The goal of the PalMod project is to understand climate system dynamics and variability during the last glacial cycle. PalMod aims at simulating key periods of the last glacial cycle in transient mode with comprehensive Earth System Models that include interactive ice sheets. PalMod addresses climate variability during the last glacial cycle on a large range of time scales, from interannual to multi-millennial, and attempts to quantify the relative contributions of external forcing and processes internal to the Earth system. In order to achieve a higher level of understanding of natural climate variability at time scales of millennia, its governing processes and implications for the future climate, PalMod brings together three different research communities: the Earth system modelling community, the proxy data community and the computational science community.