Terms & Conditions

The aim of Code for Earth is to develop innovative software and technologies that address the challenges of handling large amounts of data and transforming it into information. For that purpose, ECMWF will publicly announce several challenges. The challenges can be responded to by qualified candidates, typically based on written reports describing an open source software based solution to the challenge (“Proposals”).
From among all Proposals submitted ECMWF has the right, but no obligation, to select Proposals. If a Proposal is selected, its author(s) will create the software or technology described in the Proposal. If the challenge for which the Proposal included the requirement of cloud processing services, its author(s) will be eligible to apply for cloud credits from the European Weather Cloud implemented by ECMWF and EUMETSAT.

Upon acceptance by mentors of the complete software, technology, or completed project along with the necessary documentations (jointly referred to as “Deliverables”) by ECMWF, ECMWF agrees to pay a one-off financial contribution for each of the selected teams.

The one-off financial contribution for selected teams under the Data Visualisation Stream, the Machine Learning Stream or the Software Development Stream is 5,000 EUR per team.

The one-off financial contribution under the Africa Stream is 2,000 EUR per successful team.

Participation in the Programme is free of charge. The Programme is open to natural persons (“Participants”), either applying alone or jointly with others, filling in the required information and agreeing to these terms. Each person must (i) at the time of application be minimum 18 years old or have the age required by applicable law in their country of residence to validly enter this Programme, whichever is higher, (ii) and hold a bank account in their country of tax residence, (iii) have access to all necessary hardware and software to submit a proposal and (iv) have sufficient software development experience.

ECMWF funding is available for nationals and/or residents of: ECMWF Member States and Co-operating States, European Union (EU) Member States, countries associated with the EU’s Space Programme (currently Iceland, Norway, Ukraine and the United Kingdom) and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme (listed in Appendix A).

EU funding for Copernicus-related challenges is available for nationals from European Union (EU) Member States, as well as of countries associated with EU’s Space Programme (currently Iceland, Norway, Ukraine and the United Kingdom). 

EU funding for challenges related to the Destination Earth Initiative is available for persons listed in Appendix A. 

EU funding for challenges under the Africa Stream is available for nationals of the countries and territories listed in Appendix B.  

All team members must fulfil above mentioned eligibility requirements. 

The respective funding source will be noted for each given challenge in GitHub. 

Participants can apply for more than one challenge. Participants proposing to work jointly with others must designate a representative, who will register on behalf of the team and provide name, surname, email address, country of residence and nationality of each team member.  The financial contributions are payable per successful team, irrespective of the number of Participants behind it. 

All Participants will be asked to go to https://codeforearth.ecmwf.int (“the Programme Website”) and go to “Submit your proposal”. All Participants must accept these Terms & Conditions. There is no right to participate.

EU Restrictive and Conditionality Measures
Restrictive measures (sanctions) are the tool in the EU’s common foreign and security policy (CFSP), through which the EU can intervene where necessary to prevent conflict or respond to emerging or current crises.

The obligation to ensure compliance with the EU restrictive measures applies:
– to the EU institutions and bodies and to all EU contracting partners;
– not only at the initial distribution of funds but also down to the level of final beneficiary.

ECMWF, as the entrusted entity for the implementation of Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring and Climate Change Services, Destination Earth and Strengthening Early Warning in Africa (SEWA), must ensure that there is no detection of a Participant in the list of EU restrictive measures, before signing a contract.

As a minimum, using the www.sanctionsmap.eu website, Participants for Copernicus, Destination Earth and SEWA funded challenges must undertake “individual check” (using search function).

Conditionality measures are additional protections for the EU budget when breaches of the rule of law principles affect or risk affecting EU financial interests introduced in 2021.

Conditionality measures may be put in place in the context of the general regime of conditionality for the protection of the EU budget established by Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget.

This conditionality regime allows the EU to take measures – for example suspension of payments, suspension of implementation, termination or prohibitions on entering into new legal commitments with concerned entities – to protect the EU budget.

ECMWF, as the entrusted entity for the implementation of Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring and Climate Change Services, Destination Earth and SEWA, is required to ensure conditionality measures are duly applied vis-à-vis concerned entities.

Participants for challenges with EU funding must confirm in their online application at the Programme Website that they are not on the list of EU restrictive measures and confirm that during the lifetime of the agreement they are not affected by the conditionality measures.

Participants should note that, as this forms part of ECMWF’s obligations to the European Commission, failure to comply with this requirement may lead to exclusion from the Programme.

Code for Earth is divided into four general phases:

1. Phase: Registration Phase (Call for Participation)
   Date: Between 24 February 2026 (09:00 CET) and 9 April 2026 (23:59 CET).
   Object: Every person wishing to participate can register and submit their Proposal online at the Programme website.
   
   Proposals received before 24 February or after 9 April 2026 will not be considered, answered or returned. All Participants must provide the following information: last name, first name, country of residence during Code for Earth’s coding phase, nationality and email. They also must adequately demonstrate previous software development experience (e.g. through professional profiles such as GitHub or LinkedIn).
   
   Each Participant warrants that the information entered during the application to Code for Earth is complete and accurate. Any false, incorrect, or incomplete information may result in the application being rejected. The Participants are responsible to notify ECMWF of any changes to their personal information. ECMWF reserves the right to reject applications at any time.
   Prior to obtaining access to ECMWF IT systems, each Participant must also complete, sign, and return a form acknowledging ECMWF Policies governing the work. A scanned copy of the original or an electronically signed document is sufficient.
   Each Participant is invited to read about the challenges proposed by ECMWF on GitHub.
   
2. Phase: Evaluation Phase
   Date: From 10 April 2026 to 20 April 2026
   Purpose: ECMWF to review the submitted Proposals and select teams or individuals which will be part of the Code for Earth Programme for 2026. The selected Proposals will be announced on the Programme Website by 29 April 2026.
   
3. Phase: Coding Phase
   Date: From 1 May 2026 until 31 August 2026
   Purpose: To work on the challenges and develop innovative open source software, which addresses the challenges, e.g. handling large amounts of data and transforming it into information.
4. Phase: Presentation of the Project (Final Day Event)
   Date: September 2026
   Place: Hybrid with an in-person event in Bologna, Italy.
   Purpose: After the Coding Phase, the projects will be presented at an appropriate workshop, which is the Final Day event, participation in person is recommended, travel costs for selected teams will be covered up to a maximum amount, specified by ECMWF.

Each Participant warrants that their Proposals have been created by them and are free from rights of third parties.

All Participants grant to ECMWF a free, non-exclusive, worldwide, non-transferable, license for each Proposal for the purpose of selecting winning Proposals. ECMWF shall retain no rights in Proposals which were not selected. For challenges with EU funding, this license is granted to the EU as well.

Each Participant shall own Deliverables that have been created by them and all intellectual property rights contained in such Deliverables. All Participants grant to ECMWF a free, non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, transferable, sub-licensable and perpetual license for his/her Deliverables. For challenges with EU funding, this license is granted to the EU as well. The Participant warrants to be entitled to grant such rights.

For the Participant’s pre-existing intellectual property rights or rights that the Participant may have developed or acquired independently of the performance of the obligations, the Participant grants ECMWF a free, non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, transferable, sub-licensable and perpetual license to use all such intellectual property rights as are necessary for the use of the Deliverables, including for their maintenance, modification, and replacement by or on behalf of ECMWF. For challenges with EU funding, this license is granted to the EU as well. The Participant warrants to be entitled to grant such licenses.

After the Coding Period, ECMWF will undertake acceptance testing of the Deliverables to check them against the Proposals and to assess their overall functionality. Upon acceptance, Trust-IT Services Ltd, on behalf of ECMWF, will pay the financial contribution as a one-off money transfer into the bank account as communicated by the selected Participants. All money transfers shall be executed until no later than 31 December 2026. Any fees charged by the Participant’s bank are borne by the Participant. If no proper bank account is communicated, Trust-IT Services or ECMWF will hold the financial contribution as a fiduciary until the account is properly named. If the amount cannot be paid within twelve months, it is considered as forfeited. No interest will be paid.

The Participant will, at no time, be considered a staff member or consultant of ECMWF. Participants shall bear their own expenses in relation to participation in the Programme.

There is no right to participate in the Programme or to receive financial contribution short of delivery and acceptance of the Deliverables.

ECMWF can terminate, shorten, extend, modify or otherwise change the Programme at any time prior to the selection of winning Proposals without cause and with immediate effect. All Participants have to be sent appropriate notifications for such changes to become effective. In case of termination of the Programme, all Agreements are deemed terminated with immediate effect. ECMWF does not owe any payment to the Participants and will return and/or delete all received proposals.

The Participant can terminate this Agreement at any time prior to submission of the Proposal with immediate effect. Such Participants will not be entitled to any portion of the financial contribution.

ECMWF can terminate this Agreement at any time with immediate effect if a Participant violates any of the Agreement’s terms. In particular, ECMWF can terminate this Agreement if it has reasonable grounds to believe that the Participant has submitted any other but their own work as a Proposal or has, in any way, shape or form, violated applicable provisions governing Intellectual Property Regulations or criminal provisions in their country of origin or where ECMWF is located in conjunction with the submission of the Proposal. ECMWF can also terminate the Agreement if theDeliverables do not meet the criteria outlined in the Proposal. In case of a termination, ECMWF does not owe any portion of the financial contribution.

The Code for Earth Privacy Statement applies to all personal data provided by the Participants in order to register and submit their Proposals.

Until one or more Proposals have been selected, all Proposals and all information related thereto are to be treated confidentially among the parties, unless ECMWF agrees otherwise in writing. After selection, Proposals not selected are relieved of such requirements.

The Programme Website or any of its content may be unavailable from time to time for scheduled maintenance or due to unforeseen circumstances.

Other than in cases of intentional or grossly negligent breaches of duty by its staff or representatives or claims resting on an injury to life, body or health, ECMWF shall not be responsible or liable to any Participant for any loss or damage of any sort incurred in connection with the Programme.

ECMWF shall not be responsible or liable for the accuracy, usefulness or availability of any content of the Programme Website. Any content made available for download or use through or within the Programme Website is supplied “as is” without further warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the quality, performance, merchantability or fitness for a particular use or purpose. Subject to the aforesaid, ECMWF shall not be liable for any damages, including but not limited to direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive, exemplary or consequential damages arising out of the use or the inability to use content.

ECMWF shall not be liable and accept no representation or responsibility for the functionality or contents of external websites, services or software products hyperlinked from the Programme Website.

ECMWF disclaims all warranties related to the provision of the Programme.

Participants acknowledge and agree that that ECMWF may report on Code for Earth to the general public and name and use footage of selected Participants in any such communication.

For all challenges Code for Earth shall be recognized in communications by the Participants.

Nothing in or relating to this Agreement shall be deemed a waiver of any of the privileges and immunities conferred upon ECMWF by virtue of its Convention and Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities.

Any dispute between ECMWF and interested parties arising out of, or relating to, the Programme shall be resolved amicably by negotiation. If the dispute cannot be settled, the parties agree to first enter into mediation in good faith to settle such a dispute and will do so in accordance with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) Model Mediation Procedure. Unless otherwise agreed between the parties within fourteen (14) days of notice of the dispute, the mediator will be nominated by CEDR. To initiate the mediation a party must give notice in writing to the other party to the dispute, referring the dispute to mediation. A copy of the referral should be sent to CEDR. Unless otherwise agreed, the mediation will start not later than twenty-eight (28) days after the date of the notice referred to in this Article.

If the dispute cannot be settled in accordance with Article 12.2, it shall be finally settled under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by three arbitrators appointed in accordance with the said rules; sitting in London, England. The proceedings shall be in the English language. The right of appeal by either party to any national courts is hereby agreed to be excluded.

Appendix A: Eligibility to Participate in Destination Earth Initiative- Related Challenges

Further to Article 3 of the Agreement, participation in Destination Earth Initiative -related challenges is open to legal entities established in the EU Member States and the Associated Countries with respect to the Digital Europe Programme, as defined in the EU’s Regulation 2021/694 (see the list with the Digital Europe Programme Associated Countries at this link here), as well as to international organisations of European interest and other legal entities created under Union law (cf. also, the Digital Europe Work Programme 2025-2027 (Annex I to C(2025) 1839 final at the link here). Participation in challenges related to the Destination Earth Initiative is also subject to participation restrictions for the protection of European digital infrastructures, communication and information systems, and related supply chains, as described in Appendix 4 of Work Programme 2025-2027 (further justification for participation restriction is provided in Table 11 in Appendix 4).

Appendix B: Eligibility to Participate in SEWA- Related Challenges

Further to Article 3 of the Agreement, participation in SEWA-related challenges is open to the following entities:

• Any entity eligible in accordance with ECMWF’s procurement and other relevant rules, including those established in ECMWF Member States (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom) and ECMWF Cooperating States (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia).
• Any entity eligible in accordance with Article 28 of the NDICI Regulation^[1] for the participation under geographic programmes, as further detailed in the Annex A2a1 to the practical guide on Contract Procedures for European Union external action (PRAG) on EC programmes eligibility for the MFF 2021-2027[2], namely international organisations and all other legal entities, as defined in Article 2(6) of the NDICI Regulation, who are nationals of and, in the case of legal persons, who are also effectively established in the following countries or territories:
  • EU Member States (cf. appendix 1 to Annex A2a1)
  • IPA III beneficiaries (listed in the Annex I of IPA III Instrument) (cf. appendix 2 to Annex A2a1)
  • European Economic Area (cf. appendix 3 to Annex A2a1)
  • Developing countries and territories, (included in the OECD-DAC list of ODA recipients), which are not members of the G20 group:
    • Least Developed Countries (LDCs) (cf. appendix 4 to Annex A2a1)
    • Other Low Income Countries (cf. appendix 5 to Annex A2a1)
    • Lower Middle Income Countries and Territories (cf. appendix 6 to Annex A2a1)
    • Upper Middle Income Countries and Territories (cf. appendix 7 to Annex A2a1)[3]
  • Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).  (cf. appendix 8 to Annex A2a1)
  • Member States of the OECD (cf. appendix 9 to Annex A2a1) are also eligible when contracts are exclusively implemented in a Least Developed Country (included in the OECD-DAC list of ODA recipients) or in a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC).
  • (i) Developing countries, as included in the list of ODA recipients, which are members of the G20 group (cf. appendix 10 to Annex A2a1) and (ii) any other countries and territories, i.e., all countries of the world when the country itself is participating as a beneficiary of the Action.
  • any countries for which reciprocal access to external assistance is established by the Commission: Currently there are no such countries;
  • Neighbourhood partner countries (cf. appendix 11 to Annex A2a1)[4];
  • where an agreement on widening the market for procurement of goods or services to which the Union is party applies, the procurement procedures for contracts financed by the budget shall also be open to natural and legal persons established in a third country other than those specified in the basic instruments governing the cooperation sector concerned, under the conditions laid down in that agreement.

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[1] Regulation (EU) 2021/947 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 June 2021 establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe, amending and repealing Decision No 466/2014/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation (EU) 2017/1601 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 480/2009, OJ L 209, 14.6.2021, p. 1–78, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/947/oj

[2] Annex A2a1 is available at:  https://wikis.ec.europa.eu/spaces/ExactExternalWiki/pages/152798822/Annexes?preview=/152798822/152800112/a2a1_ecprogrammes_eligibility2021_2027_en.docx

[3] Award of a contract or a subcontract under this ITT to any legal and/or natural persons from the Republic of Belarus will be subject to the explicit and prior approval by the ECMWF Council.

[4] Ibid.