EC-Earth is a project, a consortium and a model system. The EC-Earth model is a state-of-the-art ESM and the development was commenced by a large number of European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) member states based on the ECMWFsSeasonal Forecasting System in Summer 2007.  Among the various member states that participate in this initiative, three scientific and practical common goals have been identified:

• Investigate Earth system feedbacks
• Study interannual to multi-decadal climate fluctuations and predictability
• Develop an advanced modelling tool for making climate scenarios

The development of EC-Earth is ongoing, with new additions being planned within the next few years. In addition, it is planned to release a single-column model of EC-Earth for specific studies in the near-future.

EC-Earth will contribute to different model inter-comparison projects (CMIP5, CFMIP, ...) and features in many national and international projects.

Currently, the EC-Earth consortium consists of 22 academic institutions and meteorological services from 10 countries in Europe (October 2008).