The Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE) project is a new international research initiative to study the climate and glacial history of Antarctica by linking climate and ice sheet modeling studies with geophysical surveys and geological studies on and around the Antarctic continent (Fig. 1). The rationale for the ACE programme, outlined herein, was developed and refined, before, during and after the Antarctic Earth Science Symposium in Erice, Italy, in September 2001 (Cooper et al., 2002, Florindo et al., 2003).