EURO-CORDEX is the European branch of the international CORDEX initiative, which is a program sponsored by the World Climate Research Program (WRCP) to organize an internationally coordinated framework to produce improved regional climate change projections for all land regions world-wide [https://www.euro-cordex.net/]. Scenario RCP8.5 assumes an increase in radiative forcing of 8.5 W/m2 by the end of the century relative to pre-industrial conditions [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0499-2].