12th EMS & 9th ECAC, 11 September 2012European climate services capabilities

European information on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation

André Jol(head of group vulnerability and adaptation))

EEA member and cooperating countries

Member countries

Collaborating countries

The European Environment Agency is the EU body dedicated to providing sound, independent information on the environment

We are a main information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public

• Climate change adaptation (White Paper 2009 and planned EU 2013 strategy)

• Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth: ‘strengthen our economies' resilience to climate risks’ and EU low-carbon strategy 2050

• Draft 2014-2020 Multi-annual Financial Framework, proposal for share of climate-related expenditure (mitigation and adaptation) to 20%

• Environmental policies:

• Water Framework Directive and Floods Directive

• Nature protection directives, policies to halt biodiversity loss

• Marine Strategy Framework Directive; Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

• Sectoral, cross-cutting: maritime, agriculture; forestry; human health; disaster risk reduction; infrastructure e.g. energy, transport; urban areas

• EU funded research (Horizon2020), future GMES climate service

EU policy processes

Adaptation Strategy 2013 objectives

• The knowledge objective: • furthering the understanding of climate change vulnerability/adaptation• improving the knowledge base• dealing with uncertainties

Feeds into the EU Climate-ADAPT platform

• The facilitation and cooperation objective• facilitating exchange between and cooperating with Member States,

regions, cities and all other relevant stakeholders• providing guidelines for adaptation

• The policy and market objective• Integrating adaptation into EU policies• Use potential of market, market-based instruments and the private

sector in strengthening adaptive capacity, preparedness and response actions

Roadmap

March 2013

Adoption of the STRATEGY

Background studies Consultations Cooperation with

Commission services

1st half 2012

October / November 2012

Impact Assessmentto IA Board

STARTJanuary 2012

from 2nd half 2012 onwards

EU Adaptation Strategy Communication Impact Assessment Staff working document Guidelines

24/05/2012 5

2012 report on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation

• Two EEA reports due end of 2012 (update of 2008 report)• Indicator-based (climate system;

impacts of climate change; vulnerabilities/risks)

• Adaptation assessment (EU, national, sectoral)

Objectives:• Present past and projected changes and

communicate uncertainties

• Identify sectors and regions most vulnerable/at risk

• Highlight gaps in monitoring, data, scenarios

• Increase awareness of need for adaptation

• Present adaptation strategies, actions and measures implemented or planned

7

Content CC impacts and vulnerability report

Indicators:•Climate variables•Cryosphere (glaciers, snow and ice)•Marine environment and biodiversity•Coastal zones •Inland waters (quantity and quality, biodiversity)•Terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity•Soil•Agriculture•Forestry/forests•Fisheries•Human health•Energy and transport•Vulnerability indices

Europe’s key past and projected impacts and risks/vulnerabilities

Urban adaptation to climate change (EEA report May 2012)

• Heat waves, flooding, water scarcity and droughts

• Planning urban adaptation

• Multi-level governance enabling urban adaptation

http://eucities-adapt.eu

http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu

European Climate Adaptation Platform Climate-ADAPT

• Supports governmental decision-makers developing/implementing climate change adaptation strategies, policies and actions

• Guided by advise from countries (agencies and ministries), Adaptation Steering Group (chaired by DG CLIMA), other organisations (e.g. WHO Europe), experts EU FP projects

• Launched 23 March 2012 (DG CLIMA, EEA)

• EEA to maintain with JRC and supported by ETC CCA

This section provides an introduction to adaptation from a European perspective:

• How is the EU climate changing:

- Observations of current climate trends

- Future projections under different scenarios

• What risks we will face as a consequence

• How we can adapt to reduce our vulnerabilities

• What adaptation measures are available in different sectors, eg water

Adaptation has to be taken into consideration when defining and implementing other policies, eg agricultural policy, water management etc.

This is what we call « mainstreaming »

This section describes how the EU is mainstreaming climate change adaptation in key sectors of EU policies that will be affected by climate change

This section presents information on different levels:

1. Countries: information on National Adaptation Strategies and policies

2. Transnational regions: adaptation activities to face transboundary issues in a coordinated way. Examples: Alpine Space, Baltic region etc

3. Urban areas: cities are particularly vulnerable to adaptation. This section will present results and tools from DG CLIMA’s « Cities and Adaptation » Project

Tools: Online support tools developed for CLIMATE-ADAPT

Links: Relevant organisations and online platforms

Database: possibility to search the entire database of Climate-ADAPT, including research projects, adaptation options, case studies, indicators, guidance documents, etc

3 key tools have been developed for CLIMATE-ADAPT

Adaptation support tool

Overview of countries activities

Case study search tool

Adaptation Support Tool

The Adaptation Support Tool guides the user through the policy making cycle of adaptation: from the assessment of risk and vulnerability to the identification, implementation and evaluation of adaptation measures

For each step it provides:

• Guidance Documents

• Information Resources

• Risk and assessment tools

• Relevant case studies

• Links to useful information

Overview of National Activities

CLIMATE ADAPT presents information on National Activities for most European Countries

European countries are at very different stages of development of climate change adaptation policies

There are 12 countries with an adopted adaptation strategy and CLIMATE-ADAPT has gathered information on adaptation actions/measures/strategies from 25 European countries

Case study search tool How are people, cities, regions adapting to climate change in Europe? What can we learn from others?

This tool allows to browse all available case studies in Europe, searching by sector or climate impact.

1. A location is selected (eg Marseille)

2. A climate impact is selected (eg drought)

3. The tool shows all available adaptation case studies. Red dots are case studies in a region with similar climate impacts as Marseille (Southern Europe). Grey dots are case studies outside that region

CLIMATE-ADAPT contains a database of case studies

Users will be able to upload their case studies

All case studies will be quality checked and made available to the European adaptation community

EU policies: water management

For each sector, CLIMATE-ADAPT presents how the EU is mainstreaming adaptation

This is relevant in particular for the water sector, which will be severely impacted by climate change.

Each sector page presents relevant:

• Indicators of climate change

• Publications

• Research Projects

• Information resources

CLIMATE-ADAPT: water stress projectionsUsers of CLIMATE-ADAPT will be able to visualize the key results of ClimWatAdapt, a study which provide a comprehensive analysis of risks and vulnerability in the water sector.

This will allow the assessment of vulnerability to climate change impacts and adaptation measures in the water sector

Comparison of countries actions• Almost all EEA member countries provided information

• Impacts, vulnerability and adaptation assessments : 17 (AT, BE, CH, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, HU, LT, NL, NO, RO, PT, SE, UK)

• Research programmes: 4 (FI, NL, NO, SE)

• Climate Services /Met Office: all to some extent (no details available)

• Web Portal

• Broad: 7 (AT, DE, DK, FI, NO, SE, UK)

• Narrow: 8 (BE, ES, FR, HU, LT, NL, PT, SI)

• National adaptation strategies: 13 (BE, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, HU, MT, NL, PT, SE, UK)

• Some of these also have adaptation action plans

• Monitoring of adaptation (indicators): 2 (DE, UK)

• Climate Change Act 2008 (includes both mitigation and adaptation)

• UK-wide climate change risk assessment (CCRA) every five years (first in Jan 2012)

• National adaptation programme (NAP) (first 2013, to be reviewed every five years)

• Reporting on adaptation by “reporting authorities”

Example UK

Source: DEFRA (2012), see: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climate/government/risk-assessment/

Methodology UK CCRA

Key elements of UK CCRA

• Synthesis of state of knowledge from stakeholder workshops, literature, and new analysis

• Assessment for more than 100 climate change risks

• Analysis of risks based on UKCP09 projections for three time frames (2020s, 2050s, 2080s) and three emissions scenarios (Low, Medium and High)

• Comparison of social, economic and environmental threats and opportunities on a logarithmic scale

• Consistent method for analysing the magnitude and confidence

• Identification of priorities for action in eleven sectors (five themes: natural environment; buildings and infrastructure; health and wellbeing; business and services; agriculture and forestry)

• Reports for individual sectors, themes, UK, national, regional levels

Source: DEFRA (2012), see: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climate/government/risk-assessment/

‘Adaptation pathways’ Example UK Thames barrier

‘Adaptation tipping points’ Example Rhine-Meuse

Conclusions

• Mainstreaming of climate change adaptation in EU policies is taking place

• The European Commission will publish an EU adaptation strategy in March 2013

• Many EEA member countries have developed impacts, vulnerability and adaptation assessments

• Several EEA member countries have national strategies in place (and some also national action plans)

• The European Climate Adaptation Platform may support climate change adaptation strategies at various governance levels

• Exploiting synergies with national adaptation portals is needed

• Information can be updated and extended through working with users and providers of information

Thank you for your attention

http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu