In 2015, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development expressed the commitment to protect the planet from degradation and take urgent action on climate change. These goals stress the need (for everyone) to act in order to combat climate change and its impacts, as well as to conserve and sustainably use the land and oceans of our planet. These grand challenges are mirrored in the research field “Earth and Environment” of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF). Central research efforts encompass the following four areas: “Earth system dynamics and risks”, “Climate variability and climate change”, “Ecosystem dynamics and biodiversity”, and “Sustainable use of resources”.

However, whether societies are able to achieve the required changes rather sooner than later, will largely depend on how effectively scientific knowledge is exchanged and embraced, thus linking research efforts in a meaningful way to societal concerns and priorities. The HGF has taken up this challenge and entered this societal contract by promoting knowledge transfer and translation, and showcasing societal relevance throughout its centres. On this basis, the “Earth System Knowledge Platform” (ESKP) concept was initiated in 2012 and its successive steps towards a web-based online platform were undertaken in May 2014.

ESKP bundles the information and knowledge of eight institutes of the HGF within the research field “Earth and Environment” (see also www.eskp.de). ESKP was established as a platform in which the expertise of centres that conduct research on earth system issues can be combined and synthesized, thus acting as an integrative platform of knowledge. From the outset, ESKP focussed on combining knowledge on the various aspects of climate change, providing insights into various aspects of pollution, as well as showcasing research insights of natural earth system hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. By offering scientifically grounded knowledge, ESKP aims to develop topic-specific translation and contextualization of knowledge. Highly reliable information is presented throughout the ESKP-Platform, rendering it a valuable feature in present times. Every single scientific contribution is thoroughly checked by Helmholtz scientists. Other important tools to convey knowledge are professionally designed infographics, all of which can be used openly under the creative commons license.

One example for such infographics is the simplified representation how micro-wave sensors differentiate between sea-ice types in the Arctic (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Simplified representation of how micro-wave sensors capture different sea-ice types in the Arctic Region (cc-by4.0)

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In 2016, the knowledge platform was amplified by the topic, “Energy transition and environment”. It was included on the ESKP platform to respond to the increasing societal requests to the German Energiewende. To further integrate research conducted at various research institutes, and to raise awareness for the interdependency of seemingly independent topics, ESKP is creating another platform called Themenspezial (focus topics). It will especially highlight scientifically-based options for actions in order to enable society and decision-makers to tackle the “Grand Challenges”.

So far, the web-platform has seen continuously increasing interest, as indicated by the positive trend of number of visits to the web-platform (via click numbers) and the download statistics of the various data products offered by the ESKP platform. This is a very encouraging outcome, bearing in mind that this platform is still in rather nascent stages. In 2016, new formats were introduced, e.g., an “Interview of the month”, “Policy papers”, or “Science-GIFs”, in order to diversify the potential outlets for knowledge exchange. Furthermore, ESKP hosts its own social media channels to further promote relevant Helmholtz research topics.

Indeed, ESKP is developing into a synthesis platform for the entire research branch of “Earth and Environment” of the HGF. In the near future, the objective is to channel the efforts to develop scientifically sound and shared positions on socially relevant topics under the joint umbrella of an “Earth System Alliance”. This is extremely timely, as present social and ecological developments demand different scientific expertise concerning the environment than they did half a century ago (Markus et al. 2017). For instance, a growing world population, technological advances, and globalising markets increasing demand for raw materials have led to “the industrialisation of the oceans” (Smith 2000). Consequentially, competition over watercourses, fisheries, mineral and biological resources have escalated and led to environmental, distributional, and geostrategic conflicts—a trend which is likely to continue into the future (German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) 2013).

In conclusion, as the global political environment is changing, the relationship between science and policy-making is rapidly changing too, leading to a paradigm shift from output to outcome of research findings. Via the instrument of ESKP, it is hoped to initiate and facilitate dialogues and continuous exchange with policy makers, the private sector industries, as well as NGOs and the general public—via the preparation of recommendations, outlining potential courses of action and providing scientifically supported advice to inform policy deliberations.