The primary mission of the Laboratory is to study and model the climate system for projecting the impacts of climate variability and future scenarios on society and natural resources at spatial scales most relevant to humans, ecosystems and the national productively system.

The numerical models developed and applied in the Laboratory are of different complexity and realism. They span from global Earth-System models to high resolution regional climate models mainly focused on the Euro-Mediterranean area, and from seasonal to multi-decadal time scales.

The Laboratory studies the impacts of the atmospheric weather on the production of energy from wind and solar radiation, both in present conditions and in scenarios of climate change. It supports activities for the design, installation and management of devices for the extraction of energy from waves and tidal currents. In this context the laboratory develops short-term ocean forecasting systems (wave, tides, and currents) mainly devoted to support ocean energy harvesting.

The Laboratory promotes the development of Climate Services at both national and international level, implementing climate information transfer protocols and products for the energy, water and coastal region management, food emergency, tourism and agriculture.

The laboratory is actively involved in international and national research initiatives on climate, energy and environment: The European Climate Research Alliance (ECRA), MedCORDEX, HyMex, European Energy Research Alliance on Ocean Energy, the Alpine Convention, and the National Group of Operational Oceanography (GNOO).

The laboratory takes part in Copernicus National User Forum, along with the National Italian Network for Climate Services (NCSNI), the European Climate Services Partnership (ECSP), and the WMO technical commission for the climate prediction from seasonal to longer time scales (ET-OPSLS).