s Phase 2 Climate Command” as an example of good practice in multilevel environmental governance. This formal recognition solidified AHEAD’s standing as a leader in democratic, data-driven climate intelligence.

ESA ESRIN Taskforce Discussions

8 July 2025, AHEAD returned to ESA’s ESRIN Centre to discuss integrating PHASE 2 into Destination Earth and forming a joint taskforce to scale its Digital Twin capabilities across Europe.

From Adaptation to Climate Command at the Mediterranean Forum

19 June 2025, at the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change – Mediterranean Forum in Bologna, AHEAD introduced the Climate Command Doctrine to an audience including ECMWF, DG CLIMA, DG RTD, and DG ECHO. The session showcased PHASE 2’s role in anticipatory, data-driven decision-making.

Climate Command at the MLG Conference (Council of Europe)

13 June 2025, at the Multilevel Governance Conference in Gozo, under the Maltese Presidency of the Council of Europe, AHEAD/RIU presented Climate Command as a scalable governance model built on PHASE 2, linking local foresight to EU-level decision-making.

Public Service Expo 2025

23 May 2025, AHEAD and RIU engaged over 6,000 students and public sector innovators with live demos of PHASE 2, DTMT-01, and the Heat Severity and Population Density Apps. The event also debuted the Climate Superheroes, blending climate science with creative public engagement.

ESA New Capabilities & Countries in European Space Conference

14–15 May 2025, at ESA’s ESRIN Centre in Frascati, Italy, AHEAD showcased “Malta – The Climate Sentinel”, featuring PHASE 2 and DTMT-01 as models for applying Sentinel data to climate resilience. ESA recognised DTMT-01 as a scalable, low-barrier solution for member states.

PHASE 2 Presented to JANUS & ERCA (Japan)

5 March 2025, a Japanese delegation from JANUS and the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency (ERCA) visited Malta to explore PHASE 2’s climate and disaster risk capabilities, including tsunami simulation. They requested tailored recommendations for deploying PHASE 2 in Japan.

PHASE 2 Pitched to the European Commission

25 February 2025, AHEAD presented PHASE 2 to DG CLIMA and DG CNECT at the European Commission. Johannes Klumpers, Senior Expert of CLIMA.E1, remarked: “This is what we have been wishing for”, underscoring PHASE 2’s strategic fit with EU climate resilience objectives.

AHEAD Officially Registered

20 January 2025, AHEAD Institute for Societal Advancement Ltd was formally incorporated in Malta, giving institutional structure to nearly a decade of climate innovation and securing the operational home for PHASE 1 and PHASE 2 and related projects.

Launch of DTMT-01

24 December 2024, AHEAD unveiled DTMT-01 – the first Digital Twin of Malta, integrating geospatial data, real-time analytics, and climate simulations for hazards including urban heat, flooding, and sea-level rise. This public release marked Malta’s entry into the era of operational climate foresight.

EEA Eionet Expert Workshop

8–9 October 2024, at the Eionet Expert Workshop on Climate Adaptation Knowledge Platforms, hosted by the European Environment Agency, AHEAD’s contribution highlighted the importance of AI-driven, user-tailored climate knowledge systems to combat climate fatigue and increase engagement.

Firefighting Climate Risk at the European Roundtable

11 September 2024, at the European Roundtable on Climate Risk Management, AHEAD introduced a “firefighting approach” to climate action—emphasising immediate hazard mitigation alongside long-term adaptation. This concept directly informed the creation of the Climate Command Doctrine.

PHASE 2 Reaches TRL 5

In 2024, PHASE 2 achieved Technology Readiness Level 5 (TRL 5), validating its core functionalities in a relevant environment. This milestone confirmed PHASE 2’s capability to simulate complex climate hazards—such as sea-level rise, flooding, and heatwaves—through a modular Digital Twin architecture. The achievement positioned AHEAD as a frontrunner in operationalising climate foresight across Europe.

Laying the Groundwork for Climate Intelligence

2023 marked the conceptual leap toward Climate Intelligence—uniting foresight tools, simulation engines, and public communication into one operational framework. This strategic shift laid the intellectual foundation for what would become the Climate Command Doctrine.

From Climate Adaptation to Climate Resilience

AHEAD’s focus shifted from climate adaptation to climate resilience with the launch of two public-facing tools: the Urban Heat Island App and the Heat Severity App. These tools empowered communities and authorities with real-time climate intelligence. In parallel, PHASE 2 advanced as a full-scale Digital Twin simulator, integrating predictive modelling and 3D environments.

Operationalisation of PHASE 1 through RIU

January 2021, following national recognition, PHASE 1 moved into full operational use within the Research Innovation Unit (RIU). It began supporting climate risk assessments, UHI simulations, and resilience planning for local councils—setting the stage for PHASE 2’s evolution.

National Recognition for Scientific Innovation

December 2020, PHASE 1 received the Malta Intellectual Property Award for Scientific Innovation, recognising its pioneering Urban Heat Island methodology. This award reinforced the engine’s relevance for small island states facing acute climate risks.

First Peer Review by the European Space Agency

PHASE 1 underwent its first independent peer review by Dr Gordon Campbell of the European Space Agency (ESA). This validation confirmed the robustness of its methodology and opened the door for deeper integration with satellite-based Earth Observation data.

PHASE 2 Vision and the LiDAR Blueprint for Malta

In 2016, Fabian Borg conceived the vision for PHASE 2—a national-scale Digital Twin to advance climate resilience. Building on his PHASE 1 framework and its foreseeable integration with terrain and elevation datasets, Fabian developed the concept for a LiDAR-derived Digital Twin as the spatial foundation for PHASE 2. Throughout 2017, he collaborated with Prof. Saviour Formosa to progress the spatial data infrastructure for Malta and create a national LiDAR blueprint.

The Inception of PHASE 1

June 2015, Fabian Borg conceived the Predictive Hyper-Adaptive Simulation Engine 1 (PHASE 1) to tackle climate adaptation challenges through advanced Urban Heat Island (UHI) analysis and to establish accompanying governmental (Research Innovation Unit) and public benefit (AHEAD) organisations to foster climate intelligence. This marked the first step in what would become AHEAD’s mission to bridge science, technology, and governance for climate resilience.