More work is needed on climate projections to assess Australia's future natural disasters risk and plan for different scenarios, an inquiry has been told.
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The royal commission into the Black Summer bushfires is holding its final week of public hearings before a report due on October 28.
Peak science agency CSIRO scientists Dan Metcalfe and Michael Grose told the inquiry on Tuesday of the need for the federal, state and territory governments to develop "updated, downscaled, nationally comparable climate projections".
The work should be underpinned by an agreed common core set of climate trajectories and timelines and led by institutions such as the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology, alongside non-government organisations.
Dr Grose said global and regional climate modelling was improving, especially in terms of the scale of detail.
"It gives the potential to give a lot of insights into what climate and climate change does in relation to details at the local scale such as mountain ranges, coastlines, and also simulate and show the effect of climate change on extreme events," he said.
"We have incrementally improved confidence (the models) are realistic and give plausible views of the future."
Climate change became a key political issue linked to the horror summer as Australia burned and choked through catastrophic fires.
A joint CSIRO-BOM State of the Climate report is due to be released in mid-November, which will have a section on future climate based on the latest models.
The CSIRO has also proposed to the commission that a national register be set up giving access to information about planning and building regulation controls in place across local government areas to manage bushfire risk.
At the end of the week the royal commission will adjourn to finalise its report.
Australian Associated Press
