We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Open Access journal Earth System Dynamics (ESD), published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union (www.egu.eu). ESD is an international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and public discussion of studies that take an interdisciplinary perspective of the functioning of the whole Earth system and global change. ESD uses an interactive two-stage publication process involving the scientific discussion forum Earth System Dynamics Discussions (ESDD). Further information on ESD is available at: http://www.earth-system-dynamics.net/. You are kindly invited to play an active role by considering ESD for your future publication, or by serving the journal as a reviewer. Your support will be very much appreciated! For an initial period, the service charges for publishing in the Open Access journal ESD are waived by the EGU.