Europaudvalget 2018
KOM (2018) 0738
Offentligt
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EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Brussels, 12.11.2018
SWD(2018) 461 final
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
Evaluation of the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change
Accompanying the document
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND
THE COUNCIL
on the implementation of the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change
{COM(2018) 738 final} - {SEC(2018) 472 final} - {SWD(2018) 460 final}
EN
EN
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EN
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Table of contents
1.
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 5
Purpose and scope ....................................................................................................... 5
2.
BACKGROUND TO THE INTERVENTION ..................................................................................... 5
Description of the intervention and its objectives ....................................................... 5
Need for action .................................................................................................. 5
Intervention logic............................................................................................... 6
3.
THE STRATEGY, EXTERNAL POLICIES AND THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
FOR ADAPTATION ............................................................................................................................ 8
Integration of adaptation in external policies .............................................................. 8
Development cooperation .................................................................................. 9
Foreign and security policy (including migration) ............................................ 9
Disaster risk reduction, including emergency response .................................. 10
The international context and the EU adaptation strategy......................................... 11
4.
BASELINE / IMPLEMENTATION / STATE OF PLAY .................................................................. 12
Objective 1: Promoting action by Member States ..................................................... 12
Action 1 Member State strategies.................................................................... 12
Action 2 LIFE .................................................................................................. 14
Action 3 Covenant of Mayors ......................................................................... 16
Objective 2: Better informed decision-making ......................................................... 17
Action 4 Knowledge gaps ............................................................................... 17
Action 5 Climate-ADAPT ............................................................................... 18
Objective 3: Promoting adaptation in key vulnerable sectors ................................... 19
Action 6 ESIF / CAP / CFP, including general mainstreaming ...................... 19
Action 7 Infrastructure .................................................................................... 22
Action 8 Insurance and finance ....................................................................... 24
5.
METHOD............................................................................................................................................ 27
Methods for gathering evidence ...................................................................... 27
Evaluation method ........................................................................................... 28
Limitations and robustness of the findings ...................................................... 28
6.
ANALYSIS AND ANSWERS TO THE EVALUATION QUESTIONS .......................................... 29
6.1. Relevance ........................................................................................................ 29
6.1.1.
To what extent do the objectives and actions of the Strategy
(still) respond to needs within the EU and at international
level?.................................................................................................. 29
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6.1.2.
How relevant is the Strategy for the different stakeholders at
local, regional, national and supra-national level? ............................ 32
To what extent have the objectives been achieved during the
period 2013-2018? ............................................................................. 33
To what extent has each of the eight actions of the Strategy
contributed to these achievements? ................................................... 35
What drivers and barriers (expected or unexpected)
contributed to or stood in the way of implementation of the
EU Adaptation Strategy and how did they affect it? ......................... 43
What effects has the Strategy produced so far for different
stakeholders, e.g. according to socio-economic background
and vulnerability? .............................................................................. 52
How adequate were the resources for the overall
implementation of the EU Adaptation Strategy and how
proportionate were those resources across its eight actions? ............ 53
How do the different stakeholders view the monitoring of the
implementation of the EU Adaptation Strategy? Which
aspects are perceived as an unnecessary burden, if any, and to
what extent? ....................................................................................... 54
How well does the Adaptation Strategy fit together with other
relevant EU legislation and policies, or similar initiatives at
international, national or regional level? Are there any gaps or
inconsistencies between policies? Are there components to be
further developed or added to increase coherence of actions? .......... 56
What is the added value of addressing climate adaptation at
EU level, in addition to the vertical and horizontal
cooperation at national level? ............................................................ 58
6.2. Effectiveness.................................................................................................... 33
6.2.1.
6.2.2.
6.2.3.
6.2.4.
6.3. Efficiency ........................................................................................................ 53
6.3.1.
6.3.2.
6.4. Coherence ........................................................................................................ 56
6.4.1.
6.5. EU added value................................................................................................ 58
6.5.1.
7.
CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................. 61
PROCEDURAL INFORMATION ......................................................................................... 64
STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION.................................................................... 73
ANNEX I
ANNEX II
1.
2.
Objectives of the consultation ......................................................................... 73
Consultation activities and methodology ........................................................ 73
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
Activities............................................................................................ 73
Stakeholder groups participating ....................................................... 74
Methodology...................................................................................... 76
3.
Results ............................................................................................................. 77
3.1.
Targeted Stakeholder Survey
........................................................................... 77
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3.2.
Stakeholder interviews
..................................................................................... 78
3.3.
Open Public Consultation
............................................................................... 79
3.4.
Stakeholder Workshops
................................................................................... 81
4.
5.
ANNEX III
ANNEX IV
IN 2013
Identified campaigns and ad-hoc contributions ............................................... 81
Feedback from the roadmap ............................................................................ 81
ACRONYMS.......................................................................................................... 82
LIST OF SWDS SUPPORTING THE STRATEGY COMMUNICATION
88
ANNEX V
INTERVENTION
LOGIC OF THE EU’S ADAPTATION
STRATEGY
(RECONSTRUCTED) ........................................................................................................................ 89
ANNEX VI
OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
IN THE 2013 IMPACT ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................ 91
ANNEX VII
INPUTS, ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS RELATED TO THE 8
ACTIONS OF THE STRATEGY ....................................................................................................... 93
ANNEX VIII
COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION ON THE INITIATIVES
UNDER THE STRATEGY ................................................................................................................ 97
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
LIFE ................................................................................................... 97
Covenant of Mayors .......................................................................... 98
Monitoring and evaluation on adaptation action at EU and
Member State level .......................................................................... 102
Bridging the knowledge gaps .......................................................... 104
Climate-ADAPT .............................................................................. 109
Key policy initiatives where adaptation was mainstreamed ............ 110
Carbon Disclosure Project survey results on companies and
climate risks ..................................................................................... 114
EU funds for climate resilience ....................................................... 115
Adaptation-related work in the European Standardisation
Organisations ................................................................................... 119
Insurance and financial services ...................................................... 120
Summary of costs related to the Strategy ........................................ 123
Coherence with other EU policies ................................................... 125
Coherence with international policies ............................................. 126
ANNEX IX
HORIZONTAL
ASSESSMENT
OF
THE
ADAPTATION
PREPAREDNESS COUNTRY FICHES .......................................................................................... 128
ANNEX X
EU ADAPTATION PREPAREDNESS SCOREBOARD INDICATOR
LIST AND METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 155
ANNEX XI
LIST OF EU POLICY INITIATIVES WHERE ADAPTATION IS
MAINSTREAMED........................................................................................................................... 171
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Table XI-1. Initiatives where climate adaptation is mainstreamed into EU
policy (in force), including updates ............................................................... 171
Table XI-2. COM legislative proposals currently with European Parliament
and Council .................................................................................................... 201
ANNEX XII
ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF THE EVIDENCE GATHERED
IN THE EVALUATION SUPPORT STUDY .................................................................................. 204
ANNEX XIII
ANNEX XIV
ECONOMIC COSTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ................................................. 206
CASE STUDIES................................................................................................... 210
Case Study 1
Fire preparedness and the impact of climate change ....... 211
Case Study 2
Spillover effects from climate change impacts
occurring outside the EU ............................................................................... 214
Case Study 3
The Danube macro-regional strategy and its
contribution to action at Member State level ................................................ 217
Case Study 4
Adaptation of infrastructure in the energy sector ............ 221
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1.
I
NTRODUCTION
Purpose and scope
This document sets out the results of the evaluation of the 2013 EU Strategy on
adaptation to climate change (the Strategy).
1
The Strategy indicates that in 2017, the
European Commission had to report to the European Parliament and the Council on the
state of its implementation and propose its review, if needed. This evaluation intends to
inform future work on the Strategy on the progress made, and to serve as background to
the Report it accompanies.
It assesses whether the Strategy is fit for purpose, based on its performance up-to-date, to
deliver on its 3 objectives and 8 actions in different policy sectors at local, national and
transnational level. In accordance with the Better Regulation Guidelines
2
, the following
evaluation criteria are used: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added
value.
It covers the period 2013 to mid-2018
3
and all EU Member States. The document is
largely based on an external evaluation carried out by consultants
4
, complemented by
internal assessments, recent evaluations (e.g. of the LIFE
5
and Covenant of Mayors
6
programmes and of the Climate-ADAPT platform
7
), and a broad consultation process
described in Annex II.
The evaluation focuses on the direct results of the Strategy (e.g. the extent to which
adaptation has been mainstreamed into EU financing of projects) rather than on the
activities triggered by those results (for instance the outputs of the financed projects).
2.
B
ACKGROUND TO THE INTERVENTION
Description of the intervention and its objectives
Need for action
In Europe, land temperatures in 2007-2016 were around 1.6°C warmer than in pre-
industrial times. Particularly high warming has been observed since 1960 over the Iberian
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: An EU Strategy on adaptation to climate
change, COM(2013) 216 final. The Strategy Communication was accompanied by a series of thematic
SWDs, listed in Annex IV.
2
Commission Staff Working Document: Better Regulation Guidelines, SWD(2017) 350 final.
3
The evaluation roadmap defined the period to be evaluated as 2013 to December 2016. Considering the
large amount of recent and highly relevant evidence that became available after December 2016, in this
document the evaluated period is extended to mid-2018.
4
Ricardo, IEEP, Trinomics, and Alterra. Study to support the evaluation of the EU Adaptation Strategy,
Ricardo/ED62885 Final Report, Study for the European Commission, 2018.
5
LIFE (L'Instrument Financier pour l'Environnement) evaluation:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/evaluation/index.htm
6
Covenant of Mayors in figures: 8-year assessment, Publications Office of the European Union,
Luxembourg, 2017.
7
‘Sharing adaptation across Europe’, EEA Report No 3/2018, European Environment Agency, 2018
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Peninsula, in mountain areas across central and northeastern Europe and over southern
Scandinavia. The Pyrenees region is already 1.5ºC hotter than in 1960. Winter
temperatures have increased the most in northern Europe, while higher summer
temperatures have affected southern Europe
8
. In addition, there has already been a
substantial increase in climate-related extreme events in recent years: the number of
heatwaves, droughts, storms, wildfires has doubled, the number of floods has quadrupled
since 1980. Climate change makes such events more likely.
9
There are also slower on-
setting impacts like coastal erosion caused by sea level rise, or drought caused by
changes to precipitation patterns.
10
Areas such as the EU Outermost Regions are
particularly exposed to climate-related extreme events (e.g. cyclones, hurricanes, tropical
tempests) and vulnerable to sea-level rise. Climate change impacts in third countries can
also have spillover effects on Europe, for example by affecting trade routes and patterns
and triggering climate-induced migration.
Adaptation is the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. It
seeks to moderate or avoid harm and to exploit beneficial opportunities. Well planned,
early adaptation action saves lives, livelihoods, biodiversity and money later. It focuses
on building response capacity, prevention and on limiting the damage as it occurs, rather
than on dealing with consequences (disaster relief).
11
At the time of the formulation of the Strategy, the economic, environmental and social
costs of not adapting to climate change were estimated to range from EUR 100 billion a
year in 2020 to EUR 250 billion a year in 2050 for the EU as a whole.
12
Recent studies
confirm that the frequency and economic costs of extreme events are continuing to rise
for specific sectors.
13
Intervention logic
The general objective of the Strategy is to contribute to a more climate-resilient Europe
by enhancing the preparedness and capacity to respond to the impacts of climate change
at local, regional, national and EU levels, developing a coherent approach and improving
coordination.
In order to achieve this, it set out the following three specific objectives:
Objective 1
–
Promoting action by Member States:
to promote adaptation action at
sub-EU level, and support and facilitate exchange and coordination, including through
cross-border measures.
8
9
'Global and European Temperature', European Environment Agency, 2018.
'Extreme weather events in Europe -
Preparing for climate change adaptation: an update on EASAC’s
2013 study', European Academies’ Science Advisory Council, 2018.
10
Adverse effects of climate change include extreme weather events (heavy precipitation, strong wind, or
heatwaves), forest fires, floods, water scarcity, sea-level-rise, biodiversity change and premature deaths
due to heatwaves and increases in vector-borne diseases (e.g. from ticks and mosquitos) and food and
water-borne diseases (e.g. from bacteria, viruses, parasites).
11
Examples of adaptation measures and tools include: using scarce water resources more efficiently;
adapting building codes to future climate conditions and extreme weather events; building flood
defences and introducing natural water retention measures; developing drought-tolerant crops; choosing
tree species and forestry practices less vulnerable to storms and fires; setting aside land corridors to help
species migrate, carrying out vulnerability assessment or using insurance policy.
12
'Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012, EEA Report No 12/2012', European
Environment Agency, 2012.
13
E.g. European Academies’ Science Advisory Council, ibid. More information in Annex XIII.
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Objective 2 - Better informed decision making:
to further the understanding of
adaptation, to improve and widen the knowledge base where knowledge gaps have been
identified and to enhance dissemination of adaptation-related information.
Objective 3 - Climate-proofing EU action: promoting adaptation in key vulnerable
sectors:
to develop initiatives to consistently and comprehensively integrate climate
change adaptation considerations into sectors at EU level through EU policies.
These objectives were intended to be delivered through the implementation of 8 actions
as summarised in Table 2-1 (below). The table also lists the performance indicators
foreseen in the 2013 impact assessment.
14
Table 2-1 Objectives, actions and performance indicators
Objectives
1. Promoting action by
Member States
(Increasing the resilience
15
of the EU territory)
Actions (including abbreviated title)
1.
Performance indicators
Number of national adaptation strategies (NASs)
and action plans and national climate change risk
assessments
Number and amount of LIFE grants used for
experience transfer and lighthouse projects
respectively
Number of cities pledging to develop an adaptation
strategy and of cities with more than 150 000
inhabitants in vulnerable areas with an adaptation
strategy
List of knowledge gaps now, in 2017, and in 2020
+ number of Horizon 2020 (H2020) and Joint
Research Centre (JRC) research projects dealing
with adaptation and associated budget allocated
Number of visitors to Climate-ADAPT, pages most
visited, number of registered users, assessment of
the content, databases and metadata + Number of
conferences, workshops, adaptation events
registered in Climate-ADAPT
List of policies and legal acts where adaptation has
been mainstreamed + adaptation activities by
private organisations as reported in the Carbon
Disclosure Project surveys
Amount of adaptation infrastructure investments
(co-) financed by EU funds and/or public financial
institutions + progress on the mapping exercise by
18
European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs)
No associated performance indicator in the impact
assessment.
2.
3.
Encourage all Member States to adopt 1.
comprehensive adaptation strategies (Member
State strategies)
Provide LIFE funding to support capacity 2.
building and step up adaptation action in Europe
(LIFE)
3.
Introduce adaptation in the Covenant of Mayors
framework (Covenant of Mayors)
Bridge the knowledge gap (Knowledge gap)
4.
2.
Better
informed
decision-making
4.
5.
Further develop Climate-ADAPT
as the ‘one-
5.
stop shop’ for adaptation information in Europe
(Climate-ADAPT)
3. Climate-proofing EU
action:
promoting
adaptation
in
key
vulnerable sectors
(Increasing the resilience
of key vulnerable sectors)
6.
Facilitate the climate-proofing of the Common 6.
16
Agricultural Policy, the Cohesion Policy , and
the Common Fisheries Policy (ESIF/CAP/CFP)
7.
Ensuring
more
(Infrastructure)
resilient
infrastructure
7.
8.
Promote insurance and other financial products 8.
for resilient investment and business decisions
17
(Insurance and finance)
Commission Staff Working Document: Impact Assessment accompanying the Communication on an EU
Strategy on adaptation to climate change, SWD(2013) 132 final.
15
The Communication labelled the specific objectives slightly differently than the Impact Assessment, but
their substance is the same. The equivalent label from the Impact Assessment is shown in brackets in the
table to ease comparison.
16
“European Structural and Investment Funds” (ESIF) is the name of the funds financing Cohesion Policy
in the 2014-2020 period.
17
Promoting insurance for adaptation was included as an action in the Strategy, but there was no associated
operational objective, or performance indicator, in the Impact Assessment.
18
Before the adoption of the Strategy, the European Standardisation Organisations had already expressed
their intention to revise the Guide for addressing environmental issues in product standards (CEN
–
Comité Européen de Normalisation - Guide 4). However, it was action 7 of the Strategy, namely the
mandate from the Commission to the ESOs that initiated the identification and update of standards in the
fields of energy, transport and construction.
7
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The impact assessment also set out operational objectives in the form of aspirational
targets for 2020, to be measured through the performance indicators. The Strategy itself
did not reiterate those operational objectives.
19
The specific activities under each action
are listed in the intervention logic graph in Annex V and detailed in Annex VII.
In terms of the expected impacts, the activities, performance indicators and operational
objectives make it clear that the strategy’s core mechanism is a leveraging effect through
multiplier actions under the different objectives. These actions range from promoting the
adoption and implementation of strategies at all levels of governance to funding research
and demonstration projects, setting infrastructure standards and mainstreaming into other
policies (including funding programmes).
External factors that have emerged since 2013 and have had an influence on the
Strategy’s impacts include the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather
events in recent years (that may be linked with global warming and which is likely to
increase the costs of inaction, see section 6.1.1), and the adoption of several relevant
international frameworks, in particular the Paris Agreement on climate change
20
which
could affect the ambition level of EU adaptation policies in the future (see further
discussion in Chapter 3).
The Strategy and its impact assessment were developed without prior intervention logic.
Nevertheless, on their basis, the intervention logic in Annex V can be reconstructed to
reflect the approach underlying the Strategy.
3.
T
HE
S
TRATEGY
,
ADAPTATION
EXTERNAL POLICIES AND THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT FOR
Integration of adaptation in external policies
The Strategy focuses on the adaptation to the impacts of climate on the EU territory.
21
As
such, it follows the approach adopted by most countries when developing national
adaptation strategies. However, this also means that it does not make reference to any
international policies or initiatives, nor does it emphasise the role of the EU’s external
policies in supporting adaptation actions in non-EU countries.
The 2013 impact assessment considered that international issues were covered under the
development and cooperation policy and through the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations. There was a concern that the
adoption of an EU adaptation strategy setting objectives and actions relevant for
discussions on adaptation in the international framework prior to the Paris Agreement
would pre-empt the EU position in negotiations. Moreover, in order to push for higher
mitigation ambition among Parties, the EU international climate policy was deliberately
focused on mitigation, to the extent that even the EU’s Intended Nationally Determined
Contribution (INDC) includes only mitigation.
19
20
The operational objectives from the impact assessment are listed in Annex VI.
The Paris Agreement was adopted by the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 12 December 2015 (ref. Document FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1) and
entered into force on 4 November 2016.
21
International content (on links between climate and migration) featured only in an accompanying SWD.
It was a response to a request by the European Council to the Commission in the context of the
Stockholm Programme on citizenship, justice, security, asylum, immigration and visa policy for 2010-
2014.
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The strategic choice of focusing the Strategy on domestic issues has not however reduced
the importance that the EU attributes to international support for adaptation and
resilience. On the contrary, the importance of mainstreaming adaptation in EU
international policy has been increasingly recognized and much has been done with this
purpose, in particular in the following key areas.
Development cooperation
Adaptation is recognized as one of the key cross-cutting issues in the 2017 EU's response
to the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the European
Consensus on Development 'Our world, our dignity, our future'
22
, which sets out the
main principles for the approach of the EU and the Member States to cooperation with
developing countries over the next 15 years, as well as a strategy for reaching the
Sustainable Development Goals. Climate change resilience in vulnerable countries is
considered as an important element of sustainability. Moreover, climate change
adaptation has been integrated in the EU's development programmes, be it national,
regional or thematic, at all stages of the planning and implementation process. In addition
to dedicated projects and programmes, climate change is systematically addressed as a
cross-cutting issue to identify and address the associated risks and opportunities. The
most prominent example of EU support to policy dialogue and climate action in
developing countries is the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA+) initiative. Lessons
learnt in planning for and implementing the Strategy, including scientific knowledge and
tools gained, provide input for these processes.
Foreign and security policy (including migration)
During the period covered by the evaluation, recognition of the link between climate
change, EU external relations and security has increased. The 2016 Global Strategy for
the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy and
the 2017 Joint Communication on
Resilience mention climate change explicitly as a threat. Moreover, concrete steps have
been taken to integrate and recognize climate change as a threat multiplier which, if not
addressed, can contribute to a downward spiral of fragility and conflict. Concretely,
climate change has been included amongst the 10 criteria used by the EU for assessment
of early warning of conflict risk, in addition to water stress and food security.
23
For the
prioritised countries, an in-depth conflict analysis is conducted which also considers
climate change impacts.
Relevant to the security angle is also the progress made on recognizing and further
analysing the link between climate change and human displacement, as demonstrated at
the international level by the establishment of a Task Force on Displacement in the
context of the UNFCCC.
24
Since 2013, EU policies on migration and external relations
have increasingly taken into account climate-related disasters as potential triggers to
displacement, and the increasing challenges posed by climate change in this context.
Climate change adaptation is seen as an effective tool to tackle root causes of migration.
Examples include: Council conclusion on Climate diplomacy in 2013
25
, 2016
26
and
22
The new European consensus on development 'Our world, our dignity, our future', European
Commission, 2017.
23
Joint Staff Working Document: EU Conflict Early Warning System: Objectives, Process and Guidance
for Implementation, SWD(2016) 3 final.
24
https://unfccc.int/process/bodies/constituted-bodies/executive-committee-of-the-warsaw-international-
mechanism-for-loss-and-damage-wim-excom/areas-of-work/migration--displacement-and-human-
mobility
25
Council conclusions on EU Climate Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs Council meeting, Luxembourg, 24 June
2013
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2018
27
and the 2016 Communication on Forced Displacement and Development
28
. Better
understanding, on the one hand, the role of climate change and environmental
degradation as factors in decisions to migrate and, on the other hand, the potential role of
migration as an adaptation option, continue to be a priority under the EU's external
cooperation instruments for the period 2014-2020, both through dedicated thematic
lines
29
and targeted projects to develop knowledge and practices to address climate
induced migration.
Disaster risk reduction, including emergency response
As part of the post-2015 development agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction 2015-2030
30
was developed with a strong focus on risk prevention. To
translate this framework into EU action, in July 2016 the Commission published an
Action Plan
31
on the implementation of the Sendai Framework. Climate change
adaptation and its links with disaster risk reduction are well integrated both in the Sendai
framework and in the Action Plan.
An additional example include the New Urban Agenda
32
, adopted in Quito in 2016 which
recognizes the contribution of cities to mitigating climate change, and commits to
improve the resilience of cities to disasters and climate change
–
these objectives are well
aligned with the core vision of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.
Synergies between the Covenant of Mayors and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk
Reduction's Making Cities Resilient campaign are also being sought to maximise the
impact, including on monitoring, reporting and indicators.
All these achievements/developments are not a direct outcome of the Strategy: they were
triggered by
external developments which have leveraged the importance and
urgency of adaptation and its close relation to sustainable development, disaster
risk reduction, security etc.
The main triggers are:
-
The importance for the EU
to show leadership in international climate policy
and
actions including by adequately responding to the increasing demands from
developing countries (in political dialogues and within UNFCCC negotiations) to
support climate change resilience as a component of sustainable development.
The
growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events
affecting EU 's
partners and the likely link with global warming have put the need to address climate
change (both mitigation and adaptation) and its impacts higher on the EU political
agenda.
The
Arctic's relevance in climate change
adaptation and mitigation
has increased,
due to recent scientific evidence on accelerated Arctic sea ice melt and its
consequences for extreme weather events elsewhere on the planet. The 2016 Joint
-
-
26
Council conclusions on European climate diplomacy after COP21, Foreign Affairs Council Meeting,
Brussels, 15 February 2016
27
Council conclusions on Climate Diplomacy, 26 February 2018
28
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Lives in Dignity: From Aid-dependence to
Self-reliance, COM(2016) 234 final
29
Commision Implementing Decision adopting a Multiannual Indicative Programme for the Thematic
Programme 'Global Public Goods and Challenges' for the period 2014-2020. C(2014)5072
30
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted at the Third UN World
Conference in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015.
31
Commission Staff Working Document: Action Plan on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction 2015-2030, SWD(2016) 205 final/2.
33
JOIN(2016) 21
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-
Communication on an integrated EU policy for the Arctic recognised the relevance of
the region for climate action.
33
The adoption of other
major international frameworks in 2015,
and in particular
the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) Aichi targets
34
, and Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development
Goals
35
, as well as the New Urban Agenda in 2016.
On its side, the implementation of the Strategy has contributed to a strengthening of EU's
external action on climate resilience by, for instance, improving the knowledge base, and
offering a test-base for adaptation options and responses that could be relevant outside
EU territories.
36
The international context and the EU adaptation strategy
The evaluation support study highlights that the context of international adaptation policy
has changed: the initial assumptions on the basis of which the international setting was
not included in the Strategy might not hold any more. The study points to a need to
reflect on whether a clearer strategic framework is necessary to better enhance coherence
and alignment between international policies, actions and processes of relevance to
climate change adaptation. And in this context, whether the Strategy is the appropriate
channel where this strategic framework should be included.
The following elements could bring useful insight in this direction:
-
Already in 2010, the adoption of the Cancún adaptation framework foretold the
importance that adaptation would gather in the future, with
the adoption of the Paris
Agreement.
The Paris Agreement
raises adaptation ambition,
putting it on equal
footing with mitigation in our collective response to climate change.The
Paris
Agreement moreover changes the narrative:
climate change affects all countries
and therefore adaptation needs to be a goal to which all Parties need to contribute.
Specifically Art 7 of the Agreement asks Parties to engage on adaptation e.g. by
developing plans/strategies, assessing vulnerabilities, monitoring adaptation policies
and actions, sharing knowledge and lessons learnt, strengthening the scientific
knowledge on climate etc. It also requires regular monitoring and revision of
adaptation policies. Moreover the Paris Agreement includes adaptation in the
'ambition cycle', and in 2023: the EU, as a Party, will be asked to report on progress
and actions on adaptation and eventually, if relevant, redefine ambition, by reviewing
its strategies and policies. Our adaptation policy should ensure adequate alignment to
this framework.
33
34
35
36
JOIN(2016) 21
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and
entered into force on 29 December 1993: https://www.cbd.int/convention/text/.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals were
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly through resolution 70/1: (ref. Document A/RES/70/1,
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld)
For instance, the 2017 EU Submission to the UNFCCC on adaptation (see footnote
Error! Bookmark
not defined.)
presents how the Strategy has promoted the use of ecosystem based adaptation in
Europe, which can provide relevant information and examples to third countries with similar
challenges or ecosystems, in particular the most vulnerable.
11
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-
Climate change worldwide will have consequences on the EU in the area of trade
37
(including food security), migration, and ecosystems, among others. Stakeholders
expressed concern that the Strategy does not meet the EU’s needs with regard to
climate change impacts beyond its borders. Our adaptation policy should consider
how to prepare the EU for the effects of climate change in third countries and to some
extent already does, via all the policies and measures mentioned above in the area of
international adaptation.
The possible scope for alignment with international policy developments since 2013
would therefore merit to be examined, as well as the potential implications for the EU of
transboundary effects of climate impacts in third countries via value chains, migratory
flows, trade and financial flows, for instance.
Some further details on the above-mentioned international frameworks are provided in
Annex VIII section 13.
4.
B
ASELINE
/ I
MPLEMENTATION
/
STATE OF
P
LAY
38
The Commission’s 2009 White Paper “Adapting to climate change: towards a European
framework for action”
39
identified a number of possible areas for EU action and was
already instrumental in triggering reaction in the Member States. For example, the
number of countries with vulnerability assessments and national adaptation strategies
(NAS) started to increase already before the 2013 Strategy.
40
The Strategy built on these
dynamics, its objectives and actions covered all of the areas identified in the White
Paper, except international policy as explained in Chapter 3.
Objective 1: Promoting action by Member States
Action 1 Member State strategies
41
Situation in 2013
15 Member States had adopted an adaptation strategy and/or plan.
42
The level of detail of
these adaptation strategies or plans differed widely among Member States and there were
important gaps. In particular:
37
See Case Study 2 in Annex XIV. PESETA III assessments by the JRC also show that transboundary
climate impacts may affect the EU via international trade, see Preliminary Projection of Economic
impacts of climate change in Sectors of the EU based on bottom-up Analysis, JRC, 2018. Retrieved
from:
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/peseta
38
Considering that both the baseline and the state of play need to be discussed for all 8 actions, it was
considered appropriate for readability to merge the two sections. The baseline description draws upon
analysis carried out in preparation of the 2013 Strategy (the impact assessment, the background report to
the impact assessment and various SWDs published alongside the Strategy) to describe the baseline both
in terms of the actual situation prior to the launch of the Strategy and in terms of the future situation
expected at the launch without the implementation of the Strategy. For Action 8, more limited
information is available, as it was not addressed in the Impact Assessment.
39
White Paper on Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action, COM(2009)
147/4.
40
'National climate change vulnerability and risk assessments in Europe', European Environment Agency,
2018.
41
The full title of the Strategy’s actions is given in Table 2-1
in Chapter 2.
42
Different terms are used by different Member States, but these documents essentially capture similar
elements. In general, adaptation plans typically include more specific details on actions to be taken.
12
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The funding of adaptation options remained vague in many cases;
Only a third of Member States had assessed impacts, vulnerabilities and
adaptation options to support policy; and
Only two Member States had made substantial progress in developing indicators
and monitoring methodologies.
Almost none of the adaptation strategies in place dealt with transboundary issues,
or employment or social issues;
Of those Member States with no NAS at that time, most were in the process of
developing one, whereas Southern and Central European countries were least advanced
in the process.
Baseline
According to the Impact Assessment it was expected that without intervention, the
adaptation strategies would continue varying in terms of scope (in particular on trans-
boundary issues), level of ambition and agreed financing of adaptation measures. Barriers
in human or financial resources to the adoption of further strategies would remain.
Implementation / State of play
The Strategy was endorsed by the Environment Council
43
who recognised the importance
of NASs and called upon all Member States to shape their adaptation policies in the light
of the guidelines of the Commission. Guidance for Member States on preparing NASs
was published alongside the Strategy.
44
The guidance is integrated in the Climate-
ADAPT adaptation tool.
45
In collaboration with the Member States, the Commission developed the proposed
‘adaptation preparedness scoreboard’ largely based on the process and approaches
recommended in the guidance.
46
Using the scoreboard, the Commission prepared country
fiches on each Member State in an iterative consultation process.
47
The country fiches
assess the Member States’ adaptation policy, including the content of NASs and plans,
for the following aspects:
Institutional structure
Quality of national vulnerability assessments
3246
th
Council meeting adapting conclusions on the Commission communication "An EU strategy on
adaptation to climate change": Press Release
–
10876/13, Council of the European Union, 2013.
44
Commission Staff Working Document: Guidelines on developing adaptation strategies, SWD(2013) 134
final. The guidance includes detailed advice on methods for preparing an adaptation strategy,
accompanied by practical examples (based on several Member States’ experience), checklists, and
detailed information on the range of support available at European level.
45
First version published in March, 2012: https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/knowledge/tools/adaptation-
support-tool
46
The first draft was published on Climate-ADAPT:
http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/eu-adaptation-
policy/strategy/index_html/resolveuid/bbc416202fd844b1a09f90a2990553ae
47
The first versions of the fiches, prepared in 2014-15, were unpublished and used to fine-tune the
scoreboard. The second drafts of the Member State fiches were published as background documents to
the
public
consultation
on
this
evaluation
in
December
2017.
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/consultations/evaluation-eus-strategy-adaptation-climate-change_en
13
43
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Knowledge creation (national observation systems in relevant
sectors
48
and climate modelling), transfer and use
Action plans:
-
Quality (incl. the basis used for assessment of
adaptation options)
-
Actual implementation mechanisms
Funding mechanisms
Mainstreaming into sectoral policies, in particular:
-
Disaster risk reduction
-
Spatial planning
-
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) (how the
Directive is transposed nationally)
-
Insurance policy
Transboundary cooperation
Monitoring mechanisms in different sectors and governance
levels
The final versions of the fiches accompany this evaluation report in a separate Staff
Working Document (SWD).
49
The scoreboard’s assessment of the Member State’s adaptation
preparedness is
summarised in section 6.2.2 and is also the subject of a more detailed horizontal
assessment in Annex IX.
Performance indicator: Number of NASs and action plans and national climate change
risk assessments
25 of the 28 Member States had adopted NASs by early 2018. Strategies are being
developed in the remaining three Member States (Latvia, Bulgaria and Croatia) but have
not yet been adopted.
Action 2 LIFE
Situation in 2013
There was no LIFE sub-programme specifically allocated to climate action prior to the
Strategy. However, between 2000 and 2015, EU support of EUR 152 million (EUR 307
million with co-financing) was provided to nearly 150 projects focusing fully or partly on
climate change adaptation, including to the development
of Cyprus’ and Malta’s NASs
and some cross-border projects.
50
Baseline
Without intervention in the form of a further reinforced adaptation component in the
LIFE programme, it was expected that many authorities would find it difficult to find the
necessary financial resources to develop adaptation strategies, organise cross-border
cooperation and identify best practice across the EU.
48
These relate for example to meteorology, floods, drought, sea level, coastal erosion, biodiversity,
human/animal/plant health etc.
49
SWD(2018)460
50
The most common themes were: water policy with focus on scarcity and floods (43 projects), agriculture
(25 projects) and urban action (22 projects). Camarsa, G., Toland, J., Eldridge, J., & et al., LIFE and
Climate Change Adaptation, Study for the European Commission, 2015.
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Implementation / State of play
51
The budget under the LIFE Regulation 2014-2020 and the Multiannual Work Programme
2014-2017 is split between the Environment and Climate Action sub-programmes. The
Regulation foresees that 25% (i.e. EUR 864 million) of the LIFE budget would be
assigned to Climate Action, with a fairly even split between adaptation and mitigation.
Since 2014, four calls for proposals were launched (2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017) and the
projects from the last call started in the summer of 2018.
Performance indicator: Number and amount of LIFE grants used for experience transfer
and lighthouse projects
52
respectively
As per the 2014 LIFE regulation, all LIFE grant projects involve experience transfer and
replication and are classified either as pilot, demonstration, best-practice or integrated
projects, which were considered the criteria for lighthouse projects.
As of April 2018, there are at least 60 ongoing adaptation-related LIFE projects worth
€184 million in project cost. This includes two integrated projects in Denmark and
Spain
53
that operate in a wider geographical area and serve a broader range of purposes,
including adaptation. Beneficiaries estimate that 3-5 years after their completion the
adaptation-related projects from 2014-2016 will impact through replication and transfer
an area of 1.8 million km2, equivalent to one fourth of the EU territory.
54
LIFE projects
also help other actions of the Strategy, such as urban adaptation.
In addition, under LIFE, the European Investment Bank (EIB) operates an innovative
financial instrument, the Natural Capital Financing Facility (NCFF), providing loan or
equity financing and technical assistance to natural capital projects. These NCFF projects
aim to generate revenues or save costs while delivering on biodiversity and climate
adaptation objectives. For this, the Commission provides financial guarantees in the
amount of €50 million and technical support for projects in the amount of €10 million.
The NCFF €125 million financing (of which almost half is already committed to two
adaptation-related
projects) is expected to generate an additional €400 million of public
and private investment by 2021.
55
More details on adaptation in the LIFE programme are provided in section 1 of Annex
VIII.
51
A separate mid-term evaluation of the LIFE Programme on environment and climate was recently
completed (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/evaluation/index.htm). The
results of the report, together with other supporting literature and findings from the stakeholder
interviews, provide a basis for our evaluation of Action 2.
52
The term “lighthouse project” was used to refer to pilot, demonstration, best-practice
or integrated
projects under the LIFE programme in the previous multiannual financial framework.
53
EU LIFE IP C2C CC (LIFE15
IPC/DK/000006
and
LIFE16 IPC/ES/000001)
54
Information extracted from internal databases of the Executive Agency on Small and Medium
Enterprises (EASME) who manage the LIFE programme.
55
http://www.eib.org/infocentre/press/releases/all/2018/2018-128-successful-roll-out-of-eur-400m-natural-
capital-initiative-supporting-conservation-across-europe.htm
15
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Action 3 Covenant of Mayors
Situation in 2013
Around a quarter (24%) of 100 surveyed cities in 2012 reported they had already adopted
an adaptation strategy,
56
while under half believed they were still in the very early stages
of work on adaptation. Cities within several Member States had formed their own
networks, as a result of either national or international initiatives, but no EU-level
network existed for adaptation.
Baseline
It was expected that without additional actions, regional and local adaptation strategies
would continue to develop as previously. Barriers related to legal competence, and
human or financial resources to the adoption of further strategies would remain.
Implementation / State of play
Performance indicator: Number of cities pledging to develop an adaptation strategy and
of cities with more than 150 000 inhabitants in vulnerable areas with an adaptation
strategy.
Mayors Adapt (the Covenant of Mayors Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change)
57
was launched by the Commission in March 2014 and merged into the Covenant of
Mayors initiative in 2015, introducing an integrated approach on mitigation and
adaptation.
Signatories to the Covenant voluntarily commit to develop a climate vulnerability and
risk assessment and an action plan for targeted adaptation options, including reporting
every two years, within two years of signing up to the initiative. The Covenant office
(implemented and funded by the Commission) informs, mobilises and supports local
authorities, in cooperation with the Commission’s JRC who prepare guidelines for the
local authorities’ actions. The
Commission also ensures that the relevant EU funds and
financial instruments can support the Covenant signatories in their actions.
By 30 April 2018, 1076 Covenant signatories from 25 EU Member States, covering
around 60 million inhabitants, had committed to conduct vulnerability and risk
assessments, and develop, implement and report on adaptation plans.
According to recent surveys, it is estimated that about 26% of all EU cities (both
Covenant cities and non-Covenant) and 40% of EU cities of more than 150.000
inhabitants
58
have already adopted adaptation plans.
59
In general, cities in Eastern and
56
Source: the 2013 Impact Assessment of the Strategy. The survey covered a range of cities of variable
size in 21 of the EU Member States. It was found that 8% of the cities surveyed had no work planned or
begun on climate adaptation, and 22% had work planned. Of the 70% that had begun work on
adaptation: 1% believed that their climate adaptation programme is far advanced, 6% are moving ahead
of the field, 16% are well on the way, and 47% are still in the very early stages of work on adaptation.
57
http://www.covenantofmayors.eu/about/covenant-initiative/origins-and-development.html
58
Source: communication with the coordinator of the study D. Reckien et al., (2018). How are cities
planning to respond to climate change? Assessment of local climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-
28,
Journal of Cleaner Production,
26 March 2018. The coordinator extracted this figure from the
study's database.
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Southern Europe have fewer local adaptation plans, whereas Central and Northern
European cities often have such plans.
60
Building on the success of the Covenant, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and
Energy
61
was launched in 2017 bringing together the Compact of Mayors
62
and the
Covenant of Mayors in a worldwide campaign.
More details on the Covenant of Mayors are provided in section 2 of Annex VIII.
Objective 2: Better informed decision-making
Action 4 Knowledge gaps
Situation in 2013
In spite of progress achieved through national, EU and global research in addressing
relevant knowledge gaps, the following gaps persisted
63
:
1. Information on projected costs and benefits of impacts and adaptation
2. Regional and local-level analyses and risk assessments
3. Frameworks, models and tools to support decision making under uncertainty
64
and to assess the effectiveness of adaptation measures
4. Monitoring and evaluation of past adaptation efforts
Baseline
Without coordinated research efforts among EU and national institutions, overlaps in
research projects and knowledge gaps would not be addressed, resulting in an inefficient
use of public funding for research.
Implementation / State of play
Performance indicator: List of knowledge gaps now, in 2017, and in 2020, plus number
of H2020 and JRC research projects dealing with adaptation and associated budget
allocated.
Regarding the indicator “List of knowledge gaps now, in 2017, and in 2020”, since the
knowledge gaps were formulated in an open-ended way (rather than as focused or sector-
59
The proportion of cities with more than 150 000 inhabitants having actually reported an adaptation
strategy to the Covenant of Mayors is only 3%. There seems to be a major reporting gap for reasons
explained in Annex VIII section 2, and also not all cities of this size are members of the Covenant of
Mayors.
60
D. Reckien et al., (2018). How are cities planning to respond to climate change? Assessment of local
climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28,
Journal of Cleaner Production,
26 March 2018.
61
https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/
62
http://impact.compactofmayors.org/
63
The Impact Assessment (page 14) suggested one more knowledge gap: ‘Socio-economic
trends that are
interrelated with
climatic changes’, but in the end it was not listed in the Strategy. See Commission Staff
Working Document: Impact Assessment, SWD(2013) 132 final.
64
One of the key challenges for adaptation appraisal is the high uncertainty involved. The most common
techniques used in economic appraisal have limitations in coping with this, and a suite of new decision
support tools have emerged that advance decision-making under uncertainty. See a London School of
Economics and Political Science working paper:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/publication/a-
review-of-the-economics-of-adaptation-and-climate-resilient-development/
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specific questions), it is difficult to assess if they have been closed. Nevertheless,
evidence indicates that despite a substantial increase in the knowledge base, none of the
priority knowledge gaps have been fully closed, and new gaps have emerged in sectors
such as ecosystem-based adaptation, relationship to sustainable development goals,
global transboundary (spillover) effects of climate change impacts and risks, adapting
infrastructure and mountainous areas, long-term lack of water resources, high-end
climate change, health, coastal areas, biodiversity. Regarding the indicator ‘Number of
Horizon 2020 and JRC research projects dealing with adaptation and associated budget
allocated’, in total 124 research
projects, reports and articles were identified on
adaptation under Framework Programme 7 (FP7) and H2020 as well as originating from
JRC, European Environment Agency (EEA), service contracts of the Commission and
other EU sources, involving a total budget of EUR 285 million. The most frequently
addressed topics were water, nature, and agriculture.
More details on bridging the knowledge gaps are provided in section 4 of Annex VIII.
Action 5 Climate-ADAPT
Situation in 2013
Prior to the Strategy, Climate-ADAPT was already launched in March 2012 as a web
portal in common ownership of the Commission and the EEA with the objectives to build
a consistent and updated knowledge base, in particular:
-
-
-
To facilitate the collection, sharing and use of information on climate change
impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in the EU;
to assist an effective uptake of the relevant knowledge by decision-makers; and
to contribute to a greater level of coordination among sectors and institutional
levels.
At the time of the launch, the various other relevant EU services and platforms, such as
the Copernicus Climate Change Service
65
or the Disaster Risk Knowledge Management
Centre
66
did not yet exist. While Climate-ADAPT experienced a high volume of users
immediately after its launch in 2012, as compared with other EEA products, users needed
more encouragement to make use of it, to upload relevant information and to collect data
and information from local and regional levels, including private sector initiatives.
National adaptation portals existed in six Member States
67
and more limited adaptation
portals in eight others, but the information transfer between national and local levels was
not optimal. The Strategy noted the need to improve access to information and develop
interaction between Climate-ADAPT and other relevant platforms, including national
and local adaptation portals.
Baseline
Funding for Climate-ADAPT was expected to continue regardless of the Strategy, but it
was not expected that the portal’s coverage gaps on local or regional issues would be
addressed without intervention. There would also be additional costs of quality control of
reporting of adaptation-related findings from EU-funded research projects. It was
65
66
https://climate.copernicus.eu/
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/network-bureau/disaster-risk-management-knowledge-centre
67
Austria, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
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expected that mainstreaming of adaptation in sectoral science-policy interfaces
68
would
remain limited, affecting the accessibility of adaptation research to decision makers,
particularly in those sectors where no science-policy interface was identified, such as
energy or transport.
Implementation / State of play
Performance indicator: Number of visitors to Climate-ADAPT, pages most visited,
number of registered users, assessment of the content, databases and metadata + Number
of conferences, workshops, adaptation events registered in Climate-ADAPT
Climate-ADAPT had 409 565 visitors between 1 March 2013 and 31 March 2018, the
most visited pages being the database, the adaptation support tools, the case studies, EU
policy pages and the country pages. The number of registered users (recipients of the
newsletter) amounted to about 5 000 in April 2018. The core of Climate-ADAPT are its
knowledge database and webpages, which currently comprise of about 2 400 items in
total. A detailed assessment of the content, databases and metadata is provided in the
EEA mid-term evaluation report on Climate-ADAPT.
69
The total number of conferences,
workshops and adaptation events registered was 107 between 29 April 2014 and 31
March 2018.
More details on Climate-ADAPT are provided in section 5 of Annex VIII.
Objective 3: Promoting adaptation in key vulnerable sectors
Action 6 ESIF / CAP / CFP, including general mainstreaming
Situation in 2013
Adaptation had been mainstreamed into a broad range of sectors listed in the introduction
to Objective 3 in the Strategy (with legislation and policy documents adopted or
Commission proposals tabled by 2013).
70
Some policy initiatives in the pipeline were
also listed for imminent mainstreaming.
71
However, adaptation had yet to be
mainstreamed into social and education policies, tourism, fisheries, insurance and trade,
while further work was deemed necessary in energy, transport, the EU’s outermost
regions, disaster risk reduction, health and in particular funding programmes under the
2014-20 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
Science-policy interfaces aim to bridge relations between scientists and other actors in the policy
process, which allow for exchanges, co-evolution, and joint construction of knowledge with the aim of
enriching decision-making.
69
See footnote 7.
70
Maritime policy, inland water, transport, biodiversity, migration and mobility, agriculture and forestry,
maritime spatial planning, integrated coastal management, energy, disaster risk prevention and
management, research, health, and the environment. In terms of transboundary cooperation, the Floods
Directive and the Water Framework Directive (WFD) had been particularly effective in the water sector;
and European and pan-European early warning and detection systems for weather-driven natural
disasters existed, such as the European Flood Awareness System, the European Forest Fire Information
System (EFFIS) and the European Drought Observatory.
71
Invasive alien species, green infrastructure, land as a resource, a new EU Forest Strategy, coastal zone
management, and Natura 2000.
19
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Baseline
Without the Strategy, mainstreaming activities would continue on an ad hoc basis with
no adequate prioritisation.
Implementation / State of play
Performance indicator: List of policies and legal acts where adaptation has been
mainstreamed
In terms of the general mainstreaming under Objective 3, it is clear that significant
progress has been made in increasing awareness and explicit consideration of adaptation
issues where foreseen in the Strategy, while falling short of adaptation mainstreaming
that would be fully “consistent and comprehensive”. In section 6 of Annex VIII, more
details are given on the degree of mainstreaming in the following key sectors:
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Outermost Regions
Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)
Water policy
Urban policy
Energy Union
Although not within the scope of the Strategy, adaptation is actively mainstreamed also
in some areas of the EU’s international policy (see Chapter
3).
A full list of policy initiatives where adaptation is mainstreamed or where the
Commission has made a legal proposal for mainstreaming is provided in Annex XI. The
list includes information on all those initiatives that were mentioned in the introduction
to the Strategy’s Objective 3 “Increasing the resilience of key vulnerable sectors”.
Performance indicator: Adaptation activities by private organisations as reported in the
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
72
surveys
In spite of the fact that the 2013 impact assessment included this performance indicator
in the monitoring framework of the Strategy, none of its actions targeted the adaptation
activities of private organisations in general.
The CDP surveys filled in by companies in the period covered by the evaluation did not
include reporting concretely about climate adaptation activities.
73
Still, the surveys
allowed measuring the extent to which companies regard climate change as a risk to their
business (84 to 91% do), and at least in some sectors, they also hint at what kind of risk
reduction measures they have applied (supplier diversification and engagement 41%,
infrastructure and technological investment 26%).
More detailed results from CDP surveys are presented in section 7 of Annex VIII.
72
73
The 2013 impact assessment designated the CDP (www.cdp.net) as the data source for the indicator on
company adaptation preparedness. The CDP runs a global disclosure system that enables companies,
cities, states and regions to measure and manage their environmental impacts, including aspects that
allow measuring their level of preparedness for climate change. The impact assessment did not motivate
the choice of this data source.
For any further tracking of this objective, it would be necessary to ensure that the indicator can be
properly monitored.
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Mainstreaming into the EU funds
The Strategy devoted its Action 6 entirely to mainstreaming in the areas of EU funds
(ESIF which include the following five funds: European Regional Development Fund
(ERDF), Cohesion Fund (CF), European Social Fund (ESF), European Agricultural Fund
for Rural Development (EAFRD) and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF),
and related policies such as cohesion policy, CAP and CFP), although no specific
performance indicator or operational objective was linked to this action. The following
advancements were made in the period covered by the evaluation:
1. Legal provisions on climate change were included in the framework governing
the ESIF funds, the Common Provisions Regulation (CPR)
74
, notably:
a. A 20% EU mainstreaming objective for climate mitigation and adaptation,
20% earmarking of funding for low-carbon economy (TO4)
b. Horizontal provision for mainstreaming sustainable development,
including climate change adaptation in all programmes and investments
c.
A thematic objective (TO5) on “climate
change adaptation, risk
prevention and management”
d. An ex-ante conditionality which fixed the existence of national/regional
risk assessments (also of climate risks) as a pre-condition to funding under
TO5, taking into account also the NAS where available
e. detailed climate tracking methodology and common output indicators
f. The requirement to assess and address the climate change adaptation
needs and disaster resilience of major projects.
75
Of the points above, only paragraph b) was applied in the case of the European
Social Fund. It has to be recalled that the funds are under shared management
between the Commission and the Member States, so the implementation of the
these provisions relies largely on national action.
2. Three guidance documents were published alongside the Strategy to help Member
States authorities to consider climate adaptation effectively within the
programming cycles of ESIF, CAP and CFP.
76
3. Several guiding factsheets were produced on mainstreaming both mitigation and
adaptation, listing also a set of possible adaptation actions with examples.
77
4. The Commission provided extensive climate-related comments on all of the ESIF
Partnership Agreements and most of the fund-specific programmes. In the
implementation phase, it only approved major projects (those that receive more
than € 50 or 75 million EU support) that were climate-proofed.
74
Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council of 17 December 2013.
Strictly speaking, the Commission proposal for the Regulation cannot be considered a result of the
Strategy, as it pre-dates it. However, the implementation of the CPR clearly worked towards the
objective of the
Strategy’s Action 6.
75
A major project has a total eligible cost exceeding EUR 50 million (and EUR 75 million for transport
projects) (https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/metadata/guidances/climate-change-and-major-projects).
The Commission approves such projects only if they are accompanied by
“an analysis of the
environmental impact, considering climate change adaptation and mitigation needs, and disaster
resilience”.
For non-major projects, i.e. projects below the applicable threshold, the responsibility for
climate-proofing investment (or the promotion of climate change adaptation stipulated by Art. 8 CPR)
lies largely with the Member States.
76
See Annex IV.
77
Climate action in ESIF: Introduction to the series of Fact Sheets on the potential for mainstreaming of
climate action and the assessment hereof, European Commission, 2015. Retrieved from:
https://ec.europa.eu/.../01-climate_mainstreaming_fact_sheet-esif_introduction_en.pdf
21
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In terms of direct funding, a recent study
78
provides an overall estimate of all ESIF
allocations to climate adaptation at EUR 62.1 billion. It estimates that allocations to TO5
(“Promoting climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management”) are EUR 6.3
billion and EUR 1.1 billion from the ERDF / CF and the EAFRD, respectively. It also
estimates that allocations to adaptation actions through other Thematic Objectives
amount to EUR 4.9 billion for the ERDF and the CF and EUR 49.8 billion for the
EAFRD. However, given the nature of ESIF, there is also a significant time lag effect in
this policy area, so that results and impacts cannot be fully assessed yet. Besides, the
eventually realised amounts will depend on the implementation of climate action during
the period 2014-2020. From the amendment of various programmes, the general
impression is that the climate related expenditure including for adaptation will increase
compared to the outset (i.e. at the end of the programming process in the beginning of the
period 2014-2020).
Beyond the direct funding there are a number of advancement in terms of horizontal
mainstreaming, such as climate-proofing of major projects and increased used of green
infrastructure solutions (as opposed to grey infrastructures) across different thematic
areas.
Detailed observations about the status of mainstreaming adaptation into the funds are
presented in section 8 of Annex VIII.
Action 7 Infrastructure
Situation in 2013
There was no substantive requirement across sectors to consider climate risks in the
analysis of the vulnerabilities and costs/benefits of projects, and in their technical
characteristics, in particular due to a lack of a common methodology. Work on design
standards was uneven because of the resources required to incorporate consideration of
climate change adaptation in the thousands of design-standards potentially affected.
Baseline
It was expected that without further EU action, only vague consideration would be given
to climate change by new infrastructural investments. Many small and medium-sized
enterprises would be unable to implement necessary adaptation measures and become
increasingly vulnerable to the effects of unavoidable climate change.
Implementation / State of play
Performance indicator: Amount of adaptation infrastructure investments (co-)financed by
EU funds and/or public financial institutions
The key expenditure programmes funding adaptation infrastructure are the ERDF and
CF.
79
Budget allocations (compared with total budget) to Thematic Objective 5
78
COWI, Mainstreaming of adaptation into the ESIF 2014-2020, Study for the European Commission,
2017.
79
Expenditure under other programmes particularly relevant to climate adaptation is less likely to focus on
infrastructure investment, e.g., climate expenditure under the EAFRD primarily includes support to
farming in areas of natural constraint, support for agri-environment-climate commitments, or support for
22
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(Promoting climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management) are detailed in
the table below.
80
Fund
ERDF
CF
TO5,
2017 Total,
2017 TO5,
2018 Total,
2018
(million EUR) (million EUR)
(million EUR) (million EUR)
430.2
342.7
5387.3
2503.0
445.7
355.4
5581.5
2596.5
There are 548 major projects currently foreseen of which 178 have been approved. The
eligible cost of the 178 approved projects is EUR 29.6 billion, which points towards a
total eligible cost of the 548 major projects of about EUR 90-95 billion. The EU
contribution for the 178 approved projects is EUR 20 billion, which points towards a
total contribution for the 548 major projects of about EUR 60-65 billion. The major
projects are subject to climate proofing.
However, it should be noted that some relevant climate adaptation infrastructure may be
funded under other Thematic Objectives, particularly TO4 (Low-carbon economy), TO6
(Preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency) and TO7
(Promoting sustainable transport). The legal basis does not provide a tracking
methodology distinguishing between mitigation and adaptation spending under these
TOs. Equally, not all investments recorded under TO5 will be relevant to climate
adaptation.
As to adaptation infrastructure financed by public financial institutions, the EIB reports
that in 2017, out of total climate action finance of EUR 19.4 billion, EUR 0.8 billion was
spent on climate adaptation, an amount slightly inferior to two years before (EUR 20.7
billion and EUR 0.8 billion, respectively). The EIB also reports that a total of EUR 4.5
billion was spent on adaptation over the five years 2011-2015, suggesting a steady level
of financing.
Performance indicator: progress on the mapping exercise by CEN-CENELEC (Comité
Européen de Normalisation and Comité Européen de Normalisation en Electronique et en
Electrotechnique)
On a mandate from the Commission, the ESOs compiled a list of 12 industry standards to
be revised and 1 standard to be written in order to ensure that new major infrastructure
projects are climate resilient. They also adopted a 'Guide for addressing climate change
adaptation in standards'.
81
More information on the work of the ESOs is available in section 9 of Annex VIII.
organic farming; LIFE programme expenditure on adaptation includes significant investment in best
practice and knowledge sharing, and so on.
80
From the Statement of Estimates for the Financial Year 2018. See: DRAFT General Budget of the
European Union for the financial year 2018, COM(2017) 400 final, and: Statement of Estimates of the
Commission for 2018, SEC(2017)250.
81
CEN-CENELEC, CEN-CENELEC Guide 32:2016, Available through:
https://www.cencenelec.eu/standards/Guides/Pages/default.aspx
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Other relevant initiatives
The EIA Directive was updated in 2014
82
to include vulnerability to climate change
among the aspects to be considered in project impact assessments, where relevant. As
mentioned above under Action 6, the CPR also requires that climate change adaptation
needs and disaster resilience of the funded projects are assessed and the projects are
climate-proofed. Mandatory sectoral guidelines were adopted in 2013 for Trans-
European Networks for Energy and Transport (TEN-E / TEN-T), with several provisions
aiming at climate-proofing.
83
8 European financing institutions, including the Commission, the EIB and the European
Bank for Reconstitution and Development (EBRD), have created a Working Group on
Adaptation to Climate Change (EUFIWACC).
84
They published a guide in 2016
designed to help practitioners assess climate change risks and vulnerabilities and better
integrate adaptation measures into project planning, design and implementation.
85
The
Commission also published or updated several other EU guidance documents for
planning infrastructure projects to include consideration of climate risk in the planning
phase, including in cost-benefit analysis.
86
Action 7 of the Strategy announces guidance on the mobilisation of ecosystem-based
approaches to adaptation of infrastructure. A fact sheet was published in 2016 in the
context of the implementation of the Green Infrastructure Strategy
87
, discussing costs and
benefits of green infrastructure in relation to adaptation and presenting good practice
examples.
88
Further, work on voluntary guidelines for the design and implementation of
ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction is
ongoing at international level.
Action 8 Insurance and finance
While significant effort is placed at the national and European level on preventing
damage caused by weather and climate related disasters, for example through adaptation
Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 April 2014.
Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2013, and
Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013.
See in particular recitals 22, 23, 33 and 34, and articles 3(t), 5.1(e), 5.1(g), 5.4, 10.1(e), 33(h), 35, 47(d)
and 50 of the latter Regulation.
84
EUFIWACC consists of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Council of Europe
Development
Bank (CEB), EBRD, the European Commission’s Directorate-General
for Climate Action
(DG CLIMA), the EIB, KfW Development Bank (KFW), the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and the
Dutch Development Bank (FMO).
85
Integrating Climate Change Information and Adaptation in Project Development: Emerging Experience
from Practitioners, EUFIWACC, 2016.
http://www.eib.org/attachments/press/integrating-climate-
change-adaptation-in-project-development.pdf
86
Non-paper Guidelines for Project Managers: Making vulnerable investments climate resilient, European
Commission, 2016.
Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into Environmental Impact Assessment,
European Commission, 2013.
Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into Strategic Environmental Assessment,
European Commission, 2013.
Climate Change and Major Projects, European Commission, 2016.
Guide to Cost-Benefit Analysis of Investment Projects, European Commission, 2014.
87
Trinomics et al., Supporting the Implementation of Green Infrastructure: Final Report, Study for the
European Commission, 2016.
88
Trinomics et al., ibid.
83
82
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strategies, climate proofing of investments, national risk assessments and other disaster
and climate risk policies, not all risks can be averted. This residual risk affects all areas
of society and can be addressed in different ways, through self-insurance, public aid,
voluntary insurance schemes or mandatory insurance required by law.
89
Insurance
policies raise awareness of climate risks and may also provide the right incentive to
invest into preventive action.
Situation in 2013
Disaster risk insurance had a low market penetration rate, which negatively affected not
only the insurance sector but also the economic value of the insured and non-insured
assets that remained vulnerable.
Insurance aimed towards natural and manmade disasters was addressed by the
Commission in a Green Paper
90
published alongside the Strategy. The aim of the paper
was to raise awareness and to assess whether action at EU level could be appropriate to
improve the market for disaster insurance in the EU.
Baseline
It was assumed that without further policy intervention, the market penetration rate of
disaster risk insurance in Member States would remain low. A JRC Technical Report
91
that was published before the launch of the Strategy indicates that for floods only a fifth
of the Member States had high insurance penetration rates, and almost half of the
Member States had a low to medium insurance penetration rate.
Implementation / State of play
There was no associated performance indicator in the 2013 impact assessment against
which progress could be measured. From the Strategy itself, it can be inferred that
progress was to be achieved by:
1) Encouraging insurers to support climate risk reduction and climate risk management
measures;
2) Improving the market penetration of natural disaster insurance;
3) Using insurance pricing and other financial products
i) for risk-awareness, prevention and risk mitigation;
ii) for long-term resilience in investment and business decisions.
89
Tort law applies in case some agent can be held accountable for the damage, and entitles individuals to
receive compensation from that specific agent; state/public aid involves a compensatory wealth transfer
from the public sector splitting up losses among the entire society; finally, insurance involves a
capitalization process that hedges individuals against residual risk.
Source:
Initiative on Climate Change
policy and Governance, Insurance schemes in the agriculture sector to address climate change impacts.
Reflection No. 46/March 2016, 2016.
90
See footnote 14.
91
'Natural Catastrophes: Risk relevance and Insurance Coverage in the EU EUR 25013 EN - 2011', JRC,
2012.
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Insurance
The Commission completed a study in 2017 on the insurance of weather and climate
related disaster risk.
92
The study has increased the knowledge of insurance as a tool in
adaptation and disaster risk reduction, by mapping the national insurance markets in 12
Member States.
Observed trends
According to this study, currently, risk transfer does not constitute an integral part of
adaptation approaches in many Member States, in spite of the fact that the insurance
industry’s risk pricing can allow efficient scoping in terms of where risk reduction is
required. Member States apply diverse systems of insurance, which represents a
challenge to an increased market-penetration of risk transfer mechanisms across Europe.
Two studies commissioned by the EU
93
looked into insurance as a risk management tool
in agriculture. The studies recommend the integration and further support to risk
management instruments in the framework of the agricultural policy, to strengthen
capacity to implement, manage and control such instruments, and to better link
vulnerability, funding and insurance as a risk management tool.
With regard to DRR and adaptation to climate change, the EU Action Plan on the Sendai
Framework includes actions on insurance, which foresee, inter alia, to follow up to the
Green Paper on the insurance of natural and man-made disasters, published together with
the EU Adaptation Strategy.
94
There were some concrete activities in relation to insurance and climate adaptation,
notably an expert group
95
was created to consider how to collect better data on losses, as
it is easier to convince people to take adaptation actions when shown that this can reduce
losses.
Other financial products and services
Insurance companies are important institutional investors into climate resilient
infrastructure.
The Capital Markets Union (CMU)
96
aims to enable new forms of funding including for
infrastructure, by bridging the information gap between investors and businesses and
ensuring the flow of private capital to sustainable projects.
Through amendments to delegated acts under the Solvency II Directive
97
in 2015 and
2017, the Commission facilitated the risk-based investments of insurance companies into
92
Insurance of weather- and climate-related disaster risk: Inventory and analysis of mechanisms to support
climate prevention in the EU, European Commission, 2017.
93
The study quoted under footnote 92 and a Study on risk management in EU agriculture, European
Commission, Forthcoming.
94
See the EU Sendai Action Plan, available at: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/sites/echo-
site/files/1_en_document_travail_service_part1_v2.pdf
95
The Disaster Loss and Damage Working Group
https://drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/partnership/Science-Policy-Interface/Disaster-Loss-and-Damage-
Working-Group
96
https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/growth-and-investment/capital-markets-union_en
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infrastructure projects. In March 2018, the Commission’s action plan on financing
sustainable growth
98
announced EU legislation
99
on a classification system for
sustainable
100
economic activities, on the labelling of green financial products, on
investors’ and asset managers’ duties on sustainability and transparency on risks, and on
insurer’s duties to take into account their clients’ sustainability preferences when
advising them.
Institutional risk management policies and banks’ capital requirements
would also have to consider climate risks.
Insurance and financial markets are also addressed in the adaptation preparedness
scoreboard described under Action 1 above, where an indicator checks whether
“adaptation is mainstreamed in insurance or alternative policy instruments, where
relevant, to provide incentives for investments in risk prevention”.
More information on the role of insurance and financial services is available in section 10
of Annex VIII.
5.
M
ETHOD
The evaluation of the Strategy was based on ten evaluation questions linked to the five
criteria defined by the Better Regulation Guidelines. These questions were broken down
into sub-questions and developed as operational questions appropriate for stakeholder
responses. An evaluation matrix describing this process is included in Appendix 4 of the
evaluation support study. In addition, the analysis of the criteria built on the intervention
logic represented graphically in Annex V.
The external support study collected data and provided an analysis of the evidence from
the consultation activities and the literature.
Methods for gathering evidence
Evidence for the evaluation support study was gathered through a wide combination of
data sources: a literature review
101
, a targeted survey and an open public consultation
102
,
interviews, workshops
103
and 4 case studies. A summary of methods used for gathering
97
Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the
taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II). The Solvency II
Directive provides for coordination of prudential laws, regulations and markets for insurance and
reinsurance across EU member states, with the purpose of reducing differences and supporting an
internal EU market in these products. Prudential requirements primarily address the way financial
institutions are governed and their liquidity and capital reserves.
98
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The European Council, The
European Central Bank, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions, COM(2018) 97 final.
99
Subject to the results of a future impact assessment.
100
Sustainability understood also in terms of resilience against climate risks.
101
General literature review complemented by reviews of adaptation preparedness scoreboards for EU
Member States, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) relating to adaptation for states that are
not members of the EU, and of a list of EU legislation and guidance documents and guidelines where
climate adaptation is currently mainstreamed, or has potential to be mainstreamed.
102
A targeted online stakeholder survey conducted in June-July 2017 and an open public consultation in 24
languages on the Commission’s
EUROPA website from 7 December 2017 to 1 March 2018.
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/consultations/evaluation-eus-strategy-adaptation-climate-change_en
103
Two stakeholder workshops and an interactive exercise with the members of the Working Group on
Adaptation under the Climate Change Committee of Member States
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evidence is provided in Appendix 3 of the evaluation support study and a synopsis of the
consultation activities can be found in Annex II. The original plan for the consultation
activities were described in the stakeholder consultation strategy
104
; the plan was
generally followed, except for some changes in the timeline.
In drafting this document, the Commission services also relied on internal data collection
and on the Member States' adaptation preparedness scoreboard foreseen in the Strategy,
including a horizontal assessment of Member States adaptation strategies.
Evaluation method
A significant amount of information was gathered through the consultation activities.
This information was triangulated i.e. cross-checked against other evidence, and analysed
to provide for as solid as possible results.
These results and subsequent recommendations, contained in the draft external report,
were presented to stakeholders in the context of the Open Public Consultation and during
the 2
nd
stakeholder workshop. This "reality-check" provided additional robustness to the
final results of the evaluation.
The Impact Assessment identified the situation in 2013 before the Strategy was launched.
It also identified planned inputs, outputs and activities, expected results and operational
objectives. It did not quantify in terms of the performance indicators what the future
position would be in the absence of the Strategy, and therefore it did not prepare the
ground for a quantitative counterfactual analysis. Furthermore, the impacts of the
Strategy are expected to arise as a result of voluntary actions being taken by multiple
actors. In this context, the evaluation had to rely as much as possible on measuring the
progress in the indicators foreseen in the Impact Assessment. Thus, the method used to
address the evaluation questions is a theory-based approach, comparing the current state
of play to points of comparison derived from the expected results and operational
objectives of the Impact Assessment. There is no possible comparison with what would
have been the situation in the absence of the Strategy.
It should also be noted that the analysis has used both qualitative and quantitative data to
determine the progress of the different indicators and the impact of certain actions
considered in the evaluation.
Limitations and robustness of the findings
The main limitation of the evaluation was the lack of a quantified counter-factual
scenario, i.e. what would have happened in the absence of the Strategy. The Impact
Assessment included some statements on the expected future situation if the Strategy had
not been adopted. However, due to the nature of adaptation policies, and notably the fact
that measures are mostly taken at local or regional level, it would not be possible to
present a robust quantitative counterfactual scenario that would only reflect the absence
of EU action..
Attempts were made to develop an ad hoc counterfactual for the evaluation, but they did
not provide a solid comparison tool. This is due to the broad scope of the evaluation (8
104
Stakeholder Consultation Strategy. Evaluation of the EU Adaptation Strategy, European Commission,
2017.
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diverse and wide-ranging actions), the large amount of factors affecting implementation,
the voluntary nature of the commitments under the Strategy and the lack of
extensive data
sets on policy outcomes.
However, the lack of counterfactual did not prevent the evaluation to be robust in its
analysis and findings. The evaluation was underpinned by a large number and variety of
evidence gathering methods, which provide a solid basis for drawing conclusions. The
number of individual views collected on specific issues was sometimes low, because
adaptation is a relatively new and marginal topic in many areas, so there are a limited
number of experts in the field able to formulate opinions on technical and specialist
questions. Still, the quality of the evidence collected during the evaluation support study
can be considered mostly as medium to high, with some variance across the different
evidence-gathering actions.
105
Moreover, the original objectives of the Strategy focused on setting processes and
procedures, while the evolving context and progress in climate adaptation strategies point
to the need for effective implementation and quality adaptation strategies resulting in
effective impacts on society and economy. The Strategy did not include appropriate
performance indicators to measure its effectiveness in terms of societal and economic
impacts and no such indicators exist currently at EU scale. This limitation has hampered
the measurement of the overall impact of the Strategy’s effects, including on the different
stakeholders. The evaluation did not develop ad hoc indicators since they require long-
term collection of data. The EEA and also the Commission in the context of the new
Multiannual Financial Framework have started some preparatory work on indicators that
could be useful input to future monitoring of adaptation action (more information in
section 3 of Annex VIII).
6.
A
NALYSIS AND ANSWERS TO THE EVALUATION QUESTIONS
6.1.
Relevance
6.1.1. To what extent do the objectives and actions of the Strategy (still)
respond to needs within the EU and at international level?
Since the adoption of the Strategy, evidence has continued to accrue that climate-related
extremes are more frequent and intense in Europe: the total reported economic losses
caused by climate-related extremes in Europe during the 1980–2015 period amounted to
over €433 billion
106
. Inaction would result in large economic costs, even under
conservative climate change scenarios. These and other cost estimates are detailed in
Annex XIII.
Projections of impacts of climate change in Europe can vary widely, depending on the
level of warming as well as socio-economic conditions that define exposure and
vulnerability of our future societies. For example, in the absence of further investments in
coastal adaptation, the present expected annual losses of 1.25 billion EUR due to coastal
flooding is projected to increase by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude by the end of the century,
105
A detailed assessment of the quality of the evidence gathered in the evaluation support study is provided
in Annex XII. All in all, there is sufficient evidence to support conclusions for the evaluation.
106
EEA Report No 15/2017, “Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Europe” (2017),
section 4.5 p. 110.
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ranging between 93 and 961 billion EUR depending on the socio-economic pathway.
107
Unfortunately, comparisons across sectors and between estimates before the strategy and
today are difficult as parallel studies are currently taking place with different
assumptions, scopes and timelines, and some of them are only at its initial stages.
Impacts to society from global warming will be largely connected to changes in extreme
climate events due to their disproportionate rise compared to the corresponding change in
climatological averages. Therefore, the Strategy’s objective to increase the EU’s climate
resilience is more important than ever in order to limit the costs of unavoidable and
projected climate change.
Already the current level of climate change makes it necessary to adapt. While the Paris
Agreement’s temperature goal is to keep global warming well below 2°C and pursue
efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C, this is not matched by current commitments of the
Parties (consistent with around 3°C). It is difficult to say what the 'dangerous' level of
global warming may be for each region as warming is not uniform globally and impacts
can vary strongly between regions. For instance, Europe generally experiences higher
warming than the global average, i.e. it will experience more than 2°C of warming
even if the 2°C goal is achieved. Warming over all European regions will occur, with
slightly weaker warming over North-Western Europe but a more intense warming (up to
+3°C) in Northern and Eastern Europe in winter and in Southern Europe in summer
108
.
As discussed in Chapter 3, the Strategy’s relevance progressed since 2013 also as a result
of new international policy developments that recognise the increased importance of
adaptation at EU and global level. For instance, the Paris Agreement includes adaptation
in its 'ambition cycle': in 2023 the parties will be asked to report on progress and actions
on adaptation and eventually, if relevant, redefine ambition, by reviewing their strategies
and policies.
The relevance of the strategy is also affected by the consequences on the EU of climate
change in third countries through trade, migration, food security, ecosystems etc.
Relevance by action
Action 1 Member State strategies: Three Member States have not yet adopted adaptation
strategies, and the scoreboard analysis shows that those Member States who have
adopted one are mostly lagging behind on implementation and monitoring. Stakeholders
agree there is a need for continued stimulus to keep the topic high on the agenda and
ensure proper implementation of the national strategies.
Action 2 LIFE: In the public consultation that supported the LIFE mid-term evaluation,
96% of respondents agreed that there is a need for a specific European programme for the
environment and climate action financed at EU level.
109
In its response to the mid-term
evaluation, the European Committee of the Regions recommended maintaining and
107
Vousdoukas et al. 2018, Climatic and socioeconomic controls of future coastal flood risk in Europe.
Nature Climate Change 8: 776–780, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0260-4
108
Robert Vautard et al 2014 Environ. Res. Lett. 9 / 034006
109
Ecorys, Support for an external and independent LIFE Mid Term Evaluation Report: Final Report,
Study for the European Commission, 2017.
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strengthening LIFE’s sub-programme
on climate action in the 2nd LIFE Multiannual
Work Programme and post-2020.
110
Action 3 Covenant of Mayors: there is a continuing need for adaptation action to be taken
at sub-national and local level, also in light of recent evidence that the impacts of climate
change are already being felt across cities and urban areas in Europe. As population and
infrastructure are concentrated, extreme weather tends to cause more damage in urban
areas, which makes cities more vulnerable to climate change impacts. Unless action is
taken soon, according to some estimates the economic costs from extreme weather events
to EU cities could reach over EUR 190 billion annually by 2070.
111
The stakeholder
survey and interviews identified a continuing need for support for knowledge sharing and
capacity building (e.g. conferences and workshops, online platforms, guidelines), as well
as financial support for adaptation actions. Some stakeholders argue that other forms of
support should also be put at work to help local adaptation, such as to assess impacts and
vulnerability, or to establish communities of practice.
Action 4 Knowledge gaps: As outlined in Chapter 4 and Chapter 6.2 under the
effectiveness criterion, progress has been made in addressing the knowledge gaps
identified in the Strategy but some key gaps remain, and new gaps have appeared, so the
action remains relevant.
Action 5 Climate-ADAPT: Web statistics confirm that the number of users of Climate-
ADAPT have increased ever since the start of monitoring in March 2013, which is in
itself a sign of the platform’s relevance. Several interviewees indicated that
Climate-
ADAPT is the place where people start looking for information, distinguishing itself
from other such platforms by providing a broad overview of the state of play in a
comparative and structured way. The Climate-ADAPT draft evaluation report
112
finds
that the website succeeds in collecting and sharing relevant information in Europe by
involving a wide range of information providers, citing the case studies presented in the
platform as particularly relevant tools.
Action 6 ESIF / CAP / CFP, including general mainstreaming. There is a strong
consensus among stakeholders that there continues to be a need to climate-proof
investments supported by EU funds, research and innovation, and key vulnerable sectors
such as coastal protection, energy infrastructure, agriculture, forestry, biodiversity,
spatial planning, transport and communication, urban development, public health and
water. It is also necessary to ensure strengthening synergies and coherence with policies
that share similar objectives, like disaster risk reduction/civil protection. There is a
constantly renewed need to mainstream adaptation across the policy spectrum, as it is
primarily a cross-sectoral matter and as such which needs to be present both in emerging
new policies and in the ones that are periodically revised or are cyclical by nature.
Action 7 Infrastructure: The EEA’s latest assessment of climate
change impacts and
vulnerability in Europe
113
highlights the vulnerability of construction and buildings, as
well as energy and transport infrastructure to extreme events due to high temperatures,
110
Press Release: Local leaders call for a budget increase of EU's major environment programme LIFE,
European Committee of the Regions, 2017. Retrieved from:
http://cor.europa.eu/en/news/Pages/Local-
leaders-call-for-a-budget-increase-of-EUs-major-environment-programme-LIFE.aspx
111
E3G, Underfunded, underprepared, underwater? Cities at risk, 2014.
112
See footnote 7.
113
'Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016,
Report No 1/2017',
European Environment
Agency, 2017.
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increased precipitation, sea-level rise, floods, wind and storms. This is underpinned by a
2015 JRC study
114
which assessed the climate risks to critical infrastructure
115
(industry,
energy, transport, social, environment, tourism, and Information and Communication
Technology infrastructure) in the EU, with current sectoral damages of EUR 3.4 billion
per year projected to triple by the 2020s, multiply six-fold by mid-century, and rise to
EUR 38 billion per year by the 2080s. Southern and south-eastern European countries
will suffer the greatest impact. The study shows that benefits (or avoided damage) of
climate-proofing critical infrastructure outweigh the costs. This all points to the
continued relevance of adapting infrastructure, a conclusion on which there is consensus
also among stakeholders. One of the case studies developed on the adaptation of energy
infrastructure (see Case Study 4 in Annex XIV) reveals how both public and private
stakeholders begin to think long-term and apply effective adaptation measures such as
underground cabling.
Action 8 Insurance and finance: Most survey respondents considered that the market of
insurance and other financial products for resilient investments is still under-developed,
while such products are closely related to disaster risk reduction. Of weather and climate
related losses in Europe from 2011-16, only 42% were insured.
116
The approach to
disaster insurance, which is also a means to involve the private sector in adaptation, is
very different in each EU country. Insurance companies have been reluctant to feed
damage information into disaster risk models for use in public private cooperation
117
, as
gathering this data requires resources and expertise, and the quality and level of detail of
these data provide a stronger basis for insurance companies in optimising their business
model. A third party could play an enabling role in matching the knowledge that is
needed for the design of preventive measures with available loss data. The sector would
thus benefit from facilitative action at the EU level.
6.1.2. How relevant is the Strategy for the different stakeholders at local,
regional, national and supra-national level?
The consequences of climate change will significantly affect a wide range of the
population both in number and in type, so preventive action is of general relevance, as it
is perceived by stakeholders. However, the Strategy has been addressing particular
sectors and levels of governance specifically, for whom there is more direct relevance.
The Strategy is relevant for Member States (Action 1), as it has acted as a stimulus to
develop NASs and helped to keep adaptation high on the political agenda. The results
from the open public consultation show that encouraging Member States to take action is
one of the statements for which the strongest support exists among the respondents. The
strategy is relevant also for capacity building and stepping up adaptation action at the
regional and local levels (Action 2 and 3), Action 3 being mainly devoted to the local
level, while encouraging support from the regional and national levels. As governments
at regional and local levels often have fewer opportunities for funding research, it is quite
114
'Risk assessment methodologies for critical infrastructure protection. Part II: A new approach, Report
EUR 27332 EN', JRC, 2015.
115
Defined as assets and systems that are essential for the maintenance of vital societal functions, health,
safety, security, economic or social well-being of people, and the disruption or destruction of which
would have a significant impact as a result of the failure to maintain those functions.
116
NatCatSERVICE. Retrieved from: https://www.munichre.com/en/reinsurance/business/non-
life/natcatservice/index.html
117
Under strict conditions, collaborations have been established between reinsurers and EEA, and between
reinsurers and the JRC.
32
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relevant to generate and disseminate knowledge to them, for example through Climate-
ADAPT (Action 5). Knowledge at the supra-national level, among others on river basins
and mountain ranges, can help to enhance cross-border cooperation. But research projects
(Action 4) and Climate-ADAPT, as they create and disseminate knowledge, are relevant
for all stakeholder groups. In particular, the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) on
Climate Change, supported by H2020, continues to make use of the Strategy as one of
the main drivers in its efforts to help coordinate efforts in adaptation research amongst
the Member States, and beyond, through its international collaboration, coordination and
support actions (e.g. SINCERE).
Climate-proofing of EU policies (Action 6) is highly relevant for the development of
adaptation capacity of different sectors in the EU, such as water, agriculture and forestry
sectors. Without a consistent and centralised effort across different stakeholders and
levels, these sectors would experience a varying degree of readiness for the challenges of
a changing climate.
The Strategy was also assessed as relevant for the private sector and businesses notably
by ensuring more resilient infrastructure and promoting insurance and financial products
despite disagreement from some respondents to the open public consultation (Action 7
and 8). In principle, insurance and financial products have good potential to involve the
private sector in adaptation, as companies can weigh the costs of insurance against the
costs of taking adaptive measures themselves.
6.2.
Effectiveness
6.2.1. To what extent have the objectives been achieved during the period
2013-2018?
118
This subsection examines to what extent the objectives have been achieved within the
meaning of the performance indicators established in the 2013 impact assessment. It is
based on the facts and observations of Chapter 4 Baseline. While the indicators are
process-oriented, in further subsections a limited analysis of the effectiveness of the
actions of the Strategy in terms of results is also provided (for more information on this
limitation, please refer to Chapter 5).
Looking at the period 2013 to March 2018, none of the three specific objectives can be
considered as fully fulfilled, although substantial progress has been made in each. With
the exception of Objective 1a, all operational objectives relate to impacts to be achieved
by 2020. See Annex VI for a full description of the objectives.
Specific
Objective 1 “Promoting action by Member States”
Operational Objective 1a was largely fulfilled by 2017 and is on track to be
achieved in 2018 with regard to all Member States having adopted NASs. Ten
Member States have adopted NASs since 2013, bringing the total to 25 out of the
28 Member States. Strategies are being developed in the remaining three Member
States but have not yet been adopted. Information on regional and local strategies
118
Contrarily to the scope of the original evaluation question as presented in the 2016 evaluation roadmap,
the scope of the evaluation is extended to March 2018 in an effort to cover as long a period as possible.
33
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is less readily available and
requires judgement of where they are “appropriate”,
hence, the evaluation is inconclusive about their achievement.
Objective 1a does not include targets associated with the performance indicators
for number and amount of LIFE grants, so the achievement of the operational
objective with respect to this indicator cannot be determined. However, as
described in Chapter 4, there are numerous ongoing adaptation-related LIFE
projects which all involve experience transfer and can be classified as
‘lighthouse’ projects.
Operational Objective 1b includes a target that, by 2020, all cities of more than
150 000 inhabitants have adopted an adaptation strategy. The figures presented in
Chapter 4 show that there has been substantial but insufficient progress, with
around one fourth of all EU cities (of all sizes) having adopted an adaptation
strategy to date, suggesting the target may not be fully met by 2020. As regards
cities of more than 150 000 inhabitants in particular, 40% are estimated to have
adopted an adaptation strategy.
Specific
Objective 2 “Promoting better informed decision-making”
Operational Objective 2a seeks closure of all priority knowledge gaps identified
in 2013. Although the knowledge base has increased substantially, none of the
four priority knowledge gaps identified in the Strategy have been closed, strictly
speaking. Knowledge increases and evolves but gaps may always exist.
Furthermore, new knowledge gaps are emerging.
Objective 2a does not include targets associated with the performance measures
for number and value of adaptation-related H2020 and JRC projects, so the
achievement of the operational objective with respect to this indicator is
indeterminable. However, as described in Chapter 4, numerous adaptation-related
research projects have been launched since 2013.
Operational Objective 2b has been achieved in advance of the target date of 2020,
as Climate-ADAPT has made information on climate change adaptation more
easily accessible for decision-makers, including Member States, local authorities
and firms. Targets were not set for associated performance measures for Climate-
ADAPT in relation to numbers of visitors, pages most visited and number of
registered users, but in Chapter 4 evidence of substantial progress was presented
from these respects. The performance measure assessing Climate-ADAPT’s
content, databases and metadata will be fulfilled by EEA’s evaluation of Climate-
ADAPT, which will be published in 2018.
Specific
Objective 3 “Promoting adaptation in key vulnerable sectors”
Operational Objective 3a establishes a target that by 2020, adaptation
considerations have been mainstreamed in a consistent and comprehensive way in
key EU policies. Significant progress has been made but there is still some way to
go before mainstreaming of adaptation in key EU policies can be described as
“consistent and comprehensive”.
Objective 3a includes a performance measure that there should be a list of
policies and legal acts where adaptation has been mainstreamed, which has been
fulfilled by work undertaken for this evaluation (see Annex XI).
Objective 3a includes a performance measure, without target, for the Carbon
Disclosure Project (CDP) surveys, so the achievement of the operational objective
with respect to this indicator is indeterminable. Besides, private organisations do
34
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not provide sufficiently detailed information in the surveys on climate adaptation
action.
Operational Objective 3b, on climate-proofing new major infrastructure
investments by 2020, has been achieved: in the 2014-2020 programming period,
approval of major projects funded by the ESIF is subject to “an analysis of the
environmental impact, considering climate change adaptation and mitigation
needs, and disaster resilience”.
Objective 3b includes a performance measure regarding the amount of adaptation
infrastructure investments (co-) financed by EU funds and/or public financial
institutions, which does not have a target, so the achievement of the operational
objective with respect to this indicator cannot be determined. Evidence was
presented in Chapter 4 that the key expenditure programmes likely to fund
infrastructure are the ERDF and the CF. Expenditure on climate adaptation from
total climate action finance reported by the EIB in 2017 suggests that financing
for adaptation has not increased since 2015, an amount slightly inferior to two
years before (EUR 20.7 and EUR 0.8 billion, respectively).
Objective 3b has an associated performance measure for progress on the mapping
exercise by ESOs. As evidenced in Chapter 4, good progress has been achieved
through the publication of a standardisers’ guide to adaptation and through the
shortlisting of standards to include adaptation provisions.
As indicated in Chapter 4, there is no associated operational target or performance
indicator for Action 8 on insurance and finance. The progress towards the Commission’s
aim specified in the Strategy will be assessed qualitatively in the next section.
6.2.2. To what extent has each of the eight actions of the Strategy
contributed to these achievements?
While each of the eight actions of the Strategy has had its specific and distinguishable
impact on adaptation preparedness in the EU, it should not be underestimated that the
existence of a strategy at EU level also exercised a general, intangible political drive in
the relevant policy fields and at all levels of governance across the EU. The effect cannot
be quantified, but stakeholder feedback confirmed its existence during the consultation.
Action 1 Member State strategies
It is difficult to establish with certainty the extent to which the Strategy has been
effective in encouraging development and adoption of new NASs, as most Member
States were already developing them at the time of the Impact Assessment. Other factors
may have also been important, such as the Paris Agreement (discussed in Section 6.2.3
on drivers) and ex-ante conditionalities under the EU funds (in Section 6.4.1 on
coherence). Nevertheless, it might be inferred that the actions under the Strategy have
been effective in encouraging Member States to adopt NASs and plans, given that 25
Member States have now adopted them and the remainder are developing them. This
conclusion was supported by the majority of the interviewed stakeholders, including
government experts from eight Member States who argued that the Strategy played a role
in ensuring increased political interest from the Member States to adopt NASs and plans,
where they were not already in place, and to revise existing strategies and plans. Some
stakeholders noted an increase in quality of the plans since the publication of the
guidelines accompanying the Strategy.
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However, there appear to be significant gaps in the effectiveness of Member States
implementation of their strategies, with resources for the follow-through of commitments
in some cases being reduced or withdrawn, or in other cases not identified.
119
The review
of Member States NASs and plans (both adopted and in the making) in relation to the
Commission’s ‘adaptation preparedness scoreboard’ suggests that:
Most Member States have progressed on:
o
Coordination (23 have horizontal coordination mechanisms involving
different sectors)
o
Stakeholder involvement (26 Member States) and
o
Transboundary cooperation (27 Member States).
Half or more of Member States already have access to suitable data (14), have
developed scenarios (23), and undertaken risk assessments (22), and most other
Member States are making progress in these respects.
120
Less than half of the Member States have built up capacity to address adaptation
(14 Member States) or funding for climate resilience (9 Member States), other
Member States, with few exceptions, are progressing on these issues.
Less than half of Member States have addressed climate change in relation to
many aspects of implementation and review, including consideration of climate
change in disaster risk plans (9), land use planning (15), major projects (13), and
national (11), sectoral (14) and sub-national (9) monitoring and reporting. As
regards monitoring and reporting, only five Member States have started to
develop and use a comprehensive set of process or outcome based indicators to
monitor implementation of adaptation strategies and plans.
A more complete overview of the adaptation scoreboard’s indicator assessments is
included in Annex IX.
Stakeholders generally feel that the Strategy has been more effective in encouraging
preparatory activities, i.e. preparing the ground, assessing risks, identifying options, and
less effective in promoting assessment of options, implementation and monitoring and
evaluation.
Stakeholder views on the assistance provided by the Commission were mixed, with
strong agreement that the Commission had provided an online platform on adaptation,
methodologies (e.g. guidelines) and technical information (e.g. research), but less
agreement about support to capacity building. Views were also mixed on the question
whether the developed adaptation strategies responded to the expected impacts and
needs, although there was a high level of agreement that the strategies have been
effective in enhancing the preparedness and response capacity of Member States.
Interviewees from national authorities suggested that whether Member States have
actually used the Commission’s guidelines for strategies depended largely on whether the
Member States in question had pre-existing adaptation strategies and governance
mechanisms.
119
120
This conclusion is also supported by a report commissioned by the European Public Service Union
“Public services and adaptation to climate change”, from September 2017, available
at:
https://www.epsu.org/article/epsu-feature-adaptation-climate-change
National climate change vulnerability and risk assessments in Europe, 2018, European Environment
Agency.
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Stakeholders emphasised the role of adaptation strategies in raising awareness,
supporting inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral exchange, collaboration and action, and the
importance of having vulnerability assessments in place.
Integration of climate change adaptation in national risk assessment and cooperation
between DRR and climate change adaptation communities have not yet occurred in most
of the Member States.
The scoreboard suggests that NASs were in general not effective in identifying and
addressing macro-regional and cross-border risks; although to some extent European
Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes under the ESIF were able to address this
shortfall.
Research suggests
121
that the existence of national plans facilitates the adoption of plans
at the local level by acting as guidance documents, although this effect is by no means
always evident, as in 2018 74% of cities across Europe still had no adaptation plan.
Action 2: LIFE funding
The LIFE Programme and its sub-programme in Climate Action have contributed to the
objectives of the Strategy. Stakeholder feedback suggests that LIFE is acting as an
effective catalyst, providing and disseminating solutions and best practices. The LIFE
Mid-Term Evaluation
122
suggests this is also evident in nature projects, in addition to
climate change adaptation projects.
Nevertheless, in spite of the potentially large impact of the ongoing projects through
replication and transfer, the LIFE funding does not match the scale of the climate change
challenge according to stakeholders. This view has been supported by the Committee Of
Regions (CoR)
123
, which has recommended the continuity of the programme for the
period post 2020 and a significant increase in the funds for the mitigation and adaptation
projects.
The priorities of the ongoing LIFE climate change adaptation projects relate to the
Strategy and are focused on vulnerable areas and sectors. According to the LIFE mid-
term evaluation, the two integrated projects in Denmark and Spain (see Chapter 4) can
potentially aid adoption and implementation of NASs and complementary regional or
local strategies (objective 1).
Since 2014, all LIFE projects include measures for dissemination of information and are
required to demonstrate potential for transferability in line with the performance indicator
identified by the LIFE Impact Assessment. Stakeholders agreed that the programme
contributes to knowledge transfer and sharing of best practices (objective 2). However,
monitoring focuses on projects individually and is thus ineffective in assessing the
programme’s role in knowledge transfer and capacity-building
across the EU.
The LIFE mid-term evaluation indicated that further action is needed on the facilitation
of replication and the promotion of performance indicators that would allow
Reckien, D. F., The influence of drivers and barriers on urban adaptation and mitigation plans
—
An
empirical analysis of European cities, PLoS ONE, 10(8): e0135597. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135597.
122
See footnote 5
123
Opinion Factsheet: Mid-term evaluation of the Programme for the Environment and Climate Action
(LIFE) 2014-2020, CDR 4126/2016, Committee of the Regions, 2017.
121
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measurement beyond outputs in order to improve the effectiveness of the action. This is
addressed in the Commission’s proposal for the new LIFE regulation under the next
multiannual financial framework (2021-2027).
Action 3: Covenant of Mayors
Even though other drivers may also have been encouraging cities to adopt adaptation
strategies or plans (see section 6.2.3), the
importance of cities’ membership of the
Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (Covenant) appears to have been the
strongest positive influence
124
, especially in countries where autonomous local climate
plans are rare and cities are not required by national legislation to adopt such plans.
125
According to an evaluation of the Mayors Adapt initiative carried out in 2014, through
consultation of several local authorities' representatives, the Covenant has been
successful in securing local political commitment for adaptation beyond political election
cycles.
126
The Covenant has also improved peer-to-peer information exchange, access to
information about funding for adaptation and technical assistance, for example through
the Urban Adaptation Support Tool, on issues such as methods for vulnerability and risk
assessment and cost-benefit analysis of adaptation measures.
The Covenant's common methods for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of
local adaptation plans have been effective in building the technical capacity of local
authorities.
While it is the cities that commit to act, the Covenant is also working on providing
greater support to regional, provincial and sub-national authorities that can in turn help
cities perform better.
Recently, an opinion of the CoR
127
and a resolution of the European Parliament
128
have
both expressed their support for the Covenant. The Covenant has enabled to push ahead
with establishing a Global Covenant of Mayors, as described in section 2 of Annex VIII.
Action 4: Knowledge gap
There was strong agreement among targeted stakeholder survey respondents to the
statement that “in general, the Strategy has
helped to reduce knowledge gaps on
adaptation in the EU". Respondents also identified sources of knowledge supported by
the EU (e.g. Climate-ADAPT, LIFE adaptation projects, EEA reports, Copernicus,
Coordinated Downscaling Experiment and JRC’s PESETA
129
).
124
125
See footnote 121
Such as Cyprus, Slovenia, Latvia, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain,
according to D. Reckien et al., (2018). How are cities planning to respond to climate change?
Assessment of local climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28,
Journal of Cleaner Production,
26
March 2018.
126
Millieu, Mid-term evaluation of the urban adaptation initiative within the framework of the Covenant of
Mayors: Final Report, Study for the European Commission, 2014.
127
Communication from the Committee of the Regions: Towards a new EU climate change adaptation
strategy
–
taking an integrated approach, CDR 2430/2016.
128
European Parliament Resolution on the role of EU regions and cities in implementing the COP 21 Paris
Agreement on climate change, 27 February 2018, 2017/2006(INI).
129
Projection of Economic impacts of climate change in Sectors of the EU based on bottom-up Analysis
(PESETA), https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/peseta
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Interviewees noted there will always be knowledge gaps. The
conclusions of JRC’s
PESETA III, which will be published by the end of 2018, will help further reduce some
gaps. Some of them are already available, and are included in Annex XIII. In particular,
work is still needed on the benefits of adaptation and also co-benefits in other areas, not
only losses avoided. The JPI Climate, an EU-wide consortium involving 20 Member
States benefiting from a H2020 grant, has mapped research gaps in relation to climate
services
130
. One key FP7 project for adaptation, High-End Climate Impacts and
Extremes,
131
has worked on a set of global and regional views of different worlds at 1.5,
2, 4 and 6°C not only for Europe, but also for Northern Sub-Saharan Africa, and South
Asia.
The most vulnerable European regions (e.g. Outermost Regions, Mediterranean regions,
mountains) warrant enhanced approaches.
132
Fundamental gaps also persist in the
identification of the expected impacts and vulnerability of sectors, for example the
application of climate projections in disaster risk assessments. Regarding the knowledge
gap on frameworks, models and tools to support decision-making, much work has been
done in 39 studies, of which many have become available on the Climate-ADAPT
website.
133
H2020, under its Societal Challenge 5, has funded several projects and studies
on "climate change services" to address these issues. Less work has been done to close
knowledge gaps associated with monitoring of adaptation: only eight EU studies have
been identified and monitoring of adaptation actions still seems to be in its infancy.
Respondents also mentioned what has been useful for the uptake by policy makers of
research results: the development of state-of-the-art reports on available knowledge,
science-policy forums, workshops, events and web pages. However, there is normally a
delay between research undertaken and its use by policy-makers to inform decision-
making.
Action 5: Climate-ADAPT
The intended target audience of Climate-ADAPT are governmental organisations, and
those who support them in the development and/or implementation of climate change
adaptation strategies and actions such as research institutes. The EEA's separate
evaluation of Climate-ADAPT
134
has shown that the majority of the actual users are
indeed from these intended target groups. The evaluation also showed that the platform is
used across all governance levels in Europe from city/local level to sub-national,
national, transnational to the European level. However, some specific user groups are not
yet sufficiently reached, i.e. experts at EU level and across Europe who are faced with
adaptation challenges in vulnerable sectors, users from Eastern and Central European
countries, as well as users less experienced on adaptation.
The EEA concludes that Climate-ADAPT has been an effective source of knowledge
(including the knowledge generated through FP7, H2020, LIFE and Interreg) for feeding
into a variety of policy processes. It has primarily been used to inform development of
The 2015 European research and innovation roadmap for climate services
(https://publications.europa.eu/fr/publication-detail/-/publication/73d73b26-4a3c-4c55-bd50-
54fd22752a39)
refers to climate services as customised climate-related tools, products and information
that will enable climate-smart, strategic decisions at various levels for a range of end-users (businesses,
the public sector, and individuals), enabling a more systemic approach to risk management.
131
https://www.helixclimate.eu/our-research/
132
https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/data-and-downloads#b_start=0
133
http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/knowledge/tools/adaptation-support-tool
134
See footnote 7
39
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supporting documents (including case studies and impact and vulnerability assessments)
but also, more directly, the development of adaptation plans and strategies, as well as
decision making at all stages of the adaptation policy cycle.
It is used to identify the “state of the art” of adaptation in Europe, to develop tailor-made
products for various policy processes, and as a starting point to extend searches. Hence, it
has become a “first-stop shop” for adaptation information in Europe. A challenge for the
future effectiveness of the platform is to identify its links and complementarities with
other knowledge platforms at EU-level
135
, particularly in relation to climate services,
disaster risk management, biodiversity and green infrastructure.
The dissemination and networking activities in relation to the platform brought about a
steady increase in visitors since its creation.
Finally, the EEA’s
evaluation identified five core content elements (EU policy; country
strategies and actions; adaptation support tools; database; case studies and adaptation
options) of Climate-ADAPT that should remain a focus for future developments of the
platform.
The
Open Public Consultation of the Strategy’s evaluation confirmed that Climate-
ADAPT has been an important and useful information source in climate change
adaptation work.
Action 6: ESIF/CAP/CFP
The review of literature and the consultation activities indicate
that the Commission’s
technical guidance on how to further integrate adaptation into the CAP, Cohesion Policy
and the CFP has led to progress but has not yet proved effective in promoting
comprehensive and consistent mainstreaming. Indeed, the legal provisions came in late
2013 and various guidance documents were prepared and published in April 2013 in
parallel with Member States preparation of their Operational Programmes and Rural
Development Programmes (RDPs). Because of this parallel timing the guidance
documents could not be exploited to their full potential to influence the development of
the Member State Operational Programmes and RDPs. Alongside the Public
consultation, two recent studies on the mainstreaming of EU funds
136
state that adaptation
differs across EU funds:
Adaptation seems to have been mainstreamed to a much larger scale than
mitigation in the
CAP
(i.e. agriculture and forestry) despite the fact that very few
measures supported by the EAFRD have an explicit adaptation objective. This is
to a large extent due to the tracking methodology at priority (and related focus
area) level, hence including measures such as natural resource
conservation/management not directly targeted at adaptation but with adaptation
co-benefits. Targeted stakeholders considered that a more robust methodology
and mechanisms to monitor the extent to which the CAP and its funding are
supporting climate action objectives is needed.
135
136
For example: Copernicus Climate Services (https://climate.copernicus.eu/), Disaster Risk Knowledge
Management Centre (drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu), Oppla (https://oppla.eu),
COWI. (2016).
Mainstreaming of climate action into ESI Funds.
Brussels: European Commission;
COWI. (2017).
Mainstreaming of adaptation into the ESIF 2014-2020.
Brussels: European
Commission.
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Under the
ERDF
and
CF,
a substantial amount of funding was directed at
adaptation-related investments. Furthermore, major projects were only approved
by the Commission if they were climate-resilient.
137
Yet, the stakeholder
consultation suggested that further work on adaptation mainstreaming is needed
in order to minimize negative impacts of infrastructural projects on rivers,
streams and coastal areas, by prohibiting the reduction of storage capacity of
flood plains and avoiding new risks in case of flooding.
Compared to ERDF and CF, the focus on adaptation seems to be minor in the
EMFF
and
ESF,
which will be discussed in section 6.2.3.
Recent mainstreaming successes in EU funds include the increase of the climate
earmarking in the Commission’s proposals for the next Multiannual Financial
Framework 2021-27 (increased from 20% to 25%), with more specific objectives per
fund, e.g. 30% for ERDF and 37% for CF. The Commission also proposed to make
adaptation spending more traceable in that framework (e.g. in the proposal for a Common
Agricultural Policy Strategic Plans Regulation, see discussion in section 8 of Annex
VIII).
As discussed in Chapter 4 and Annex XI, the Commission has actively worked towards
mainstreaming of adaptation into the policy initiatives listed in the Strategy and also
beyond, with tangible results.
There are still some areas where there is scope for mainstreaming, for instance:
Human, Plant and animal health.
Ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation.
As regards DRR:
o
The development of a shared science/knowledge base and of a common
vocabulary, for example to support the integration of climate change
scenarios in risk management plans and risk assessments.
o
The communication between DRR and climate change adaptation
communities.
o
The integration with 'build back better' policies and actions.
Outermost Regions
138
International policies (trade, security)
Action 7: Infrastructure
The work of the ESOs on revised and new standards is still ongoing and has not had the
chance yet to contribute to the achievement of the infrastructure resilience objective.
It is also too early to assess the impact of CEN-CENELEC’s
guide for addressing climate
change adaptation in standards adopted in April 2016. Initial feedback has been positive
with several hundred views and downloads of the guide after its publication, supported
by webinars and workshops in several countries. The guide was offered to the
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electro-
technical Commission for their possible adoption. ISO has since used several of the
137
138
See footnote 75.
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, the European
Economic and Social Committee, The Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank: A
stronger and renewed strategic partnership with the EU's outermost regions, COM(2017) 623 final.
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CEN-CENELEC
guide’s approaches
in drafting a new ISO guide on climate mitigation
and adaptation.
The Commission’s guidance documents on ensuring more resilient infrastructure that
were published alongside the Strategy have been used for, among others, designing
climate resilient infrastructure investments, providing advice on guidelines to developers
of projects, and integrating climate in Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and
EIA. Some sectors are well engaged, such as the water sector and the transport sector.
Others, such as the waste sector or broadband sector, are less advanced. Still, the fact that
of the 21 respondents in the targeted stakeholder survey only 8 knew about the
Commission’s guidance document for project managers
139
and 2 have actually used them
suggests that there is room for improvement in the awareness and actual use of these
guidance documents. User feedback on the quality of the guidance was mixed: a private
consultancy found them useful, while an expert providing technical assistance to project
developers in the context of JASPERS
140
considered the language was a bit too technical.
The climate proofing of major projects has demonstrated that it is quite possible for
infrastructure investments to include a climate vulnerability and risk assessment, and to
identify, appraise and integrate relevant adaptation solutions. The approach included
technical assistance (JASPERS) to the Member States combined with guidance and
training from the Commission and the EIB. Additionally, there are examples from the
Member States where the same approach
–
based on a climate vulnerability and risk
assessment
–
has been applied at network level to address climate hotspots (e.g. main
roads network).
The guide from the EUFIWACC
141
was published in 2016 and has already triggered the
development of climate resilient metrics and other methodologies that facilitate the
integration of adaptation in investment decision-making, mainly by Multilateral
Development Banks.
Evidence presented in Chapter 4 shows that the level of financing for adaptation
infrastructure by public financial institutions has remained steady following the
publication of the Strategy in 2013. The long lead time for project finance would suggest
that more time is necessary for immediate impact to be visible.
Action 8: Insurance and finance
The 2017 study issued by the Commission has provided an overview of successful cases,
practices, general principles and recommendations of managing climate risk in
insurance.
142
However, Action 8 of the Strategy has not directly resulted in increased market
penetration of natural disaster insurance, but improved overall resilience and implication
139
140
See footnote 86.
JASPERS: Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions, European Commission, EIB and
EBRD, 2018. Retrieved from:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/special-support-
instruments/jaspers/
141
Integrating Climate Change Information and Adaptation in Project Development: Emerging Experience
from Practitioners, EUFIWACC, 2016.
http://www.eib.org/attachments/press/integrating-climate-
change-adaptation-in-project-development.pdf
142
See footnote 92
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of the insurance sector in climate risk management may indirectly enhance market
access.
The study resulted in a better understanding of the potential of risk-based insurance
pricing. However, to unleash this potential, significant regulatory changes in capital
requirements, solvency and insurance distribution would be necessary, and this work is
still in an early stage of development. The promotion of a market for disaster risk
insurance may have led to the greater use of financial products, and internalisation of
climate costs, but it is not possible to determine how important the contribution of the
Strategy has been.
Some stakeholders, like the Federation of European Risk Management Associations
(FERMA)
143
said they were not aware of follow-up
on the Commission’s side since the
Green Paper on Insurance. Stakeholders had in general mixed views on how effective the
Commission’s activities have been to
promote insurance and other financial products for
resilient investment and business decisions.
The Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth, described in Chapter 4, was adopted
in March 2018, and it is equally relevant for the Commission’s aim to use
the potential of
financial products for risk management and resilience in investment and business
decisions. Even more recently, in May 2018, the Commission has followed up with three
concrete proposals: a unified EU classification system of sustainable economic activities
('taxonomy'), disclosure requirements on how institutional investors integrate
environmental, social and governance in their risk processes and, finally, a new category
of benchmarks to compare the carbon footprint of investments. A technical expert group
set up by the Commission is now dealing with four topics linked to the Action Plan,
(taxonomy, low carbon benchmarks, an EU green bonds standard and climate-related
disclosures). However, as the Action Plan was only adopted in March 2018, it is too early
to judge its effectiveness in promoting the aim. The initiative is planned to bring forward
further legal proposals until the 2nd half of 2019 and implementation of some of the
measures will hopefully start as of 2020.
6.2.3. What drivers and barriers (expected or unexpected) contributed to
or stood in the way of implementation of the EU Adaptation
Strategy and how did they affect it?
Action 1: Member State strategies
Drivers:
experience of extreme weather events;
knowledge of economic, environmental and social costs of inaction (appears to
have less influence than experience of climate impacts);
integration of adaptation and mitigation;
the establishment of the global adaptation goal by the Paris Agreement;
Starting from 2007, LIFE funding included projects to turn adaptation strategies
into plans at the national and sub-national levels, such as for Cyprus, completed
in April 2017. They acted as drivers for the adoption and implementation of
strategies even prior to the publication of the Strategy in 2013.
143
See for example FERMA. The association represents 22 member associations in 21 countries, with 4800
risk managers (https://www.m.eu/).
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Barriers:
The majority of the respondents to the open public consultation agreed that
Member States tend to provide reactive response to climate threats, instead of
more long-term, proactive planning.
The landscape in terms of monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the
national strategies is heterogeneous and incomplete at EU and Member State
level. The issue is analysed further in section 3 of Annex VIII.
Action 2: LIFE
Drivers
A tripling of the budget for Climate Action under LIFE (25%, i.e. EUR 864 million)
compared to the LIFE+ Programme in 2007-2013.
Barriers:
The LIFE mid-term evaluation has highlighted that integrated projects are complex
and need public-private partnership models or grant funding to be viable.
With regard to the Natural Capital Financing Facility
(NCFF),
key barriers appear to
be:
The scarcity of affordable finance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
(SMEs);
Low or risky profitability of projects. It has taken time for the EIB, investors and
project promoters to understand how adaptation projects such as flood defences or
urban spaces can generate revenue or cost savings from goods that are freely
available for people to use. The mid-term evaluation suggests this could be an
area where support through the NCFF instrument in combination with LIFE
grants for integrated projects or ERDF grants would merit further investigation;
From the perspective of the EIB, lack of technical assistance in developing viable
business models for complex innovative projects may be a barrier to the provision
of loans by the NCCF. Therefore, the EIB continues to build its capacity to
support climate change adaptation, including through providing technical
assistance for project development under the NCFF support facility.
Stakeholders noted that:
The complexities of applying for applying for LIFE funding may be a substantial
barrier to its uptake;
The funds made available for adaptation were still far from what would be
needed, and in particular compared to the support available under the regional
funds. There is insufficient public and private finance to leverage with LIFE
funding.
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Action 3: Covenant of Mayors
Drivers:
According to research
144
, while membership of the Covenant of Mayors has the
highest correlation with the availability of local adaptation plans, membership of
other climate and sustainability city networks (such as the International Council
for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), C40
145
) as well as adaptive
capacity
146
and Gross Domestic Product GDP per capita also correlate positively.
Cities’ current capacity to engage in climate actions was a more important driver
of adaptation planning than anticipated climate change impacts and
vulnerabilities. Adaptive capacity was most strongly associated with GDP per
capita, which was in turn significantly lower in cities at high risk of climate
change impacts. Nevertheless, the stakeholder survey suggests that knowledge of
the costs of inaction may still have a greater influence on decision makers at sub-
national or local level than at a national level. This in turn suggests that cost-
benefit analyses may be more beneficial when they are relevant to local decisions;
The larger the city gets, the more often they have an autonomous adaptation
plan;
147
The presence of national regulation has a significant impact on local climate
planning. In countries where local climate plans are compulsory
148
there are 5
times more cities with adaptation plans.
149
Stakeholders noted that:
The adoption of a NAS or plan often catalyses action at a subnational or local
level;
Several adaptation-related EU or national projects have helped to foster local
adaptation
150
;
The experience of extreme weather events also acted as a catalyst.
144
See footnote 121
www.iclei.org; www.c40.org
146
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines adaptive capacity as “a system's ability
to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes), to moderate potential damage,
to take advantage of opportunities or to cope with consequences”. See McCarthy, J.J. et al., (2001).
Climate change 2001: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.
Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge,
United Kingdom.
147
Reckien et al., (2018). How are cities planning to respond to climate change? Assessment of local
climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28,
Journal of Cleaner Production,
26 March 2018.
148
Denmark, France, Slovakia and the United Kingdom
149
Even in countries where local adaptation plans are compulsory, not all cities have had the time to
comply with this obligation. See Reckien et al., (2018). How are cities planning to respond to climate
change? Assessment of local climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28,
Journal of Cleaner
Production,
26 March 2018.
150
Future Cities,
http://www.future-cities.eu/;
Ramses,
http://www.ramses-cities.eu/;
BASE,
http://base-
adaptation.eu/;
TURAS,
http://www.turas-cities.org/;
SEAP-Alps,
http://seap-alps.eu/hp2/Home.htm
145
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Barriers:
A report on the Mayors Adapt initiative identified the following barriers
151
:
Adopted urban and local adaptation strategies and plans are generally not shared,
which reduces the transfer of best practice;
Cities working on adaptation do not always become members of adaptation
initiatives, as they may perceive that a need for additional reporting outweighs
potential benefits. Encouraging support from national public bodies such as
ministries or national energy agencies (the so-called National Coordinators,
within the Covenant) will, therefore, be crucial;
Limited resources meant materials and tools could only be made available in
English, which created language barriers.
Stakeholders noted the existence of the following barriers:
Insufficient financial resources;
The challenge of translating results of cost-benefit analyses to a local level;
Lack of awareness and relevant technical expertise among staff of local
authorities;
Uncertainties in climate change projections, which would have to be further
downscaled to be useful at the local level.
Action 4: Knowledge gaps
Drivers:
The majority of respondents to the targeted stakeholder survey agreed that a range of
other research activities supported at national or local level, not directly related to the
Strategy, have also helped to address key knowledge gaps.
152
Barriers:
Institutional barriers
–
The way in which themes are separated and structured
within the Commission complicate the joint design of research and innovation
programmes, which has meant some knowledge gaps have not yet been
sufficiently addressed, e.g. in relation to health and climate change, a thematic
area relevant to all four knowledge gaps identified in the Strategy;
Lack of interest in some Member States, for whom climate change adaptation is
not a political priority. For example, there are large differences among Member
States in the number of proposals on climate change submitted in the context of
H2020;
151
152
Sarah Hendel-Blackford et al., (2017).
Implementation of the urban adaptation initiative [Mayors
Adapt] within the framework of the ‘Covenant of Mayors’,
12 May 2017, unpublished, available on
request.
For example, in the Netherlands there have been recent efforts to enhance knowledge on water
resources, including water security issues with respect to increases in water scarcity, drought and flood
risk, and increasing water temperatures affecting water quality and biodiversity.
http://www.pbl.nl/sites/default/files/cms/publicaties/pbl-2018-the-geography-of-future-water-
challenges-2920.pdf
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Insufficient interactions between scientists and practitioners
–
adaptation is still
seen as a science-led issue. In the EU15, formal mechanisms for interaction
between scientists and practitioners exist, less so in the rest of the EU;
Access to data
–
Member States either do not collect data on past losses, are
reluctant to share it, or make data difficult to compare due to methodological
differences. The lack of data was perceived in the targeted stakeholder survey as a
serious barrier to assess vulnerability and potential impacts;
A need for greater cooperation between policymakers across Member States
–
by
contrast, researchers are generally willing to cooperate and work together.
Related points made by respondents to the targeted stakeholder survey were that
Member States have different historical backgrounds and natural resources and
that there is a lack of integrated approaches and methodologies.
Stakeholders also highlighted the following barriers:
Researchers struggle to translate their research into results that can be used by
decision makers and non-specialists. In particular, it is challenging to convey and
manage uncertainty;
Access to research funding at national level
–
direct research is not eligible for
funding by the LIFE programme and is limited to H2020, which (apart from the
European Research Council) is focused on large projects with partners from
different Member States. It may be difficult to secure funding for country-specific
research;
The complexities of combining adaptation across sectors and with mitigation are
challenging;
Sectoral or local decision-makers do not know where to find relevant research
results unless they have been involved in its development.
Action 5: Climate-ADAPT
The EEA
153
, who maintains the Climate-ADAPT website, identified the following
drivers and barriers.
Drivers:
Increasing interest from politicians and practitioners in adaptation;
The increasing importance of adaptation for the international policy agenda.
Barriers:
Difficulty in engaging Commission services which could contribute to the
website development and dissemination other than DG CLIMA
–The
establishment of an advisory group for Climate-ADAPT is a positive step but
came only in 2016, whereas the platform started in 2012. The various new
thematic platforms launched in the EU
154
need to be coordinated with the
development of existing platforms, including the Biodiversity Information
153
154
See footnote 7.
E.g. On green infrastructure and nature-based solutions
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System for Europe, Water Information System for Europe and the Disaster Risk
Knowledge Management Centre;
Evolution of the Covenant of Mayors initiative
–
The launch of Mayors Adapt in
2014 and the subsequent merger with the Covenant of Mayors initiative, as well
as extension of the latter into a global initiative in 2016, has led to difficulties in
Climate-ADAPT implementing the specific Information Technology needs of the
related adaptation support tool and provision
of information on cities’ actions in
collaboration with the Mayors Adapt;
Limited annual resources for maintaining the platform.
155
Action 6: ESIF / CAP / CFP
Drivers:
EU level:
The establishment of the 20% climate mainstreaming target and the development
of a climate expenditure tracking methodology, even if concerns were raised that
mainstreaming in all projects and all sectors may not have been fully
implemented by managing authorities at investment levels;
156
The connections made between adaptation, risk prevention and civil protection in
Cohesion policy, which have helped to raise awareness among more actors in the
Member States;
The obligation in the CPR for the Commission to approve major projects only if
they are climate resilient;
The revision of the EIA Directive in 2014 imposing climate vulnerability
assessments of projects where relevant. The transposition deadline for this
Directive was 16 May 2017.
National level:
NASs;
Extreme weather events, floods and forest fires.
Barriers:
Many adaptation measures need to be applied at the local and regional level, and
concern a multitude of actions that cannot be summarised in one performance
indicator. As such, it is much more difficult to establish high-level political
targets for adaptation than for mitigation;
155
156
One project manager, other staff within EEA’s Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation Group for a
limited amount of their time, one person in information technology, and EUR 200 000 annually on
content development through the European Topic Centre on Climate Change impacts, vulnerability and
Adaptation (ETC/CCA). In addition, The Commission has provided various contracts to support
dissemination and use of Climate-ADAPT, as well as for development of functionalities through
information technology contracts.
Stakeholder workshop organised under the Commission’s service contract on “Climate mainstreaming
in the EU Budget: preparing for the next MFF”.
For further details, see: Ricardo, IEEP, Trinomics, and
Alterra. Study to support the evaluation of the EU Adaptation Strategy, Ricardo/ED62885 Final Report,
Study for the European Commission, 2018
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The lack of focus on adaptation and of relevant targets within the Europe 2020
Strategy
157
has made it difficult to drive adaptation actions at the same level as for
mitigation;
ESF and EMFF do not specifically address TO5 (“Promoting climate change
adaptation, risk prevention and management”) in spite of impacts on vulnerable
population, employment and fish stocks. The lack of climate integration in the
EMFF and ESF was also emphasised by the European Court of Auditors (ECA),
and acknowledged by the Commission in its answer (while considering the
different potential contributions of each of the funds according to its primary
missions)
158
.
There is a knowledge gap on spill-over effects from third countries, the
understanding of which would be a first step towards considering effective
mainstreaming of adaptation into the EU’s trade policy
(see also section 4 in
Annex VIII and Case Study 2 in Annex XIV).
Stakeholders in the energy, transport and construction sectors identified the following
barriers:
Uncertainties relating to climate impacts and extreme events (frequency and
magnitude);
Need for climate proofing standards;
No legal obligation to consider climate risk (or very limited).
They were joined by other vulnerable sectors (agriculture, forestry, fisheries) in
pointing to:
The lack of collaboration between sectors. In one of the case studies developed
for this evaluation (see Case Study 1 in Annex XIV), stakeholders in the fight
against forest fires identified a need to further enhance coherence between climate
change adaptation and disaster risk reduction across all levels of governance
(global, European, national levels);
Insufficient funding.
Action 7: Infrastructure
Drivers:
The obligation in the ESIF CPR for the Commission to approve major projects
159
only if they are climate resilient;
The revision of the EIA directive imposing climate vulnerability assessments of
projects where relevant;
157
158
COM(2010) 2020 final.
For instance, the ESF contributes indirectly to this thematic objective through its own objectives:
promoting employment and social inclusion, investing in education and training and enhancing
institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration.
A major project has a total eligible cost exceeding EUR 50 million (and EUR 75 million for transport
projects) (https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/metadata/guidances/climate-change-and-major-projects).
The Commission shall approve such projects only if it is accompanied by
“an analysis of the
environmental impact, considering climate change adaptation and mitigation needs, and disaster
resilience”.
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The involvement of some European cities in two non-EU
initiatives, ‘100 resilient
cities’
160
initiative and the ‘Making Cities Resilient’
161
campaign;
The EIB’s requirements set out in the Bank’s Environmental and Social
Handbook
162
which all projects must fulfil to secure finance. The Handbook
provides that proposed projects undergo a climate vulnerability assessment and
apply adaptation measures to ensure the sustainability of the project if necessary.
Barriers:
The translation of adaptation expertise into local languages is needed for
stakeholders in the private sector;
Apart from major projects, other EU-funded infrastructure projects under shared
management are not subject to such prior approval by the Commission.
Stakeholders from the energy, transport and building/construction sector listed:
lack of awareness;
lack of standards/guidelines;
lack of data and the degree of uncertainty in impacts;
a knowledge gap in the private sector between high-level projections and more
specific information needs to understand the risks.
Action 8: Insurance and finance
This section is based on the views of two international organisations in the insurance
sector
163
as well as on expertise available to the Commission services.
Drivers:
The presence of insurance pools and systems controlled by the state, which
affects demand on the part of industry;
The maturity of natural disaster insurance markets. In some Member States (e.g.
France, United Kingdom) the market is mature, as the countries have historically
dealt with these issues, while in other European countries relevant insurance
products have only been introduced more recently;
Cost-effective insurance seems to be facilitated by a tradition of collaboration
between public and private sector risk managers, in some cases shaped by some
form of public reinsurance support for catastrophic losses;
Under the Cohesion Policy, national and/or regional risk assessments for disaster
management (including in relation to climate risks) are a precondition for
funding
164
. Where relevant, there is a requirement to consider the NASs. In
particular, the EU Solidarity Fund specifies that payments are limited to non-
http://www.100resilientcities.org/
https://www.unisdr.org/we/campaign/cities
162
European Investment Bank, Environmental and Social Handbook, 2013.
163
Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA, see footnote 143) and the Geneva
Association, an international think tank of the insurance industry (www.genevaassociation.org).
164
With the exception of the European Social Fund.
161
160
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insurable damages
165
. This way, EU disaster risk management incentivizes risk
reduction;
In the promotion of a market for disaster risk insurance, other financial
mechanisms may also act as drivers, for example, the regulation in France
obliging banks to disclose climate risks associated with their assets.
Barriers:
A lack of coherence between national insurance markets, which makes a simple
approach to integrate insurance in disaster risk reduction and adaptation
challenging;
166
Difficulty to compare market penetration rates among Member States, as data
collection is not standardised, and especially data related to commercial activities
is often unavailable;
There is low general awareness of climate risks;
Insufficient reliance on public-private
partnerships where governments’ risk
prevention and response can benefit from
the insurance sector’s knowledge of
risks;
Disaster risk management and climate adaptation are mostly dealt with in
different ministries in the Member States;
Member States often focus on extreme weather events when they happen but are
not necessarily planning ahead. Risk assessments usually only span 2-5 years
while climate projections are longer term. Research projects modelling short- to
mid-term climate change could help Member States and insurers to link disaster
risk strategies to climate change adaptation;
Insurance risk models are traditionally based on historic trends of increase of
insured and non-insured losses related to climate events, while they lack well-
developed scenarios including future increases in damage;
To date, insurance companies have been reluctant to structurally share detailed
information. This problem could be overcome by appointing a third party playing
an enabling role in designing insurance and risk transfer products that are capable
of addressing climate related risk transfer;
To date, natural disasters have been covered by annual insurance contracts, while
insurers should seek to explore provision of longer-term contracts instead of
annual ones;
To date, there is no clear classification or typology of investments that contribute
to adaptation to climate change;
The profitability of adaptation-related projects is low or risky and there is a lack
of technical assistance to such projects (see discussion under Action 2 above).
165
166
Regulation (EU) No 661/2014. The EU Solidarity Fund specifies in its article 3.3: Payments from the
Fund are limited to financing measures alleviating non-insurable damage and shall be recovered if the
cost of repairing the damage is subsequently met by a third party.
Three broad types of insurance markets exist in Europe (voluntary, semi-voluntary and mandatory).
Depending on how risks of extreme weather events were historically reflected in national insurance
markets, insurance can serve two main types of societal objectives: (1) widespread coverage at a low
premium, and (2) incentivising stakeholders to manage their own risk. This variation has resulted in
contrasting penetration rates of the three broad insurance market types; the market penetration is not
high for mandatory insurance markets, for example.
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6.2.4. What effects has the Strategy produced so far for different
stakeholders, e.g. according to socio-economic background and
vulnerability?
The Strategy’s objectives and associated actions are directly relevant to Commission
services, Member State authorities, regional and local authorities, researchers, and
private decision makers. The same is true of the Impact Assessment's operational
objectives and performance measures, which did not aim to measure the Strategy’s
societal impacts. This question, therefore, extends beyond the normal scope of the
evaluation.
The targeted stakeholder survey elicited too low a response to inform any meaningful
differentiation of the Strategy’s effects on different stakeholders. The public consultation
questionnaire led to a higher response; however, it still includes answers from only 217
private individuals from 22 Member States. This is too small a sample for drawing
societal conclusions.
167
The actions taken by the stakeholders directly targeted by the Strategy are expected to
exercise a multiplier effect (as explained in the Intervention Logic section of Chapter 2)
and thus result in wide-ranging indirect impacts across society. The Strategy foresees that
adaptation action will bring new market opportunities, jobs and benefits in such sectors
as agricultural technologies, ecosystem management, construction, water management
and insurance. For example, mainstreaming of climate change adaptation in the CAP by
policy and decision makers will provide benefits to farmers through reducing climate
sensitivities and increasing their adaptive capacities to cope with climate change.
Appropriate performance indicators would be necessary to measure specific impacts on
stakeholders or sectors. They would also need to be monitored over a longer period of
time than the 5 years since the adoption of the Strategy, because most of the effects
envisaged by the Strategy are longer-term. While the cohesion policy funds under the
2014-2020 MFF already include indicators on e.g. the number of people protected from
floods and forest fires, the time lag effect with regard to reporting does not allow drawing
meaningful conclusions on impacts. Similarly, at the time of the mid-term evaluation of
other programmes such LIFE or H2020 that this evaluation looked at, final results from
implemented projects were not yet available, and any figures in those evaluations were
based on estimated results from projects in their inception phase. After the ESIF funded
projects of the current multiannual financial period come to an end, it will be possible to
aggregate some societal indicators. Still, a more consistent analysis with a wider scope
will be needed to effectively map the socio-economic impacts of adaptation policies.
167
Also, compared to citizens contacted randomly for a survey like Eurobarometer, a significant part of the
individuals having voluntarily chosen to fill in the public consultation questionnaire likely did so
because of an interest in the topic, which means that the sample may not be representative of the EU
population’s average knowledge and interest in climate
adaptation.
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6.3.
Efficiency
6.3.1. How adequate were the resources for the overall implementation of
the EU Adaptation Strategy and how proportionate were those
resources across its eight actions?
Administrative costs directly resulting from the Strategy are low and mostly limited to
the Commission
168
, with notable exception of funding programmes that are co-financed
by other (e.g. national) entities. Costs for other stakeholders resulting from the Strategy
are voluntary in the majority of cases and linked to access to EU funds.
A summary of the resources spent on implementation with a focus on the administrative
costs of the actions of the Strategy is presented in the table in section 11 of Annex VIII. It
does not include costs voluntarily incurred by stakeholders to benefit from instruments
under the umbrella of the Strategy (such as LIFE, H2020, ESIF/CAP/CFP).
For Actions 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 the costs have been limited to preparing guidance,
maintaining web portals, covering the human resources costs for coordination (such as
for the outsourced Covenant of Mayors) and the organisation of conferences. Much of
the work, such as mainstreaming into other policy areas, was carried out as part of the
Commission’s core activity (e.g. meeting with Member State experts in the framework of
expert groups on adaptation or Standing forestry committee). In these cases, due to the
leverage effect, the actions can be considered as highly cost-efficient.
Actions 2 (LIFE) and 4 (mainly H2020) are making direct use of funding programmes
where the costs of implementation of the strategy were higher because of the financing of
demonstration and research projects.
Overall, we can conclude that the benefits linked to the Strategy (described in detail in
Chapter 6.2) are tangible and are achieved at low costs thanks to the multiplier effects of
its actions in terms of guidance, coordination, dissemination, demonstration,
mainstreaming into other policies and funds. However, most of the operational objectives
of the Strategy have targets fixed for 2020, while the funding programmes used under
some actions are multi-annual and subject to their own evaluation processes. This results
in difficulty at this point in time to judge the efficiency of resource use in the different
actions of the Strategy.
Some specific observations can be made on the efficiency of selected Actions.
Action 1 Member States: The cost of developing the guidance for the Member States on
adaptation strategies was negligible compared to the fact that several Member States
highlighted the usefulness of the guidance and its political importance in stimulating
adaptation policy. Although the exact role of the Strategy is unclear, being one of
multiple drivers, the increased number of strategies adopted and low costs point to a cost-
efficient use of resources.
Action 2 LIFE: The LIFE mid-term evaluation estimated that for the entire LIFE
Programme, including the adaptation priority area under the Climate Action sub-
programme, the anticipated results of LIFE projects would have a societal benefit of
168
In this section, of the costs incurred by the Commission, only those are considered that were estimated
in the 2013 impact assessment. Otherwise, running EU adaptation policy is part of the core business of
the Commission and as such is not monetised.
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EUR 1.7 billion, which was four times the overall LIFE budget for 2014. The LIFE mid-
term evaluation however underlined that it is premature to determine whether the LIFE
programme provides value for money at an early stage of implementation, basing their
analysis on a series of projects selected under the 2014 calls for proposals. Moreover, the
external study supporting the mid-term evaluation has concluded that the LIFE
management structure appears to be less costly than the management structure of other
EU-funded programmes.
Action 3 Covenant of Mayors: The annual resource commitments from the Commission
are relatively low and appear to be adequate and efficiently used, given the increasing
number of cities committing to the adaptation aspects of the Covenant of Mayors.
Action 4 Knowledge gaps: As none of the knowledge gaps identified in 2013 have been
fully bridged, it is too early to more precisely estimate the adequacy of resources
regarding bridging knowledge gaps. Nevertheless, stakeholders agreed that the Strategy
has helped to reduce knowledge gaps on adaptation in the EU. The majority of funds
were channelled through H2020, which was subject to an in-depth interim evaluation in
May 2017; that interim evaluation concluded the research framework programme is in
general efficient.
169
For Action 5 Climate-ADAPT: The recorded growth in information materials on
Climate-ADAPT and visitor numbers in the last years suggest that the resources are
having a positive impact. Further collaboration with Commission Services would help to
improve overall efficiency in how knowledge inputs are collated on Climate-ADAPT.
Overall, resources appear to be adequate at present but, to continue to grow the Climate-
ADAPT user base and accommodate the ever-growing volume of content, resources may
need to increase in future, even if greater efficiency in collation can be achieved.
6.3.2. How do the different stakeholders view the monitoring of the
implementation of the EU Adaptation Strategy? Which aspects are
perceived as an unnecessary burden, if any, and to what extent?
The open public consultation also tested a preliminary conclusion that the monitoring and
administrative burden of the Strategy was very light. When asked, 65% of respondents
were neutral or undecided, and most of the remainder agreed it was very light. It is
difficult to judge whether the non-agreeing respondents were referring to administrative
burden directly stemming from the Strategy (such as reporting requirements under LIFE
projects) or to burden imposed by the mainstreaming into EU funds whose use has to be
monitored anyway under the ESIF framework.
In any case, no positive evidence of unnecessary burden was found. The ECA noted that
there is a lack of adaptation-related indicators and that monitoring and audit of adaptation
actions is both more difficult and carried out far less than for mitigation.
170 171
Commission Staff Working Document: In-Depth Interim Evaluation of Horizon 2020, SWD(2017) 220
final. And: Commission Staff Working Document: Executive Summary of the Interim Evaluation of
Horizon 2020, SWD(2017) 222 final.
170
'Spending at least one euro in every five from the EU budget on climate action: ambitious work
underway, but at serious risk of falling short', European Court of Auditors, 2016.
171
'Landscape review. EU action on energy and climate change', European Court of Auditors, 2017.
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The monitoring activities related to Action 2 LIFE, Action 4 Knowledge gaps (H2020)
and Action 6 ESIF/CAP/CFP are largely common to the respective support programmes
they are part of. Only any adaptation-specific issues are mentioned below. Actions 5, 7
and 8 have no monitoring carried out by stakeholders.
Action 1 Member State strategies - Outside the scope of the Strategy, the Monitoring
Mechanism Regulation
172
(Art. 15) obliges Member States to report to the Commission
on their ‘national adaptation planning
and strategies, outlining their implemented or
planned actions to facilitate adaptation to climate change’ by 2015 and every 4 years
thereafter. This is a strong legal obligation on reporting, but it does not stem from the
Strategy itself. This information is published on the country pages of Climate-ADAPT
where Member States can provide interim voluntary updates. It serves as a source of
information for the Commission’s monitoring of the implementation of Action 1
primarily through the adaptation scoreboard. This is a document created and maintained
by the Commission, Member States are only asked to comment on its draft versions,
which represents a light monitoring and reporting burden.
For Action 3, the monitoring of adaptation under the Covenant of Mayors has resulted in
costs being incurred by the managing office (funded by the Commission), by JRC of the
European Commission and by the cities themselves (voluntarily). The Covenant of
Mayors requires signatories to submit a progress report monitoring implementation every
two years following submission of their action plan. The template for Sustainable Energy
and Climate Action Plans (SECAP) contains an adaptation scoreboard that enables local
authorities to conduct a self-assessment of their adaptation status. Involvement in the
Covenant of Mayors is voluntary and therefore does not impose mandatory
administrative burden.
Under Action 6 ESIF/CAP/CFP, managing authorities are required to provide financial
information to the Commission on the amount of allocations and spending for different
types of investments (i.e. categories of intervention), each of which has specific climate-
related weighting. The methodology
173
for this differs between the ERDF/CF, EAFRD
and EMFF. The mainstreaming methodology for the European Agricultural Guarantee
Fund (EAGF) is defined in another regulation. The methodology currently does not fully
differentiate between allocations for climate mitigation and adaptation (it provides
detailed view of the different categories of intervention and their climate relevance but
there is no explicit split whether these are related to climate adaptation or mitigation as
many times measures effecting mitigation also have a positive impact on adaptation).
Many measures that are good for mitigation also entail co-benefit for adaptation and
vice-versa. Hence an identification of measures exclusively supporting mitigation or
adaptation objectives would neither be desirable nor feasible. This however does not
prevent from tracking expenditures supportive of mitigation and adaptation objectives
separately, even if a certain proportion of such expenditures is then counted twice.
Adaptation activities by private organisations reported to the CDP do not provide
sufficiently detailed information on climate adaptation action, hence, it would be
valuable to develop a more relevant indicator to monitor adaptation mainstreaming by
businesses.
172
173
Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 215/2014 of 7 March 2014.
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6.4.
Coherence
6.4.1. How well does the Adaptation Strategy fit together with other
relevant EU legislation and policies, or similar initiatives at
international, national or regional level? Are there any gaps or
inconsistencies between policies? Are there components to be
further developed or added to increase coherence of actions?
Coherence with other EU policies and initiatives
The array of impacts of a changing climate across all areas of human activity, and across
all policy areas, means that it requires a cross cutting and multi-sectoral approach.
Mainstreaming adaptation into other policy areas is a major tool in adaptation policy, and
by definition is aimed at ensuring coherence. One of the Strategy objectives is the
climate-proofing of vulnerable sectors, and most of its actions pursue the delivery of
adaptation in other policy instruments and sectors.
Table 6-1
–
Key areas of synergy between adaptation and other EU policies
Adaptation action
Other EU policy
Observed synergy
Long-term prevention
Preparedness scoreboard and
indicators
Active coordination of the two
policies
Common objectives
Common objectives
Common indicators (urban level)
Climate Adaptation Partnership
Commitment for 20% climate
spending (but issues with
tracking adaptation separately
and trade-offs)
TEN (Trans-European Networks)
Guidelines have adaptation
provisions
Action 1
–
Member State
strategies
Disaster Risk Reduction
Civil Protection
European Urban Water Agenda
European Green Leaf and Green
Capital Awards
Disaster Risk Reduction
Urban Agenda of the EU
EU budget and funding
programmes
Action 3
–
Covenant of Mayors
Action 6
–
Climate-proofing EU
funds
Action 7
–
Resilient
infrastructure
Energy and transport
Further information on these areas of synergy is provided in section 12 of Annex VIII.
Coherence with international policies and initiatives
Coherence with action at the international level was discussed in Chapter 3.
Coherence with national and regional policies and initiatives
Coherence with national priorities needs to address both the wide range of different
situations and priorities among the 28 Member States, and to recognise the
Commission’s
lower level of influence in areas of policy without detailed EU legislation.
The design of the Strategy clearly helps to avoid incoherence in the sense of conflict
between legal requirements, as it relies on voluntary measures at national and sub-
national level, supported by guidance for such measures and a monitoring of progress by
the Commission.
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Stakeholders participating in a break-out session of the first workshop in April 2017
noted that national-level coherence had in part been facilitated by the mainstreaming of
adaptation in EU policy in a range of sectors and that sectoral coherence benefited from
an EU-wide approach.
The Commission’s guidance on the preparation of NASs, and the adaptation scoreboard
developed under Action 1, include several areas which reflect on the level of coherence
within national and sub-national policies, but also in transboundary issues. This guidance
is coherent with the efforts needed at national level for more coordination between
adaptation and other policy areas, and stakeholders suggest that the Strategy has had a
helpful impact on improving this coordination.
Assessing coherence at sub-national level is more complicated. The Covenant of Mayors
initiative to some extent helps to overcome this complexity, although its coverage is not
yet sufficiently wide to ensure coherence of action at local level.
The lack of coordination within Member States suggests that there is a need for further
action to help administrations overcome behavioural and other barriers to coordination.
One further area of added value stems from the positive reinforcement of national
strategies through cross-border or transnational cooperation by simultaneous
implementation of adaptation policies in neighbouring countries. An example is in the
EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR)
174
. The specific case study on the EUSDR
(see Case Study 3 in Annex XIV) reveals how shared biophysical climate risks can
prompt informal and lasting cooperation between administrations, without institutional or
financial burdens. The EUSDR helped participating countries identify and respond to
transboundary adaptation challenges, particularly through improved dialogue and
exchange of information.
Internal coherence
There is a strong evidence of coherence between several actions within the Strategy.
Action 5 (Climate-ADAPT) is meant to present information on adaptation action in the
EU, it also offers information linked to several other actions, such as Action 4 on
knowledge gaps and Action 3 on the Covenant of Mayors. Since 2007, nine LIFE
projects under Action 2 have supported the development of climate adaptation strategies
or plans under Action 1 (total budget: EUR 16 million). The coherence between efforts
under Action 6, through the use of ex ante conditionalities in the ESIF and the
encouragement of NASs under Action 1 has already been noted. The focus on climate-
proofing of major projects is building on the objectives of both Cohesion Policy (Action
6) and resilient infrastructure (Action 7). Similarly, the development of risk management
tools under the CAP 2014-2020 and the foreseen emphasis announced in the
Communication on the Future of Food and Farming
175
is coherent with the broader
insurance objective of Action 8.
The implementation of Action 4 has increased the rate of development of climate
services that identify and quantify climate risks and impacts. The Copernicus Climate
174
175
http://www.danube-region.eu/
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: The Future of Food and Farming,
COM(2017) 713 final.
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Change Services (C3S) is one such recently introduced service, which in synergy with
Action 8, can usefully complement the insurance industry’s expertise. In recent years, the
insurance industry has also started to integrate geo-location and weather projections into
their underwriting of risks.
A more comprehensive identification of links between actions could have improved
coherence even further. There might have been greater coherence had there been more
centralised management of the 20% climate mainstreaming target for the 2014-2020 EU
budget with greater separate attention to adaptation, as recommended by the ECA in
2016.
176
6.5.
EU added value
6.5.1. What is the added value of addressing climate adaptation at EU
level, in addition to the vertical and horizontal cooperation at
national level?
The Strategy has proved effective in making significant progress towards its objectives
up to 2020. It has generated added value, while the right of initiative remained at the
appropriate levels of governance, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
There appears to be less added value where action was already underway prior to the
Strategy, although most elements of the Strategy appear to add at least some value,
compared with horizontal and vertical actions at Member State level.
The clearest added value appears to be in areas where the EU is encouraging
identification and bridging of knowledge gaps and EU wide research (Objective 2
–
Actions 4 and 5, and also Action 2), and in areas where the EU is responsible for
integrating adaptation into its own policies (Objective 3
–
Action 6, obviously, as no
other entity than the EU could do this).
Through climate mainstreaming into ESIF, which
is implemented by Member States under shared management, it is also possible for the
EU to influence policy making and budget allocation in Member States towards climate
action.
There would be even more EU added value if adaptation was mainstreamed also
in areas where the EU has exclusive competence, such as trade and fisheries (the reasons
for the absence of mainstreaming in these areas are discussed in section 6.2.3). In relation
to Action 8, the main EU added value appeared to be in taking up a facilitative role in
overcoming the main hurdles for public-private cooperation, starting with increased
understanding of insurance markets in Member States through the insurance study and
two thematic workshops organised by the Commission.
177
Thus, increased market-
penetration of risk transfer mechanisms across Europe was supported by EU action
without unifying or harmonising the national insurance markets.
In general, the consultation indicates that while stakeholders such as governments at
different levels would have certainly worked independently on adaptation without EU
intervention, there would neither have been equivalent progress nor a collective approach
without its encouragement. The majority of stakeholders agreed that equivalent progress
would not have been made in the absence of the Strategy in particular for Actions 3 to 6.
176
177
See footnote 170.
See footnote 92.
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Specific details on the EU added value of the Strategy’s actions are provided below.
Action 1 Member State strategies.
As pointed out in Chapter 4, adaptation strategies
had been drafted in 15 Member States before the launch of the Strategy. A 2014 EEA
report
178
noted that 19 of the European countries surveyed identified “EU policies” as a
driver for adaptation action, second only to extreme weather events (28 countries). While
it is less clear what proportion of this can be attributed to the Strategy or to other policy
drivers, it seems likely that the process of discussing the Strategy, and entering into the
commitments set out in the 2013 Council conclusions, had an impact on the political
salience of the subject. The presence of common guidelines for national strategies and an
assessment framework in the form of the adaptation preparedness scoreboard also
provided added value as EU-level coordination activities. For example, the guidelines
have been used by Member States that had not previously developed NASs or by others
when developing subnational or sectoral adaptation plans.
Action 2 LIFE.
The mid-term evaluation
179
Reported that stakeholders largely
acknowledged (95%) the catalytic role that LIFE is playing for better solidarity and
responsibility-sharing
in preserving the common good of the EU’s environment and
climate, leading to less costly implementation of environmental and climate change
policies. Notably, the added value of LIFE is that EU funding enables project
beneficiaries to deliver results that in most cases would either not be realised at national,
regional and/or and in particular at local level, or would be pursued at slower pace and on
a lesser scale. This is especially so for Member States that have fewer financial
mechanisms in place or when these mechanisms are difficult to access. Stakeholder
interviews revealed that the added value was in providing funding for adaptation at a
local level for which local authorities may have difficulty in finding other sources. For
instance, a specific LIFE integrated project in Denmark has the possibility to mobilise
hundreds of millions of EUR of complementary funding, assisting implementation of the
relevant adaptation strategy.
Action 3 Covenant of Mayors.
The Covenant, as an EU-level network of local
authorities, enables peer-to-peer learning among European local authorities coming from
different Member States but facing similar climate risks. It has increased local ownership
of the EU Strategy for adaptation, providing impetus to the delivery
of the EU’s climate
and energy objectives in general. The Covenant provided access to Europe-wide
adaptation knowledge produced and disseminated because of the Strategy, and in
particular on the knowledge gaps the Strategy identified. Through the Covenant, the EU
has been of direct assistance to local authorities and experts, in particular by optimising
links with EU funding opportunities to carry out adaptation projects. The Covenant of
Mayors offered a uniform level of support, sometimes making up for gaps in national
support: the value of the Covenant of Mayors is particularly high in countries where
similar national networks are absent
180
. In addition, the launch of the Global Covenant of
Mayors for Climate and Energy, has offered European cities further benefits and a voice
at international level.
Action 4 Knowledge gaps
Results from the targeted stakeholder survey strongly support
that there is added value in H2020 and work undertaken by the JRC in addressing
adaptation knowledge gaps. The availability of EU funding supports significant research
'National adaptation policy processes in European Countries
–
2014', European Environment Agency,
2014.
179
LIFE evaluation: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/evaluation/index.htm
180
See footnote 126
178
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calls, complementing and contributing to global research and innovation efforts. The
contribution of H2020 funded research to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) reports is significant and important.
181
In addition, many climate change
impacts are continent wide (e.g. the last major floods in Europe covered several
countries): in this context, the action by the Commission in addressing knowledge gaps
through H2020 and the work of the JRC are identified as important in accelerating
progress in the understanding of the issues at hand.
Overall, in combination, the targeted stakeholder survey, literature and interviews
provide good evidence of strong added value from the work on knowledge gaps at EU
level. There is also a continuing need for assessment reports from EEA, which are one of
the recognised ways to disseminate research results in an understandable way for
policymakers. Over 85% of 157 respondents to the open public consultation agreed or
strongly agreed that one of the areas of clearest added value of acting at EU level is in
bridging knowledge gaps. Action 5 is linked to this endeavour.
Action 5 Climate-ADAPT.
An evaluation by the EEA of Climate-ADAPT notes that
Climate-ADAPT adds value by providing an EU reference point for the state-of-the-art
of adaptation in Europe. The literature, targeted stakeholder survey and interview
evidence gathered under this evaluation also point to good evidence of added value
through provision of background information, peer-to-peer learning and a source of
inspiration. There is an indication that this may be more notable at transnational and
national scale, than at sub-national or city scale.
Action 6 Mainstreaming.
The EU is responsible for integrating adaptation into its own
policies, so the added value of the Strategy is inherent to Action 6. Without the Strategy,
an equivalent amount of progress would not have been made in climate proofing key EU
policies such as agriculture and cohesion. However, it needs to be stressed that part of the
responsibility lies with Member States, under the shared management of ESIF.
Action 7 Infrastructure.
European Standardisation Organisations reported in the context
of this evaluation that, although they had started considering standards, the process
would have been much slower and would not have been so coordinated without the
Strategy.
Action 8 Insurance and resilient businesses.
Various stakeholders from the insurance
and risk management industry indicated the importance of integrating insurance in
climate risk management. The main benefit of the Strategy is the fact that the
Commission has the opportunity to facilitate coordination of this public-private
cooperation. Without the Strategy, the benefits of public-private cooperation, such as the
consideration of good practices in national insurance schemes and better use of disaster
data, would not have been as explicit as they are now.
181
The IPCC's 5th Assessment Report included around 1,000 quotes to FP6, FP7 and Horizon 2020
projects' outputs (papers). See: Interim evaluation of H2020 (Societal Challenge 5)
https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/148b3b8f-50ae-11e7-a5ca-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en
(page 69)
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7.
C
ONCLUSIONS
The objective of this evaluation is to examine the actual implementation and performance
of the EU adaptation strategy (Strategy) between 2013 and early 2018, and to report to
the European Parliament and Council.
The evaluation covered the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added
value of the Strategy. These criteria were examined in an external study
182
based on
available evidence and the information gathered through consultation activities, including
an open public consultation. Stakeholders are broadly supportive of EU action in the field
of adaptation. They recognised the greatest added value in mainstreaming into other EU
policies and in encouraging action at all levels of governance. They also highlighted the
need to close knowledge gaps and to better integrate adaptation with climate mitigation
and external policy. In general, consultation activities showed no strongly diverging
views or conflicting interests between the different categories of stakeholders.
The evaluation concludes that the Strategy remains highly relevant, although recent
research has revealed pressing adaptation needs, for example with regard to high-end
climate change and the vulnerability of the EU to climate change in third countries (the
closure of related knowledge gaps should receive more emphasis in the future). The
Strategy is also quite coherent with policies at other levels of governance, although less
so as regards international policies. A mix of qualitative and quantitative assessment
found that the Strategy was effective, although more work needs to be done to implement
and monitor national strategies, promote local action, bridge newly emerging knowledge
gaps, complete mainstreaming in EU policy and foster the use of insurance and financial
instruments in adaptation. The analysis of effectiveness was also hampered by the fact
that the Strategy’s performance indicators focus on processes, no indicators are available
to assess its socio-economic impacts, and no such indicators exist currently at EU scale.
The Strategy seems efficient, imposing administrative costs only on the Commission.
Finally, there is clear added value of the Strategy at EU level.
The Strategy delivered on its objectives, with progress recorded against each of the eight
individual actions. In particular:
The Strategy shifted some
political focus towards adaptation
issues and the
need for prevention and preparedness, and it increased awareness among a broad
range of EU, Member State, and sub-national policymakers. As a result, a wider
range of stakeholders acknowledges the urgency of adaptation action nowadays.
The Strategy
promoted strong action by Member States
and was one of the
drivers leading 25 out of 28 Member States to adopt NASs, most of them
including good preparatory provisions such as horizontal coordination
mechanisms, stakeholder involvement and transboundary cooperation.
At
the local level,
the Covenant of Mayors increased urban preparedness,
bringing adaptation actions close to the citizens and delivering on the objectives
of the Strategy by means of a bottom-up, multilevel governance approach. The
increase in the number of cities having effectively reported adaptation
strategies/plans within the Covenant has been so far small, but this may be due to
the absence (until very recently) of an online reporting platform. Survey-based
estimates indicate that, overall, more than one-quarter of EU cities have such a
policy document. Extreme weather causes more damage where population and
182
See footnote 4.
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infrastructure are concentrated, and therefore, local authorities remain at the
forefront of climate shocks.
LIFE’s targeted funds
acted as an effective catalyst, providing and
disseminating solutions and best practices on the ground. Evidence points at the
need to increase LIFE resources devoted to adaptation.
It
increased the production and availability of valuable knowledge,
in
particular as regards high emission scenarios. Climate-ADAPT, in particular, has
become the Strategy's vehicle to disseminate information on adaptation to
decision-makers at various governance levels and organisations supporting them.
This has allowed decision-makers to make use of increasing adaptation
knowledge for developing adaptation strategies and actions and to reduce
uncertainty, but not to the point of closing all the gaps identified in 2013.
Furthermore, as in many other scientific fields, new gaps have emerged. The
focus may need to switch from gaps to decision-making processes that integrate
uncertainty, such as adaptation pathways.
183
It would be also relevant to reinforce
the cooperation between researchers and decision-makers, notably for practical
solutions on the ground.
Mainstreaming
of adaptation as part of climate objectives in key EU policies or
sectors was generally thorough (the most notable exceptions being the areas of
trade and fisheries), including the way to track such progress. This was certainly
the case for Disaster Risk Reduction, the European Regional Development Fund,
the CF and CAP, even if a complete separation of mitigation and adaptation
spending is not possible due to co-benefits and synergies.
As regards
infrastructure,
major projects are now required to be climate proof.
Further work on preparedness and standards is ongoing, but might not deliver
results before 2020.
There was
EU added value
in having a Europe-wide policy instrument:
equivalent progress would not have been possible in the absence of the Strategy.
This was most apparent in the production and dissemination of knowledge and in
their integration of adaptation constraints in key EU policies. The evaluation
suggests that there might be further EU added value if adaptation is mainstreamed
in areas where the EU has exclusive competences, such as trade and fisheries.
Finally, in terms of
internal coherence,
evidence suggests that there are
synergies between several of the eight actions of the Strategy, even though the
Strategy did not expressly seek synergies between its actions.
There are lessons to be drawn from the evaluation with regard to potential gaps in the
Strategy or to step up efforts in areas where the Strategy was less successful:
The focus of the Strategy adopted in 2013 was on the EU, although already in
2010, the adoption of the Cancún adaptation framework
184
foretold the
importance that adaptation would gather in the future: in 2015 the Paris
agreement enshrined adaptation as a global goal. The possible scope for
alignment with international policy developments
since 2013 would therefore
merit to be examined, as well as the potential implications for the EU of
183
The concept of adaptation pathways focuses on the processes of decision making, rather than the
outcome; it emphasises the adaptive nature of the decision process itself in the face of high uncertainty
and complexity.
184
The Cancun Adaptation Framework was adopted in 2010 through the UNFCCC Decision 1/CP.16 (ref.
document FCCC/CP/2010/7/Add.1).
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transboundary effects of climate impacts in third countries via migration, trade
and financial flows.
While it succeeded in spreading the adoption of
national strategies, there is
margin to improve
implementation and monitoring, for example by developing
meaningful indicators to monitor the socio-economic impacts of national
strategies and to assess the value of the prevention and management of risks
linked to climate change. This extends also to local level and adaptation strategies
in the context of the Covenant of Mayors.
Progress in the adoption of
local adaptation strategies has been slower than
expected.
Better downscaling of adaptation knowledge might be required,
notably on socio-economic impacts and possible responses. In addition, the
national context may have an influence, e.g. whether and how national
governments make urban adaptation compulsory or not, and the complexity of the
inter-linkages between government levels. Where there were binding measures at
national level the percentage of local authorities in the EU with a local adaptation
strategy was higher.
As regards
mainstreaming,
there are opportunities for enhanced action in certain
sectors and funds, such as:
o
Coastal protection, green infrastructure and ecosystem-based adaptation
measures.
o
Disaster Risk Reduction, notably on integration of climate change, its
impacts and adaptation practices in methodologies and indicators,
science/knowledge for risk assessment, metrics and dialogue between
practitioners from both fields.
o
Foreign trade (with a view to tackling possible spillover effects from third
countries via supply chain).
o
The EMFF and the ESF.
Given the
private investments
required to adapt to climate change, there is a
need to involve further business and insurers in view of increasing climate risks.
The Strategy may not have been as effective as expected in this field, but a new
impetus has been provided by the recent adoption of the Action Plan on
Financing Sustainable Growth, whose effects are not considered in this
evaluation.
In conclusion, the Strategy has proved effective in making significant progress towards
its objectives up to 2020, while there is still some efforts needed in a few areas.
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Annex I
1.
2.
Procedural information
L
EAD
DG, De
CIDE
P
LANNING
/CWP
REFERENCES
Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA)
2016/CLIMA/011
O
RGANISATION AND TIMING
The evaluation has been steered by DG Climate Action since 20 July 2016
185
under the
scrutiny of an inter-service group comprising of representatives of DG AGRI, DG
BUDG, DG COMM, DG DEVCO, DG EAC, DG ECFIN, DG ECHO, EEAS, DG
ENER, DG ENV, DG FISMA, DG GROW, DG HOME, JRC, DG MARE, DG MOVE,
DG NEAR, DG REGIO, DG RTD, SG, DG SANTE, SJ, DG TAXUD and DG TRADE.
External consultants carried out an evaluation support study between December 2016 and
April 2018.
186
The Inter-service Group followed closely the drafting of study in four
meetings during 2017 and 2018.
3.
E
XCEPTIONS TO THE BETTER REGULATION GUIDELINES
None
4.
E
VIDENCE
,
SOURCES AND QUALITY
Source of evidence
Evidence for the evaluation support study was gathered through a wide range of data
sources:
Literature review
A targeted survey (114 responses)
An open public survey (386 responses)
Interviews (43 interviews with about 50 stakeholders)
Workshops (2 workshops)
4 case studies
Quality of evidence
185
186
Ares(2016)4032796
See footnote 4
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The evaluation gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from different sources and
stakeholders. The results are found robust through the triangulation of different data, but
to a varying degree depending on the sources.
The quality of the evidence gathered in the evaluation support study is discussed in
Annex XII.
Quality of the evaluation support study
The Inter-service Group endorsed the quality assessment of the final report evaluation
support study in its meeting of 17 May 2018. The inter-service group concluded that the
report overall complies with the contractual conditions and relevant professional
evaluation standards. The following problems were highlighted:
Minor gaps can be observed, for example the situation on EU funds in 2013 was
not covered in the Baseline section of the report.
The analysis sometimes relies on views from individual stakeholders, but given
that the consultation solicited only limited feedback on certain topics not well
covered by literature, this was unavoidable. The report remains transparent on the
strength on the evidence.
It would have been preferable to further improve the linkages between the
conclusions and the recommendations.
In spite of repeated flagging of the problem, the report is still repetitive in many
cases. Also, more information could have been left for the appendices.
The identified issues were tackled in this SWD by eliminating repetitions and
superfluous details from the text and adding analysis done internally by the Commission
services, for example on modelling of future climate impacts.
In addition, the following changes in content were implemented compared to the study:
The background study concluded that there have been no activities under Action
8 (adaptation for insurance and businesses) apart from a Commission study on the
topic of insurance. This was a difficult action to evaluate as unlike other actions,
it did not have specific operational objectives established in the impact
assessment. However, internal follow-up research in the Commission services
revealed there were also some other activities, and most recently the Action Plan
on Financing Sustainable Growth in March 2018, when contractors could no
longer consider its analysis in the background report. This is reflected in the
discussion of Action 8 in Chapter 4 on baseline, implementation and state of play.
The background study acknowledged that mainstreaming of adaptation in the
common fisheries policy had been more limited than in other flagship policies
such as agriculture and cohesion, but did not analyse the possible reasons,
consequences and future action further. The SWD provided this analysis in
section 6.2.3.
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5.
C
ONSULTATION OF THE
R
EGULATORY
S
CRUTINY
B
OARD
The initial draft of the evaluation was submitted to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board on 30
May 2018. Previously an informal consultation of the Board had taken place on 2 May
2018. The Board issued a quality checklist on 22 June and held its scrutiny meeting on
27 June 2018. They issued a positive opinion with comments on 29 June. The table
below presents how the Board’s comments were addressed in the evaluation.
In the first part of the table, paragraphs from the Board opinion and the quality checklist
box entries covering the same issues are grouped together, because actions were taken
that simultaneously respond to them. In the second half of the table, the remaining
checklist box entries are addressed in their original order.
Source of the comments:
Board opinion paragraphs: B(1) to
(4), C(1) to (5)
Technical boxes of Board checklist 1
to 5
In the relevance discussion of Chapter 7
Conclusions, reference was added to the
further needs that the Strategy could
address.
Response from DG CLIMA
B(1)
The report does not explain why it draws
more optimistic conclusions than the ones of
the support study. In particular, the
conclusions on relevance do not take into
account several findings of the external study
that call for changes of the current strategy.
Annex I Procedural information now
explains what has changed from the
C(3)
The report should explain the reasons for study as compared to the report, in
differences in assessment with the underlying particular in the area of insurance.
study. The study seems to have a more critical
approach to many deliverables of the Strategy,
in particular in the area of insurance.
Box 5. Validity of conclusions and relevance
for further action
Hyphen 1
The report should explain where
and why it draws different conclusions than
the support study.
B(2)
The report assesses effectiveness on the
basis of processes only, and much less on the
quality of adaptation actions, leading to overly
positive conclusions on the overall success of
the adaptation strategy.
Chapter 5 Method now explains the
evaluation’s limitation related to the
availability of process indicators only.
A description was added to Chapter 4
Baseline under Action 1 on how the
C(2)
Consequently, the assessment of the adaptation preparedness scoreboard also
effectiveness should be more nuanced. The looks at the content and implementation
report should clarify that the original of the National Adaptation Strategies.
objectives focused on setting processes and
The analysis of the effectiveness of
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procedures while the evolving context and
progress in climate adaptation strategies point
to the need for effective implementation and
quality adaptation strategies.
Box 1 Design and methodology
Hyphen 3
The report should elaborate on the
general approach taken, i.e. to only look at
how the actions to develop a more climate-
resilient Europe have developed rather than
assessing the actual results and the cost of
funding (e.g. in sectoral funding).
Box 2 Effectiveness and efficiency
Hyphen 2
The report should more critically
look into the quality of national strategies, not
only their number/existence. One of the central
evaluation questions concerned whether a
revision of the Strategy is necessary. While the
Strategy does not impose anything on Member
States, its effectiveness should be judged also
on the quality of national provisions and their
stage of implementation.
Box 5 Validity of conclusions and relevance
for further action
Hyphen 2
Why does the report not conclude
on the lack of effectiveness concerning the
socioeconomic dimension?
Action 1 under section 6.2.2 was
updated to reflect the latest version of
the horizontal assessment of the country
fiches.
Chapter 7 Conclusions was amended to
be more reserved on achievements
under effectiveness due to the
methodological constraint linked to
process indicators.
B(3)
The report does not sufficiently integrate The analysis of the international
the international context and developments dimension is now regrouped and
into its analysis.
streamlined in a new separate Chapter
3, instead of being scattered and less
C(1)
The report should better present the visible throughout the document.
context of the Strategy and better link it to
international initiatives. Building on that, the This Chapter explains better the reasons
assessment of the continued relevance of the for excluding international policy from
original objectives of the Strategy should be the Strategy and provides a concise
put in perspective of the developments and overview of international developments
evolving knowledge on climate change and since 2013.
climate adaptation since 2013. Given these
developments, the conclusion that the Strategy A reference was also introduced in the
continues to be relevant cannot be justified relevance discussion in Chapter 7
solely on the need to establish climate Conclusions to the problem of climate
adaptation processes and procedures at the EU extremes presented in the Relevance
section 6.1.1.
and Member State level.
Box 1 Design and methodology
Hyphen 5
What is the rationale for excluding
the international dimension of climate change
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from the scope of the Strategy, in particular
given
its
interdependence
with
the
international activities and events, such as the
2015 Paris Agreement and the fact that the
international dimension was part of the EU
Adaptation
Strategy
package
(SWD
2013(138))?
Box 5 Validity of conclusions and relevance
for further action
Hyphen 3
How can the report conclude on the
need to examine alignment with international
policy development, if this has been taken out
of the scope?
B(4)
Monitoring and evaluation arrangements A presentation of ongoing work on new
are not properly assessed to support the indicators was added to the section on
conclusions.
limitations in Chapter 5 Method.
C(4)
As the context of the Strategy has
evolved substantially, the report needs to
elaborate on the monitoring and evaluation
framework. The report should clarify whether
existing
monitoring
and
evaluation
arrangements, including the revision of the
monitoring mechanism Regulation, are still
relevant or whether they need further
improvement to capture socio-economic
impacts, for example. This applies particularly
to the new focus on implementation and
substantive elements of the climate adaptation
strategies at all levels.
Box 1 Design and methodology
Hyphen 2
The report should also document
any efforts to develop indicators that would
help measure the societal impact.
Such indicators would seem to require long-
term data collection efforts. As the report will
feed into the future revision of the Strategy, it
should include a discussion on how to fill the
identified data gap.
What is the role of the EU vs Member States
in developing monitoring and evaluation
tools?
Box 2 Effectiveness and efficiency
Hyphen 4
The study acknowledges the lack of
information on the socioeconomic dimension
on the ground. Socioeconomic trends
68
Under Section 6.2.3 Drivers and
barriers and in related Annex VIII
section 3, an explanations was added on
the respective responsibilities and
activities related to monitoring at the
EU and at the MS level.
An addition to Section 6.2.4 on effects
on different stakeholders explains that
meaningful results from the ongoing
funding programmes are not yet
available to draw conclusions on socio-
economic impacts.
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interrelate with climate change but were not
part of the Strategy's focus, when dealing with
the action 4 on knowledge gaps. The report
however builds on a need to map the socio-
economic impacts of adaptation policies. It
seems that this mapping is (exclusively) based
on the stakeholder consultation. Is there any
other evidence of impact?
The report cites a lack of socioeconomic
performance indicators as a reason why this
impact is not measured. However, the report
refers to the end of the ESIF, CAP and CFP to
aggregate some societal indicators. Can more
information be extracted from (mid-term)
evaluations of relevant programmes (such as
ESIF, CEF, H2020, LIFE, Cohesion policy
programme) to serve this purpose?
Why does the report not conclude on the lack
of effectiveness concerning the socioeconomic
dimension?
C(5)
The report should present stakeholders’
Chapter 5 Method now specifies that
views in more detail throughout the document. some of the (newly added) stakeholder
views in the study emanate from a small
Box 1 Design and methodology
number of stakeholders.
Hyphen 4
The quality of the evidence seems
variable with regard to the different Stakeholder views were added to those
objectives/actions as clearly indicated in the sections of Chapter 6 Analysis where so
text and annexes. As it often relied on far no references to such views had
stakeholder views, these should be presented been made.
in more detail, both in various sections and in
In the beginning of Chapter 7
conclusions.
Conclusions, we explain about the
specificity of this policy area as the
interest of the stakeholders are rarely
contradictory, so there is less scope in
presenting differing views.
There was already a statement on the
observed
discrepancy
between
Hyphen 1
The Strategy is meant to work as a preparatory and implementing action in
leveraging instrument working via multiplier Chapter 7 Conclusions.
actions under the different objectives.
Therefore, it is difficult to assess its
contribution given that there are several
external drivers and there is no clear
counterfactual. As reported on p. 31,
stakeholders find that the Strategy has been
more effective in encouraging preparatory
Box 2 Effectiveness and Efficiency
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activities and less in promoting assessment of
options, implementation and monitoring and
evaluation. This view needs to be reflected in
the conclusions as well.
Box 2 Effectiveness and Efficiency
Hyphen 3
The evaluation could give more
attention to the need for local adaptation
action: While the Covenant of Mayors is
counted as a success, only 26 % of cities have
adopted an adaptation plan, independent of
whether they part of the Covenant or not. Only
3 % percent of cities with more than 150 000
inhabitants have registered an adaptation
strategy with the Covenant.
The wording in Chapter 7 Conclusions
now explains about the discrepancy
between the reported and the estimated
number of local strategies and about its
possible reason, which at the same time
underpins and moderates the positive
claims on the success of Action 3.
Chapter now also mentions the
discrepancy between, on the one hand,
Eastern and Southern European
Member States and, on the other hand,
Central and Northern European
Member States regarding the proportion
of local adaptation plans.
A short description was added to Action
6 under Section 6.2.2 on how
adaptation was mainstreamed into the
Commission proposal on the new
Multi-Annual Financial Framework
2021-2027. Section 6.2.2 also gives
more details under Action 8 on the
future implementation of the Action
Plan on Sustainable Finance.
Box 2 Effectiveness and Efficiency
Hyphen 5
The report states that Action 8
(insurance) has so far not been very effective
but that this may change following the
adoption of the very recent proposal on
sustainable finance. Regardless whether this
initiative makes a difference to a climate-
resilient Europe, there are few references in
the report to other recent Commission
proposals in areas that seem relevant to the
Strategy (e.g. MFF).
Box 3 Relevance and EU added value
Hyphen 1
Action 6 of the Strategy focused on
mainstreaming climate adaptation in various
policy areas, which was the task for EU itself.
The report identifies areas where significant
progress has been made, but neither the main
report nor Annex VIII mention fisheries or
trade as the areas where no progress has been
observed. Therefore, the gap analysis seems
not complete and the narrative of section 5.5 is
not consistent with conclusions of the report.
The reasons for not including climate
adaptation in the missing areas should be
explained.
Box 3 Relevance and EU added value
70
Section 6.2.3 to drivers and barriers to
effectiveness already explained under
Action 6 the reasons for insufficient
mainstreaming into fisheries policy. An
explanation for similar lack of
mainstreaming into trade was added.
The answer to Checklist Box 5 Hyphen
4 below explains how the mismatch of
Section 6.5 EU added value and
Chapter 7 Conclusions concerning the
mainstreaming gap in trade and
fisheries was addressed.
Section 6.1.1 on relevance now gives
the reasons of the ongoing need under
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Hyphen 2
The Strategy’s objective to
Action 6 for mainstreaming into other
mainstream climate adaptation in various policy areas.
policies appears to have been a kind of one-off
type. As climate adaptation has been
internalised in these policies (has been
mainstreamed), one could question the
relevance of keeping this objective of the
Strategy, at least for LIFE, ESIF and CAP.
Box 3 Relevance and EU added value
Hyphen 3 Sentences 1 to 3
Given the partly
voluntary nature of the Strategy, there is no
obligation for Member States to establish their
national
climate adaptation
strategies.
Nevertheless, the Strategy seems to exert
oversight on what Member States are putting
in place. This issue could be better developed
in the report.
Box 3 Relevance and EU added value
Hyphen 3 Sentences 4 & 5
The report should report what adaptation
efforts the EU and the member states have
committed to under the Paris Agreement. It
should discuss how this affects the importance
of the adaptation strategy.
The institutional setup in relation to the
adaptation preparedness scoreboard was
already presented in detail Chapter 4
Baseline under Action 1.
The new Chapter 3 on international
policy includes an explanation of the
nature of the EU and Member State
commitments
under
the
Paris
Agreement.
Box 5 Validity of conclusions and relevance
Adjustments were made to
section 6.5
and Chapter 7 Conclusions to resolve
for further action
the inconsistencies identified by the
Hyphen 4
The conclusions of the report on the Board.
EU value added do not reflect the narrative of
the analysis. While section 5.5 states that EU
added value is obvious for Action 6
(mainstreaming of climate adaptation into
various EU policies), there is no discussion
that this value added would have been even
greater if the scope of policies considered were
wider and included trade and fisheries as well,
as suggested in the conclusions.
Hyphen 5
The statement in conclusions
related to the very positive experience with
climate mainstreaming needs to be reconciled
with the conclusion on EU value added.
Hyphen 6
The conclusion that “the
Strategy
promoted strong action by Member States”
needs to be reconciled with what is presented
in section 5.3.1 (p. 47) where it is stated that
“the
exact role of the Strategy in this respect is
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unclear, being one of multiple drivers”.
In
addition, the national strategies seem not to be
well developed, so the narrative on the success
of the Strategy should be toned down.
The SWD focused entirely on the
backward-looking evaluation. The
Hyphen 1
The report is proportionate, clear accompanying report to EP and Council
and reader-friendly. It usefully documents will elaborate on the need to revise the
progress since 2013, but provides only limited Strategy or not.
aid to policy making regarding whether a
revision of the strategy is necessary.
Box 6 Presentation
Box 6 Presentation
Hyphen 2
Even though the report contains a
glossary, acronyms should be spelled out when
used for the first time in a given section. To
improve fluency of the narrative, acronyms
should be used sparingly.
The practice of introducing and using
acronyms was revised and corrected.
Acronyms are used more sparingly and
at their first use they are always spelled
out, for less known acronyms even
every time they first appear in a section.
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Annex II
Stakeholder consultation
1. Objectives of the consultation
The current EU Adaptation Strategy (the Strategy) was published in April 2013 in
response to the climate risks that Europe is and will increasingly face. The Strategy
committed the Commission to report to the European Parliament and the Council on the
state of its implementation. The evaluation was needed in order to comply with this
requirement and assess the progress made since 2013.
As indicated in the Consultation Strategy and in line with the Better Regulation
Guidelines, the objective of the Stakeholder Consultation in relation to the EU
Adaptation Strategy evaluation is to draw upon existing evidence to deliver a high quality
and credible evaluation study by allowing interested parties to provide their feedback and
experiences of implementing the Strategy thus far. This includes identifying specific case
studies or further evidence, lessons learned, knowledge, financing and capacity gaps,
obstacles and factors of success, and suggestions for improvement.
2. Consultation activities and methodology
2.1.
Activities
As defined in the Consultation Strategy, a combination of in-depth surveys, interviews of
interested stakeholders, an open public consultation and stakeholder workshops have
been used to gather evidence.
a) Stakeholder surveys
–
The targeted stakeholder survey ran from July to August
2017. It was available in English and comprised multiple choice and free text
questions. Survey invitations were sent to 370 stakeholders involved, directly or
indirectly, in the implementation of the Strategy. In addition, the invitation was
sent to all registrants for the 3
rd
European Climate Change Adaptation
Conference, held in Glasgow (850 attendees). The structure of the questionnaire
allowed the participants to focus on the Actions under the Strategy that were of
primary interest to them.
b) Stakeholder interviews
–
43 interviews were held with about 50 stakeholders who
had been actively involved in different aspects of the implementation of the
Strategy. 35 of the interviews covered the 8 Actions with questions relating to the
five evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU
added value. Respondents could choose to respond on one or on more actions and
could choose the questions on which they wished to focus. A further 8 interviews
contributed to the development of four case studies on:
Fire preparedness and the impact of climate change
Spillover effects from climate change impacts occurring outside the EU
The Danube macro-regional strategy (EUSDR) and its contribution to
action at Member State level
Adaptation of infrastructure in the energy sector.
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c) Open Public Consultation
–
An open public consultation was available from 7
th
December 2017 to 1
st
March 2018 (12 weeks) on DG CLIMA's website
187
. Initial
multiple choice questions were for all respondents including private individuals.
Sections with multiple choice questions on interim conclusions from the study in
support of the evaluation
188
were available to expert stakeholders. All respondents
could add comments in a free text field and upload a document or position paper.
d) Stakeholder workshop
–
Two workshops were organised to present the evaluation
and gather new evidence to elicit further feedback on draft conclusions.
5 April 2017
–
Over 90 stakeholders participated. It served to briefly
present the Strategy and obtain feedback on its implementation and to
guide the further development of the evaluation.
23 January 2018
–
To present and discuss interim conclusions and
recommendations from the study. This was previously foreseen for
October 2017, but it was postponed in order to discuss the preliminary
results of the evaluation. Around 120 stakeholders participated in this
second event.
2.2.
Stakeholder groups participating
In the context of the Strategy evaluation, a broad scope for the stakeholder consultation
was necessary to ensure that all relevant and interested stakeholders had the opportunity
to express their opinions and to contribute to the evaluation.
Six groups of stakeholders were identified in the mapping of the Consultation Strategy,
which were used throughout the consultation activities in order to maintain a balance
between different stakeholders. The figures below show the number of participants by
consultation activity and by stakeholder type.
189
187
Available at
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/consultations/evaluation-eus-strategy-adaptation-climate-
change_en
188
These were published alongside the open public consultation. See: Ricardo, IEEP, Trinomics, and
Alterra. Study to support the evaluation of the EU Adaptation Strategy, Summary interim findings,
2017. Available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/consultations/docs/0035/summary_interim_findings_en.pdf
189
Please notice that in the figure 2 local and regional authorities are separated, nevertheless they are
generally considered together in the evaluation, except when differences exist.
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Figure II-1. Number of respondents by consultation activity
Source: External Support evaluation study
Figure II-2. Participants by stakeholder type for three consultation activities
Source: Own analysis of participation by consultation activity. Note that, in addition, 217 private individuals
responded to the open public consultation.
Despite the fact that interviews were conducted with all types of stakeholders, the
majority of them were from the National government/Administration and EU institutions
due to the technical nature of the interviews and the necessity to obtain reliable evidence
to proceed with sections related to efficiency and effectiveness.
In the case of the Open Public Consultation, the large majority of stakeholders (56%)
were private individuals and the three largest countries by representation of respondents
were Belgium (17%), Spain (14%) and France (10%).
Besides the balance between the interests of different stakeholders, the consultation
aimed at ensuring a geographical balance by providing opportunities to all stakeholders
across Europe to participate in the consultation activities.
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Figure II-3. Participants by Member State for three consultation activities
Source: Own analysis of participation by consultation activity. Note that the 15 EU interviews are not
ascribed to a Member State
–
the remaining 28 are in this figure
2.3.
Methodology
The Open Public Consultation was published in 23 languages in EU Survey, an online
survey-management system, during 12 weeks and actively advertised in the DG
CLIMA's website and social networks of the Commission.
Quantitative information was collected and analysed using spreadsheets and the results
were divided by stakeholder in order to identify coincidences and contradictions between
different groups. For the Open Public Consultation, comparisons were made between
groups with 20 or more responses
–
National Governments/ Administrations, private
sector, university or research organisations, and NGOs. One further group combined the
response from regional governments/ administrations and from local authorities to give a
sub-national group (as foreseen in the Better Regulation Guidelines).
Qualitative information was received from: the stakeholder workshops, interviews, the
many free text responses to the targeted stakeholder survey, the open text response to the
open public consultation and the papers uploaded for the targeted stakeholder survey and
open public consultation (analysed in the report).
The information collected was analysed according to the five evaluation criteria:
relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value. Moreover, responses
were further assessed by Strategy Objective / Action and by stakeholder type.
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3. Results
3.1.
Targeted Stakeholder Survey
In total, 114 stakeholders responded to the survey questionnaire of which 54 respondents
only indicated their organisational type and their country, which left 60 responses to
analyse. The questions and responses were organised by Action and focused on the
effectiveness, coherence and efficiency criteria.
Figure II-4. Number of respondents of the Targeted Stakeholder Survey from each
organisational type
Organisational type
National Government body
Sub-national Government
Municipal/city Government
Private sector
University
Research organisation
EU institution or body
Other international organisation
NGO
Other
190
Number of respondents
15
6
2
3
6
5
4
6
9
4
On effectiveness, a total of 14 respondents to the targeted stakeholder survey provided
specific examples of barriers to EU activities promoting adaptation in key vulnerable
sectors (Agriculture, Forestry, Energy, Transport, Construction, Fisheries). Overarching
barriers that some respondents identified as applying to several sectors include:
190
Those that self-identified
as “Other” are: an EU network of regional authorities, a local government
association in a Member State region, a regional development agency; and a research institute with a
focus outside the EU
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Level and scale of available information on climate impacts and uncertainties of
extreme events (frequency and magnitude)
–
energy, transport and construction
sectors
Need for climate proofing standards
–
energy, transport and construction sectors
Attitudes towards climate change, lack of collaboration between sectors
–
all six
sectors
Insufficient EU initiatives to promote adaptation
–
energy and transport sectors
Funding
–
all six sectors
No obligation to consider climate risk (or very limited)
–
energy, transport and
construction sectors.
The majority of stakeholders considered that the Strategy had a clear added value since
they affirmed that in the absence of the Strategy the same level of progress could not
have been achieved, mainly for actions 3 to 6. For the rest, only around 20-40
stakeholders responded per action. This gives small numbers for each stakeholder group,
and no major difference between their views was discerned.
3.2.
Stakeholder interviews
Interviews provided evidence on all evaluation criteria. All types of stakeholder are
represented in the interviews, nevertheless the majority of stakeholders came from public
institutions (EU, Member State or sub-national).
Figure II-5. Number of respondents of the Targeted Stakeholder Survey from each
organisation type
Evaluation criterion
Total
EU
Effective-
number of Relevance
Efficiency Coherence added
ness
responses
value
Organisation type
National,
Sub-national
and
Municipal
Government bodies
EU Institutions or bodies
Other stakeholders
Total
16
15
16
11
11
13
14
12
42
11
11
37
11
11
38
9
5
25
12
6
29
11
8
32
On relevance, the stakeholder interviews highlighted that there is a need to close new
knowledge gaps. Examples of such gaps highlighted by stakeholders included: adaptation
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in mountainous areas, climate impacts outside the EU that have implications for the EU,
long-term lack of water resources and coastal issues, biodiversity, and high-end climate
change (i.e. greater than 2ºC). The latter was also reflected by responses to the public
consultation (90% of 158 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that there is a need to
address the impact of high-end climate change).
On effectiveness, the interviews provided evidence that the Strategy played a role in
ensuring increased political salience of the need for Member States to adopt strategies
and plans where they were not already in place. The interviewees also suggested that the
use of the adaptation ex ante conditionalities for European Structural and Investment
Funds programmes was an effective mechanism for ensuring Member States adopted
NASs.
Responses to interviews and the targeted stakeholder survey provided additional
evidence on the adequacy of resources and how proportionate they were for each of the
eight actions. Overall, numerous stakeholders highlighted the cross-cutting nature of
adaptation and, thus, agreed that mainstreaming of adaptation objectives into sectoral
policies is a necessity. A recurring policy area where coherence with adaptation was seen
as essential is disaster risk reduction.
Recommendations included the potential value of enhanced discussion on regional-level
adaptation challenges facing neighbouring Member States.
Eight further interviews were conducted to develop the 4 case studies listed in section
2.1.
3.3.
Open Public Consultation
The survey was split between part 1 and parts 2-4, with part 1 targeted to all citizens and
parts 2-4 targeted to those with professional experience with adaptation. There were in
total 386 responses. Parts 2-4 were answered by 159 respondents (41% of the total).
The respondents had the opportunity to explain their experience with events attributed to
climate change, and they identified a total of 1 651 events, the majority related to
abnormally warm overall temperatures. Regarding knowledge of the
EU’s
strategy on
adaptation to climate change, most respondents considered they had a good (32%) or
limited (30%) knowledge. Only 12% of the stakeholders thought that they had a very
good knowledge of the strategy and 10% had never heard of it. The knowledge was
significant regarding programmes dealing with adaptation action, where 67% of
stakeholders knew about H2020.
The relevance of EU-level action was found significant with 93% of respondents
believing that it is necessary to combat adaptation to climate change. The responses on
the generic aspects of Adaptation were generally supportive. The strongest agreement
was found for the conclusions
“Adaptation
action is needed at all governance
levels”
and
“The
EU needs to encourage adaptation action by Member
States”.
The respondents found the Strategy relevant; since they see the need of further action to
address remaining knowledge gaps and to align EU adaptation policy with international
developments.
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Figure II-6 Responses in the open public consultation to interim conclusions that
relate to relevance of the EU Adaptation Strategy
Source: Results from open public consultation. 160 respondents
On effectiveness, there was disagreement between stakeholder's results: regional and
national authorities were more positive considering aspects as adaptation mainstreaming
than the overall average.
Overall, on coherence, respondents replied positively to the conclusions. Nevertheless,
stakeholders considered that there was still a need to better integrate adaptation concerns
into the climate mitigation policy or the EU external policy areas. NGOs and Private
Sector disagreed more compared to public authorities on the consideration that
‘progress
has been made in integrating adaptation concerns into a wide range of EU policy
areas’.
The respondents almost exclusively agreed with the conclusions about EU added-value.
This highlights that many believe in the importance of the Strategy and EU action for
adaptation to climate action. Furthermore, most stakeholders more strongly agreed that
the greatest value of EU action is through mainstreaming adaptation into its own policies.
Finally, out of the 386 stakeholders involved in the public consultation, 239 submitted an
answer to the open question and 27 position papers were received. An extensive
summary can be found in appendix 2E of the external support study.
191
The position
191
Published on the website of the Evaluation
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/events/articles/0119_en
80
of
the
EU’s
Adaptation
Strategy
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papers were analysed and were taken into account during the evaluation as part of the
evidence.
3.4.
Stakeholder Workshops
The first workshop (5th April 2017) provided significant input on the three priorities
identified in the 2013 Strategy. There was agreement on:
The need for research to be made available in forms that decision-makers could
use.
The need for better understanding of social and cultural barriers to adaptation.
The effectiveness and coherence of the evaluation were the main elements discussed
throughout the workshop: it was considered that the Strategy promoted action from some
Members States (not all) and contributed to promote coherence in action.
The main findings of the evaluation were presented in the second workshop (23
rd
January
2018). The recommendations of the external support study were supported by the large
majority of members who assisted in the workshop, except on the alignment with
International obligations under the Paris Agreement and its alignment with the Global
Stocktake in 2023 (this recommendation was reconsidered in the final study). This
second stakeholder workshop was useful to promote participation in the parallel Open
Public Consultation. There were no major contradictions between the results provided by
the workshop and the rest of the consultation activities.
4. Identified campaigns and ad-hoc contributions
No campaigns have been identified in the context of the Open Public Consultation.
Several documents and position papers were provided in association with the open public
consultation. These were noted in the relevant consultation reports (appendix 2E of the
external support study) and included as part of the evidence base for this work.
Nevertheless no ad-hoc documents were received outside the consultation activities.
5. Feedback from the roadmap
There was no feedback received on the roadmap of the evaluation. Therefore, there were
no significant changes applied to the consultation activities in comparison with the
original roadmap.
In summary, information from the consultation forms a major part of the evidence
considered in the evaluation. Evidence is compared with that from other strands of the
consultation and also with results of the literature review to identify the overall level of
agreement or divergence of the evidence. The results of the open public consultation, in
particular, provide sufficient responses from key groups of stakeholders to consider
whether there is agreement or divergence by stakeholder type.
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Annex III
Acronym
Acronyms
Meaning
ACP
C3S
CAP
CBA
CBD
CDP
CEN
CENELEC
CF
CFP
CIS
CMU
CNCs
COP21
CoR
Covenant
CPR
CRR/CRD
DCI
DG AGRI
DG BUDG
African, Caribbean and Pacific states
Climate Change Services
Common Agricultural Policy
Cost-benefit analysis
Convention on Biological Diversity
Carbon Disclosure Project
Comité Européen de Normalisation
Comité Européen de Normalisation en Electronique et
en Electrotechnique
Cohesion Fund
Common Fisheries Policy
Common Implementation Strategy
Capital Markets Union
Core Network Corridors
2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference,
COP21 in Paris, France
Committee of Regions
Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy
Common Provisions Regulation
Capital Requirements Regulation and Directive
Instrument for Development Cooperation
Directorate General for Agriculture and
Development of the European Commission
Rural
Directorate General for Budget of the European
Commission
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DG CLIMA
DG COMM
DG COMP
DG DEVCO
DG EAC
DG ECFIN
DG ECHO
Directorate General for Climate Action
Directorate General for Communication
Directorate General for Competition of the European
Commission
Directorate General for International Cooperation and
Development of the European Commission
Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and
Culture of the European Commission
Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs
Directorate General for European Civil Protection and
Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) of the European
Commission
Directorate General for Energy of the European
Commission
Directorate General for Environment of the European
Commission
Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial
Services and Capital Markets Union of the European
Commission
Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European
Commission
Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs of
the European Commission
Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
of the European Commission
Directorate General for Mobility and Transport of the
European Commission
Directorate General for Neighbourhood and
Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission
Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of
the European Commission
Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the
European Commission
83
DG ENER
DG ENV
DG FISMA
DG GROW
DG HOME
DG MARE
DG MOVE
DG NEAR
DG REGIO
DG RTD
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DG SANTE
DG TAXUD
DG TRADE
DRM
DRR
EAFRD
EAGF
EASME
EbA
EBRD
ECA
EDF
EEA
EEAS
EFFIS
EFSI
EIA
EIB
Eionet
EMFF
ERDF
ESF
ESIF
Directorate General for Health and Food Safety of the
European Commission
Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union of
the European Commission
Directorate General for Trade of the European
Commission
Disaster Risk Management
Disaster Risk Reduction
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
European Agricultural Guarantee Fund
Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises
Ecosystem based Adaptation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
European Court of Auditors
European Development Fund
European Environment Agency
European Union External Action Service
European Forest Fire Information System
European Fund for Strategic Investments
Environmental Impact Assessment
European Investment Bank
European Environmental Information and Observation
Network
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
European Regional Development Fund
European Social Fund
European Structural and Investment Funds
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ESOs
ETC
ETC/CCA
EU
EU15
European Standardisation Organisations
European Territorial Cooperation
European Topic Centre on Climate Change impacts,
vulnerability and Adaptation
European Union
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom
European Financing Institutions Working Group on
Adaptation to Climate Change
Euro
The European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region
The European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region
EU Strategy for the Danube Region
Early Warning System
Federation of European Risk Management Associations
Framework Programme 6
Framework Programme 7
Flood Risk Management Plans
Global Climate Change Alliance
Gross Domestic Product
Green Infrastructure
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
Horizon 2020
International
Initiatives
Council
for
Local
Environmental
EUFIWACC
EUR
EUSALP
EUSBSR
EUSDR
EWS
FERMA
FP6
FP7
FRMP
GCCA+
GDP
GI
GMES
H2020
ICLEI
ICPDR
International Commission for the Protection of the
Danube River
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Interreg
IPCC
ISO
JASPERS
JPI
JRC
LIFE
MCA
MFF
NAP
NAS
NCFF
NDCs
NGOs
PESETA
RDP
SEA
SEAP
SECAP
SG
SJ
SMEs
SWD
TEN-E
TEN-T
European Territorial Cooperation
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
International Organisation for Standardisation
Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European
Regions
Joint Programming Initiative
Joint Research Centre
L'Instrument Financier Pour L'Environnement
Multi-criteria analysis
Multiannual Financial Framework
National Adaptation Plan
National Adaptation Strategy
Natural Capital Financing Facility
Nationally Determined Contributions
Non-Governmental Organisations
Projection of Economic impacts of climate change in
Sectors of the EU based on bottom-up Analysis
Rural Development Programme
Strategic Environmental Assessment
Sustainable Energy Action Plan
Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan
Secretariat-General of the European Commission
Legal Service of the European Commission
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Staff Working Document
Trans-European Networks for Energy
Trans-European Transport Network
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UIA
UN
UNFCCC
URBACT
WFD
Urban Innovative Actions
United Nations
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change
European exchange and learning programme promoting
sustainable urban development
Water Framework Directive
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Annex IV
List of SWDs supporting the Strategy
Communication in 2013
The documents provide further information on certain elements of the Strategy and
respond to some specific commitments made in the Strategy, e.g. to prepare guidelines
on developing adaptation strategies. The supporting documents are:
Impact Assessment of the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change
SWDs on
o
Climate change adaptation, coastal and marine issues
o
Adaptation to climate change impacts on human, animal and plant health
o
Adapting infrastructure to climate change
o
Climate change, environmental degradation, and migration
o
Technical guidance on integrating climate change adaptation in
programmes and investments of Cohesion Policy
o
Principles and recommendations for integrating climate change adaptation
considerations under the 2014-2020 rural development programmes
o
Guidelines on developing adaptation strategies.
In addition, a Green Paper on the insurance of natural and man-made disasters was
launched in parallel with the Strategy. The Green Paper sets out the potential for the
European Union to facilitate and support the development of markets for disaster risk
insurance.
The EU Adaptation Strategy package also included the ‘Non-paper
Guidelines for Project
Managers: Making vulnerable investments climate resilient’.
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Annex V
Intervention logic of the EU’s Adaptation
Strategy
(reconstructed)
Needs
•
EU will be subject to unavoidable climate
impacts and their economic, environmental
and social costs
•
EU needs to increase its resilience to these
impacts and take early action to save on
damage costs later
Objectives
Strategic
Relevance
Objective
relevant for
needs?
•
To contribute effectively to a more climate
resilient Europe
Actions
1: Encouraging Member States to adopt
comprehensive adaptation strategies
2: Provide LIFE funding to support
capacity building and step up
adaptation action in Europe
3: Introduce adaptation in the Covenant
of Mayors framework
Inputs
Commission resources to prepare
guidelines and scoreboard
Funding (LIFE) for projects that support
capacity building and step up
adaptation action in Europe
Commission resources to launch and
implement adaptation aspects of the
Covenant of Mayors framework
Funding (Horizon 2020) for projects that
address knowledge gaps, via the
Co
issio s research progra
es a d
support for JRC
Specific
Promoting action by Member States (Action
1, 2, 3)
4: Bridge the knowledge gap
Better informed decision-making (Action 4,
5)
5: Further develop Climate-ADAPT as
the o e-stop shop for adaptatio
information in Europe
Commission and EEA resources to
further develop Climate ADAPT
Regulations and guidelines to support
the climate-proofing of EU actions
Funding (Cohesion & CAP) for projects
that address knowledge gaps, develop
tools, and build up capacities for
adaptation
6: Facilitate the climate-proofing of the
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the
Cohesion Policy and the Common
Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Climate-proofing EU action: promoting
adaptation in key vulnerable sectors (Actions
6, 7, 8)
7: Ensuring more resilient infrastructure
Commission resources to develop
guidelines and technical standards for
climate proofing
8: Promote insurance and other
financial products for resilient
investment and business decisions
Mainstreaming of climate change
considerations in decisions making for
all sectors
Commission resources to engage with
insurance and financial sector
Commission resources to support
mainstreaming in EU legislation
Note: Due to lack of space, the operational objectives under each specific
objective and the performance indicators to measure them are not shown in
the graph. They are listed in Annex.
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Annex VI
Operational objectives and performance indicators
in the 2013 impact assessment
The Strategy did not commit to achieving the operational objectives listed in the impact
assessment and did not mention the related performance indicators. Furthermore, it listed
the specific objectives in a different order and numbering than the Impact Assessment. In
order to be in line with the Strategy’s numbering of the specific objectives, the
operational objectives are renumbered in the list below. Their original number in the
Impact Assessment is shown in parenthesis.
Objective 1: Increasing the resilience of the EU territory
192
Operational Objective 1a (2a): by 2017, all Member States have adopted adaptation
strategies, complemented by regional or local adaptation strategies, where appropriate
o
Number of NASs and action plans and national climate change risk assessments
o
Number and amount of LIFE grants used for experience transfer
193
Operational Objective 1b (2b): by 2020, cities of more than 150 000 inhabitants have
adopted an adaptation strategy
o
Number and amount of LIFE grants used for lighthouse projects
194
on adaptation
o
Covenant of Mayors (ongoing): number of cities pledging to develop an
adaptation strategy
o
Number of cities of more than 150 000 inhabitants in vulnerable areas with an
adaptation strategy
Objective 2: Better informed decision making
Operational Objective 2a (1a): by 2020, priority knowledge gaps
195
identified in 2013
have been closed
o
List of knowledge gaps now, in 2017, and in 2020
o
Number of H2020 and JRC research projects dealing with adaptation and
associated budget allocated
Operational Objective 2b (1b): by 2020, communication tools allow for available
information on climate change adaptation to be more easily accessible for decision-
makers, including Member States, local authorities and firms
o
Number of visitors to Climate-ADAPT, pages most visited, number of registered
users, assessment of the content, databases and metadata
o
Number of conferences, workshops, adaptation events registered in Climate-
ADAPT
192
This objective is labelled in the Strategy as “Promoting action by Member States” but is essentially the
same objective.
193
These are projects that share experience and foster capacity building in relation to the development of
national and regional adaptation strategies.
194
See footnote 52.
195
The key knowledge gaps that were identified are: information on damage and adaptation costs and
benefits; regional and local-level analyses and risk assessments; frameworks, models and tools to
support decision-making and to assess how effective the various adaptation measures are; and, means
of monitoring and evaluating past adaptation efforts.
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Objective 3: Increasing the resilience of key vulnerable sectors
196
Operational Objective 3a: by 2020, adaptation considerations have been mainstreamed in
a consistent and comprehensive way in key EU policies
o
List of policies and legal acts where adaptation has been mainstreamed
o
Adaptation activities by private organisations as reported in the Carbon
Disclosure Project (CDP) surveys
Operational Objective 3b: by 2020, new major infrastructure investments are climate-
proofed
o
Amount of adaptation infrastructure investments (co-)financed by EU funds
and/or public financial institutions
o
Progress on the mapping exercise by CEN-CENELEC
197
.
This objective is labelled in the Strategy as “'Climate-proofing' action at EU level” but is essentially the
same objective.
197
The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical
Standardization (CENELEC).
196
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Annex VII
Inputs, activities and outputs related to the 8 actions
of the Strategy
Action 1: Encourage all Member States to adopt comprehensive adaptation strategies
This action encourages all Member States to adopt comprehensive adaptation strategies.
Encouragement has been provided through the following activities, and associated
outputs:
Provision of guidelines to help Member States formulate adaptation strategies,
which were published alongside the Communication
Development of an ‘adaptation preparedness scoreboard’, which
identifies key
indicators for measuring Member States’ level of readiness.
A commitment was also made that, in 2017, the Commission would assess action
being taken in the Member States and if progress is deemed insufficient, the
Commission would consider proposing a legally-binding instrument.
It was expected, when the Strategy was prepared, that the encouragement provided by the
Commission in relation to Action 1 would contribute towards all Member States adopting
an adaptation strategy, complemented by regional and local adaptation strategies, by
2017.
Action 2: Provide LIFE funding to support capacity building and step up adaptation
action in Europe (2013-2020).
Action 2 concerns the creation of the Climate Action sub-programme under the 2014-
2020 LIFE funding programme for the environment. The sub-programme covers climate
change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and climate governance and information.
Through the creation of the Climate Action sub-programme, the aim was to substantially
increase the LIFE funds available to combat climate change.
It was expected when the Strategy was prepared that additional funding would be
directed towards climate adaptation projects in comparison to the situation without the
Strategy. It was also expected that this funding would lead to better informed decision-
making via the identification and implementation of relevant cross-sectoral and cross-
border lighthouse projects. Other expected outcomes included the strengthening of
existing networks and collaborations between Member States and associated countries
and other third countries.
Action 3: Introduce adaptation in the Covenant of Mayors framework
Action 3 focuses on cities and urban areas, as they have an important role in low-carbon
and climate-resilient development across Europe. The action concerns the support
provided by the Commission to the launch of Mayors Adapt (the Covenant of Mayors
Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change), through which local authorities can make a
voluntary commitment to adopt local adaptation strategies and awareness-raising
activities. The initiative was launched by the Commission in March 2014.
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It was expected, at the time the Strategy was prepared, that the encouragement provided
by the Commission in relation to this action would contribute towards all cities of more
than 150 000 inhabitants adopting an adaptation strategy, by 2020.
Action 4: Bridge the knowledge gap
Action 4 concerns two activities undertaken by the Commission:
To work further with Member States and stakeholders to refine the adaptation
knowledge gaps identified in the Strategy and identify relevant tools and
methodologies to address them. The findings were to be fed into the programming
of H2020, the EU’s 2014-2020
framework programme for research and
innovation, and were to address the need for better interfaces between science,
policy making and business
To promote EU-wide vulnerability assessments considering, inter alia, the cross-
sectoral EU overview of natural and manmade risks that the Commission was to
produce in 2013. The Commission was, in particular, to support the JRC to
undertake a comprehensive review of what global climate change will mean for
the EU.
It was expected, at the time when the Strategy was prepared, that the activities led by the
Commission in relation to this action would contribute towards filling the priority
knowledge gaps identified in 2013 by 2020.
Action 5: Climate-ADAPT website
Action 5 concerns activities by the Commission and EEA to further develop Climate-
ADAPT as the ‘one-stop shop’ for adaptation information in Europe.
This includes
improving access to information and developing interaction between Climate-ADAPT
and other relevant platforms, such as national and local adaptation portals (2013/2014).
Climate-ADAPT started in 2012. It aimed to facilitate collection and dissemination of
information to assist effective uptake by decision makers and to contribute to more
coordination between sectoral policies and between institutional levels. Climate-ADAPT
has since evolved into an information portal to support Europe in adapting to climate
change, co-managed by the EEA and DG CLIMA. It provides information on adaptation
strategies, case studies and specifically designed tools that support adaptation planning
and decision making.
As part of the further development of Climate-ADAPT, the Strategy describes how
special attention will be given to cost-benefit assessments of different policy experiences
and to innovative funding, through closer interaction with regional and local authorities
and financial institutions. The Strategy also indicates that work on the inclusion of the
future Copernicus climate services (previously known as GMES
–
Global Monitoring for
Environment and Security) will start in 2014.
It was expected, at the time the Strategy was prepared, that the further development of
Climate-ADAPT would allow available information on climate change adaptation to be
more easily accessible for decision-makers, by 2020. It was also expected that the further
development of Climate-ADAPT, linking in with other relevant platforms and
developing associated guidance, would result in avoided costs for both the EEA and
other database managers for data integration into Climate-ADAPT. This was also
expected to reduce costs for end-users
to compile and process data (the ‘one-stop-shop’
principle). Another expectation was that the inclusion of the Copernicus Climate Service
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in Climate-ADAPT would allow a better assessment of local and sectoral vulnerabilities
and, therefore, provide additional data for proper climate risk assessments. Furthermore,
it was expected that by supporting the exchange of information between science and
policy, Climate-ADAPT would encourage and stimulate new research and development,
as well as innovation, in the field of climate change adaptation across a broad spectrum
of sectors in the EU as well internationally.
Action 6: Facilitate the climate-proofing of the Common Agricultural Policy, the
Cohesion Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy
Action 6 focuses on key EU financial instruments and policy areas, which cover: the
CAP, delivered through the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the
EAFRD; Cohesion Policy, which is delivered through the ERDF, the ESF and the CF;
and the CFP. These instruments are jointly managed
198
by the Commission with the
Member States. They involve significant additional financial contributions from national
budgets and an important role for Member States in spending the funds on the ground
once the framework is decided with the Commission.
The Strategy committed the Commission to provide guidance on how to further integrate
adaptation into the CAP, Cohesion Policy and the CFP. This guidance was published
alongside the Commission’s Communication on the Strategy. The guidance was designed
for managing authorities and other stakeholders involved in programme design,
development and implementation during the 2014-2020 budget period.
This action was to be led by the Commission with the aim of contributing towards the
comprehensive and consistent mainstreaming of adaptation in EU policies by 2020.
Action 7: Ensuring more resilient infrastructure
Action 7 concerns a three-pronged approach to ensure the development of more climate
resilient infrastructure and commits the Commission to the following activities:
To launch a mandate for European standardisation organisations to start mapping
industry-relevant standards in the area of energy, transport and buildings and to
identify standards that need to be revised to achieve better inclusion of adaptation
considerations.
To provide guidelines to help project developers working on infrastructure and physical
assets to climate-proof vulnerable investments. These guidelines were launched
alongside the Strategy.
To explore the need for additional guidance on ecosystem-based adaptation for
authorities and decision makers, civil society, private business and conservation
practitioners.
It was expected when the Strategy was prepared that that the activities led by the
Commission in relation to Action 7 would help to ensure that major infrastructure
investments are climate-proofed by 2020.
198
Referred to as “shared management”
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Action 8: Promote insurance and other financial products for resilient investment and
business decisions
This action concerns the activities to be undertaken by the Commission, as part of the
Strategy, to promote insurance and other financial products for resilient investments and
business decisions.
In relation to insurance, the Commission’s ‘Green Paper on the Insurance of Natural and
Man-made
Disasters’, adopted as part of the Strategy’s package, was a first step
towards
encouraging insurers to improve how they help to manage climate change risks.
In relation to other financial products, the Strategy envisaged further engagement with
commercial banks on adaptation financing and exploring market-based approaches, such
as payments for ecosystem services.
No clear expectations were stated when the Strategy was prepared as to how the market
for insurance and other financial products for resilient investment would develop as a
result of the above activities. However, it is implicit that these activities would enhance
the development of the market.
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Annex VIII Complementary information on the initiatives under
the Strategy
1. LIFE
As of April 2018, there are at least 60 ongoing adaptation-related LIFE projects targeting
implementation across a combined area of the size of Germany (more than 350 000 km
2
).
Although some participants in the public consultation meeting for this evaluation
expressed concern that geographical coverage of LIFE projects since 2014 has been
uneven, the LIFE mid-term evaluation notes that adaptation-related projects have a wide
geographical coverage: Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Estonia. A total of 44 of ongoing (April 2018) projects
under the LIFE Climate Action sub-programme are categorised to climate change
adaptation in the LIFE projects database.
199
Summary details of these 44 projects are
provided in the table below. There are also approximately 17 adaptation-related projects
in other programme strands, such as nature, environment resource efficiency and climate
change mitigation, with a total value of approximately 43 million EUR
200
.
Table VIII-1: Breakdown of LIFE projects per theme
Sector
No. of
projects
11
3
1
2
4
11
3
6
3
44
Total project
costs
(EUR)
24 188 350
11 598 012
3 337 611
4 134 838
8 482 383
37 392 556
28 565 314
23 914 899
6 343 007
141 613 963
Commission
contribution
(EUR)
14 380 392
6 555 248
1 938 969
2 436 391
4 959 631
17 705 057
17 139 247
10 481 390
3 509 300
73 657 356
Agriculture/forestry/tourism
Ecosystem based approaches
Health and wellbeing
Industry
Mountain/Island areas adaptation
Urban adaptation/planning
Vulnerability assessments/adaptation
strategies
201
Water (incl. flood management,
coastal areas, desertification)
Governance and information
Total
199
200
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm
EASME calculations based on 60% of the 2014-2016 figures
201
Includes two integrated projects
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The new LIFE programme includes ‘integrated projects’ within the action grants, which
are designed to operate at a large geographic scale and “function as multi-purpose
delivery mechanisms (e.g. creating environmental benefits and capacity-building) and are
expected to exploit synergies and ensure consistency between various funding sources of
the EU”.
202
Climate change adaptation is one of the targeted themes for integrated
projects, which are intended as a vehicle for implementation of adaptation strategies and
action plans. To date, two adaptation-related integrated projects have been funded in
Denmark and Spain.
203
In addition to integrated projects, LIFE has also directly supported other adaptation
actions under the Strategy. For example, since 2014, the programme has supported
eleven urban adaptation projects (Table VIII-1, above), six of which (total budget EUR
15.4 million) are helping to implement Mayors Adapt and Covenant of Mayors
commitments. An innovative financial instrument, the Natural Capital Financing Facility
(NCFF), was introduced to the LIFE programme in 2015 (Multiannual Work Programme
2014
–
2017) and is implemented by the EIB. The NCFF provides financing (loan or
equity) and technical assistance for natural capital projects that can generate revenues or
save costs while delivering on biodiversity and climate adaptation objectives
204
. The EIB
aims at an investment of 100 to 125 million EUR, with the EU contribution of 50 million
EUR for guarantees and 10 million EUR for the support facility. At the moment, two out
of the three ongoing projects are related to climate adaptation with a total estimated
investment of 56.6 million euros, of which the EIB investment is 17.5 million EUR. The
Commission contributes with 8.7 million EUR for guarantees and technical support for
the two operations.
2. Covenant of Mayors
Urban areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, due to the often
increasing concentration of population and infrastructure, the ageing population as well
as the high proportion of artificial surfaces (which increases the risks of floods and heat
waves). The increasing frequency of extreme weather events (such as floods or heat
waves) can have dramatic economic and social consequences for our cities.
In order to address this challenge, Mayors Adapt (the Covenant of Mayors Initiative on
Adaptation to Climate Change)
205
was launched by the Commission in March 2014, as a
flagship programme to promote and facilitate urban adaptation planning. Mayors Adapt
drew on experience and expertise developed under the 2012-2013
‘EU Cities Adapt’
pilot project.
In October 2015, Mayors Adapt and the Covenant of Mayors initiatives were merged,
and the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (Covenant) was officially launched,
introducing an integrated approach on mitigation and adaptation and a robust
methodology to assess the risks and vulnerabilities associated with climate change and
track effectiveness of adaptation action.
202
See footnote 109
See footnote 53
204
http://www.eib.org/products/blending/ncff/index.htm
205
http://www.covenantofmayors.eu/about/covenant-initiative/origins-and-development.html
203
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Signatories to the Covenant voluntarily commit to develop a climate vulnerability and
risk assessment and an action plan for targeted adaptation options within two years of
signing up to the initiative. This political commitment includes reporting every two years
on the implementation progress of their plans.
Between 2013
206
and 2018, the Commission implemented and funded the Covenant of
Mayors Office (for the amount of funding, please refer to section 11 in this Annex).
These two actors inform, mobilise and support local authorities in taking climate
mitigation and adaptation action. The Commission and the Covenant Office raise
awareness -including on access to financial opportunities-, encourage political
commitment from local authorities to take action, promote their local commitments and
actions via the Covenant’s communication channels, assist Covenant signatories with any
questions via a helpdesk, technical guidance, including for monitoring and reporting,
capacity-building events and webinars, facilitates peer-to-peer networks and exchange of
experiences and good practices, implement a city twinning programme, online discussion
forums, and networking events. The Commission and the Covenant Office also engage
other governance levels and stakeholders (States, regions, provinces, national / thematic
agencies or organisations, etc.) and co-ordinate work with third parties. The
Commission’s JRC cooperates with the Office to provide comprehensive technical
guidelines, templates and feedback to local authorities for the preparation,
implementation and monitoring
207
of the latter's commitments.
More specifically on facilitating access to funding, this has been one of the key priorities
of the Covenant.
208
Information on funding opportunities is made available on a regular
basis through various means, such as website news items, capacity building events,
webinars, Covenant Investment Forums, as well as the informative material, such as the
Quick reference guide on financing opportunities (March 2016)
209
, leaflets, fact sheets
and most recently the Interactive funding guide available in 23 EU languages since
March 2018.
210
The pool of financial experts is established to generate more knowledge
on innovative financing opportunities and projects to be available for local authorities.
The Commission mobilises financial and political support for signatories at EU level.
Indeed, regarding financing, part of the EU funds and financial instruments (i.e.
European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), European Structural and Investment
Funds, Urban Innovative Actions (UIA), URBACT, LIFE, LIFE Natural Capital
Financing Facility, and H2020 support the implementation of the commitments from
Covenant signatories on climate change adaptation. The Commission also contributes to
providing advice and technical assistance in view of financing local climate change
adaptation projects, e.g. through the Urban Investments and Advisory Platform new
206
207
2008, for climate change mitigation.
At the start of 2017, in consultation with the signatories, the Covenant of Mayors Office developed an
updated and integrated monitoring and reporting framework, which includes mitigation and adaptation
reporting
requirements.
For
the
content/structure
see
here:
https://www.covenantofmayors.eu/IMG/xls/SECAP_Template_EN.xls
208
See footnote 126
209
Quick Reference Guide, Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, 2016. Available:
https://www.covenantofmayors.eu/IMG/pdf/Quick_Reference_Guide_-
_Financing_Opportunities_updated2016.pdf
210
http://www.covenantofmayors.eu/support/funding.html
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dedicated urban investment advisory platform and the Joint Assistance to Support
Projects in European Regions (JASPERS).
211
Regarding political support for signatories at EU level, the Commission contributes to
this through, for instance, its high-level representatives publicly encouraging and
supporting local and Covenant signatories' climate change mitigation and adaptation
commitments and actions, regularly meeting the EU Covenant Board (representing the
Covenant community) as well as cities' and regions' representatives, and participating in
conferences for local authorities organised or not by the Commission (e.g. the Covenant
high-level Ceremony of 22/02/2018
212
), the Commission supporting the Urban Agenda
for the EU including the climate change adaptation theme, and the Commission
supporting the creation of the EUROPA's Cities topic one-stop shop webpage including
the adaptation theme
213
.
Outputs produced by the initiative and shared by signatories are disseminated more
widely via the Covenant of Mayors website
214
and the Climate-ADAPT platform.
By 22 December 2017, within the Covenant of Mayors initiative, 9 264 signatories (local
authorities) from 53 countries (including 28 EU Member States), covering 252 million
inhabitants, had committed to the Covenant of Mayors (mitigation and/or adaptation).
From these local authorities, since the launch of Mayors Adapt in March 2014 and by 30
April 2018, 1076 signatories from 25 EU Member States, covering around 60 million
inhabitants, had committed to conduct vulnerability and risk assessments, and develop,
implement and report on adaptation plans. Out of these signatories, 21 (2%) had
submitted a full local adaptation action plan (i.e. including a strategy and a climate risk
and vulnerability assessment). There has been linear progression since 2014 in the
number of signatories and submitted adaptation plans.
215
At the moment of writing this
document, the number of submitted full adaptation strategies is low due to the fact that
the Covenant online reporting platform for adaptation is not yet fully ready. Once this
online reporting platform will be officially launched, we can expect an increase of
submissions of local adaptation plans, which may well mean estimates based on current
trends are overly pessimistic.
A 2017 survey of just above 500 EU municipalities also found that 28% of municipalities
had a climate adaptation action plan and of those that did not, only 42% intended to
introduce one in an undetermined future (the remaining 17% did not intend to introduce
one and 42% did not know).
216
A 2018 analysis of the local climate plans of 885
The EUROPA Cities topic webpage, Climate adaptation in cities, Funding opportunities and advice,
https://ec.europa.eu/info/eu-regional-and-urban-development/topics/cities/priority-themes/climate-
adaptation-cities_en#funding-opportunities-and-advice.
212
https://www.covenantofmayors.eu/news-and-events/news/1518-10-years-of-european-covenant-of-
mayors.html
213
https://ec.europa.eu/info/eu-regional-and-urban-development/topics/cities/priority-themes/climate-
adaptation-cities_en
214
www.covenantofmayors.eu
215
From March 2014 to April 2018 (50 months, or 4.2 years), the average rate of signatories' adhesions to
the Covenant is of around 256 per year (1076 signatories divided by 4.2 years). From March 2016
(moment from when the first signatories had to start submitting their adaptation plans) to April 2018
(26 months, or 2.2 years), the average rate of adaptation plans' submissions to the Covenant is of
around 10 per year (21 submissions divided by 2.2 years).
216
Covenant community’s needs for SE(C)AP design and implementation, Covenant of Mayors for Energy
& Climate, 2017.
100
211
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representative cities of EU-28 (both Covenant cities and non-Covenant cities) similarly
concluded that about 26% of EU cities had adopted adaptation plans.
217
It suggested
"that, in countries where autonomous local climate [mitigation and/or adaptation] plans
are rare and cities are not required by national legislation to develop plans, such as
Cyprus, Slovenia, Latvia, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Malta, but also Portugal […], Romania
[…] and Spain […], international networks such as the Covenant of Mayors raise the
awareness, build the capacity and, often through EU-funded projects, provide the
expertise and the funding necessary to develop local climate plans." 11% of the cities of
the analysis' sample have an adaptation commitment within the Covenant.
A survey
218
conducted by the Covenant Office in early 2017 that consulted
municipalities, provinces, regions and national ministries identified barriers to city-level
action:
Cities are less aware and less equipped for climate change adaptation than climate
change mitigation. Among the three pillars of the Covenant of Mayors, the area
where respondents from cities declare that they need the most support is climate
adaptation (45.1%), followed by climate mitigation (37.0%) and access to energy
(17.9%);
Access to financial resources remains the greatest barrier to climate action:
scarcity of financial resources appears as a central issue for 84% of municipalities
and for almost 55% of provinces, regions and national ministries. Cities need in
particular specific support regarding access to European Structural Investment
Funds, and the EU funding programmes such as LIFE, Urban Innovative Actions
and URBACT;
A lack of technical expertise and political support were the next most prevalent
barriers for cities: assistance is needed for both planning and implementation of
climate action, including designing an integrated approach to mitigation and
adaptation. 55.8% of municipalities, and 73.4% of provinces, regions and national
ministries indicate strong needs for designing an integrated approach for
mitigation and adaptation.
Based on the identified needs, the Covenant Office has developed a capacity building
strategy and work plan that has translated these findings into concrete actions, such as
capacity-building and awareness-raising workshops, webinars, city twinnings, and the
interactive funding guide,
219
all tailored to the identified needs.
Building on the success of the EU Covenant and its gradual extension to EU’s
neighbourhood, Africa, Americas and Asia based on financial support from the European
Commission, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy
220
was officially
launched in 2017 bringing together the Compact of Mayors
221
and the Covenant of
Mayors. It offers a worldwide multi-stakeholder alliance of cities committed to climate
and energy action, with the support of founding partners, in particular city networks, and
through several regional secretariats, supported by the European Union, that deliver
technological and methodological support.
217
See footnote 147
See footnote 216
219
https://www.covenantofmayors.eu/support/funding.html
220
https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/
221
http://impact.compactofmayors.org/
218
101
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3. Monitoring and evaluation on adaptation action at EU and Member State level
The following can be observed about EU- and Member State-level efforts in developing
monitoring and evaluation of adaptation action.
EU:
Climate vulnerabilities (and logically the appropriateness of adaptation
action) are difficult to compare between EU Member States due to local
specificities.
There was a clear role foreseen for the Commission to develop an EU-
level adaptation preparedness scoreboard (Action 1)
The Structural Funds under the 2014-2020 MFF already include indicators
on the number of people protected from floods and forest fires, however
too few projects have been fully implemented yet to draw meaningful
conclusions on impacts.
In addition, the mainstreaming efforts under the Strategy have enabled the
inclusion of much improved indicators in the recent MFF proposals, e.g.
the CAP proposal.
The current 2014-2020 CAP includes measures to support climate
adaptation. Measures are chosen in support of priorities and focus
areas. There is, however, no adaptation-specific priority or focus
area.
222
This created both a difficulty in clearly identifying and
tracking adaptation action.
The proposed future CAP now includes a specific objective, as well as
impact and result indicators that are directly and exclusively related to
adaptation.
They will help ensure consistent monitoring and reporting of climate
adaptation efforts in agriculture across Member States, while taking
into account national specificities.
Member State:
The Monitoring Mechanism Regulation (outside the framework of the
Strategy) requires Member States to report to the Commission on their
adaptation activities, without setting a mandatory format for such
reporting. The reporting is published on the Climate-ADAPT platform
managed by the EEA.
222
Climate adaptation is split between "risk prevention and management", "restoring, preserving and
enhancing ecosystems related to agriculture and forestry" and "promoting resource efficiency and
supporting the shift towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy in the agriculture, food and
forestry sectors".
102
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The Commission guidelines on Member State strategies state that the
NASs should also include monitoring and evaluation tools at national
level.
Whereas all NASs do foresee such monitoring and evaluation tools,
Member States are monitoring and evaluating their strategies to a varying
degree, depending on where they are in the adaptation policy cycle.
o
For example, Germany will complete the evaluation of their 2008
strategy in 2019.
o
In the case of the Netherlands, the 2007 NAS was evaluated in 2012,
which led to the conclusion that the 2007 NAS did not address all
relevant implications of climate change. This in turn contributed to the
conception of the Dutch NAS 2016.
o
National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) implementing the strategies add a
further layer of complexity to monitoring.
Further improvement and sharing lessons learnt is probably possible. The
EEA will publish a paper in 2018 and a full report in 2019 or 20 on how
evaluation processes can improve adaptation practices at country-level.
o
This is a learning and dissemination exercise looking at five countries
which have used evaluation indicators (further countries have
expressed interest in joining the exercise).
o
The report also looks into links between indicators at national level
and the relevant indicator developments under the Sendai Framework
for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the Paris Agreement and the
Sustainable Development Goals.
o
It will also examine how data collected by EUROSTAT can be used
for different adaptation purposes.
In the future, the reporting requirements under the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation
will be replaced by the provisions of the recently adopted Energy Union Governance
Regulation.
223
The role of the adaptation preparedness scoreboard also needs to be re-
defined in this new context. This should be an occasion to enhance and further harmonise
the monitoring and evaluation framework for adaptation policy at EU and national level.
223
COM(2016) 759: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
Governance of the Energy Union, amending Directive 94/22/EC, Directive 98/70/EC, Directive
2009/31/EC, Regulation (EC) No 663/2009, Regulation (EC) No 715/2009, Directive 2009/73/EC,
Council Directive 2009/119/EC, Directive 2010/31/EU, Directive 2012/27/EU, Directive 2013/30/EU
and Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 525/2013
103
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4. Bridging the knowledge gaps
Four knowledge gaps were identified in the Strategy
224
:
Information on projected costs and benefits of impacts and adaptation
Regional and local-level analyses and risk assessments
Frameworks, models and tools to support decision making within uncertainty and
to assess the effectiveness of adaptation measures
Monitoring and evaluation of past adaptation efforts
The evaluation assessed how much effort was put into each broad knowledge domain and
where possible, how much financial input was invested in it. To assess which sectors of
society were assisted with knowledge production, all research items were ascribed to
sectors (e.g. water, nature, health etc.). From several studies on remaining knowledge
gaps, the evaluation then inferred if the effort for each domain so far is perceived as
sufficient; and if new knowledge domains have emerged for society to be able to move
towards adaptation action.
As means for addressing the knowledge gaps, the Strategy indicated H2020 and the JRC,
the latter especially, would provide a comprehensive EU-wide vulnerability assessment.
The ‘Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2014-15’ was adopted in December 2013 to
promote EU-wide vulnerability assessments, considering, inter alia, the cross-sectoral EU
overview of natural and manmade risks that the Commission produced in 2013. The
H2020 work programmes 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 explicitly mention the Strategy.
In close collaboration with the European Environmental Information and Observation
Network (Eionet) and its 33 member countries, the EEA gathers data and produces
assessments on a range of topics related to the environment
225
. More specifically EEA
supports and informs policy development and implementation in the area of climate
change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation by means of data, information/indicators,
and assessments
226
. In these activities EEA is supported by the European Topic Centre on
Climate Change Adaptation (ETC/CCA), funded by EEA
227
.
The EEA report on 'Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016'
228
provides an overview as well as valuable analysis of knowledge gaps remaining in 2018,
which have been mapped against the knowledge gaps identified in the Strategy. This
analysis was based on a range of sources (including IPCC, JPI and EU projects), but it
was not fully comprehensive.
A study assessing available knowledge in three thematic areas was also completed for the
Commission in 2017 (vulnerability assessment, ecosystem-based adaptation,
infrastructure adaptation).
229
Since 2011 the JRC has been supporting the European
The Impact
Assessment of the Strategy suggested one more knowledge gap (‘Socio-economic
trends
that are interrelated with climatic changes’. See Commission Staff Working Document: Impact
Assessment, SWD(2013) 132 final, page 14.
225
https://www.eea.europa.eu/
and
https://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us
226
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate-change-adaptation
and the multi-annual and annual work
programmes
227
http://cca.eionet.europa.eu/
228
See footnote 113
229
Ecofys, Assessing Adaptation Knowledge in Europe: Vulnerability to Climate Change / Ecosystem-
Based Adaptation / Infrastructure Resilience in the Transport, Energy and Construction Sectors, study
224
104
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Commission in analysing the socio-economic costs and benefits of climate change and
adaptation to it in different sectors (JRC PESETA projects). The evidence to date
indicates that despite progress in understanding, knowledge gaps remain in the areas
identified in the Strategy (notably as regards benefits of adaptation in other areas) and
new ones have emerged, as adaptation is a fast evolving and complex field.
Table VIII-2 Remaining knowledge gap components
Key knowledge gaps
identified
in
the Areas where further research is still needed
Strategy 2013
Information
on
projected costs and
benefits of impacts
and adaptation
Knowledge on effective adaptation solutions
Regional and local-
level analyses and risk
assessments
Enhanced approaches to regional- and local-level
adaptation issues
Robust, integrated (across sectors and geographical
and governance scales) impact, vulnerability and
adaptation assessments
Climate services providing the best available climate
data to support adaptation
Decision-making and policymaking support tools
and assessments, including on the costs and
benefits of impacts and adaptation
Ways to deal with uncertainties
Frameworks, models
and tools to support
decision making within
uncertainty and to
assess
the
effectiveness
of
adaptation measures
Monitoring
and
evaluation of past
adaptation efforts
Monitoring systems and tools
The 2017 knowledge assessment study identified new gaps in the following two sectors:
Ecosystem
based
Adaptation (EbA)**
Demonstration of transferability of existing evidence
in terms of contexts or relevant climate hazards, as
evidence is highly context specific
Effectiveness and efficiency of EbA at larger scales
of implementation (e.g. river basins)
Demonstration and quantification of co-benefits of
EbA
for the European Commission, 2017. Available:
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/adaptation/what/knowledge_en#tab-0-1
105
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Infrastructure**
Higher resolution projections of climate data need,
up to below 1 km which can be beyond the current
boundaries of climate modelling
Assessment of competing land-use objectives and
optimal land-use options (for example, in terms of
water resources, flood management, renewable
energy production)
Better understanding of the transport sector’s
current and future vulnerabilities across modes,
including inter-modal vulnerability assessments and
the potential for integrated adaptive solutions across
and beyond the transport sector
Developing, selecting and applying adaptation
indicators and the appropriate monitoring system at
city level to assess progress in adaptation and the
effectiveness of measures
Improve understanding on how to combine climate
and non-climate data for infrastructure planning
Better understanding on how to evaluate and
address dependencies and interdependencies
within and across infrastructure sectors (also
includes water and Information and Communication
Technology), in particular with social and
environmental sector, and how cascade effects
impact vulnerability
Further new gaps identified by the EEA and other stakeholders are listed in Chapter 6.1
under the relevance criterion. They include:
Interdependencies, synergies and trade-offs with other relevant sustainable
development goals
Enhanced communication, shared learning and co‑creation of knowledge.
Spillover effects of impacts and adaptation within EU and at the global level. The
case study on spillover effect from climate change impacts outside the EU (see
Case Study 2 in Annex XIV) also highlights the need to review existing evidence
and invest in this field.
Adaptation in mountainous areas
Long-term lack of water resources
High-end climate change
Gaps in research topics such as health, coastal areas, biodiversity.
124 research items (defined as research reports, projects and programmes) have been
identified that were published in 2013 or later, and are focused on adaptation to climate
change. Figure VIII-1 provides a breakdown of the 124 research items by source.
106
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Figure VIII-1 Number of adaptation-focused projects and reports since 2013
Source: Own analysis
Expenditure on adaptation-related research includes:
The seventeen FP7 projects identified that addressed adaptation to climate change
had a total budget of EUR 106 million.
A total of EUR 275 million has been committed to H2020 adaptation research
projects starting between 2014 and 2017 (generally ending 3-5 years later). This
amounts to 0.6% of the total H2020 budget 2014–2020.
230
It is estimated that EUR 10 million was spent by JRC on adaptation since 2013,
which equates to about 0.8% of the total JRC budget for this period. It is not
possible to identify the exact proportion of JRC’s total budget made available for
adaptation-related research over the period 2013
–
2016, as it cuts across several
different parts of JRC and there is no specific budget head.
The EEA prepares assessments based on information provided by its member countries
as well as from climate adaptation research and other information sources. EEA also
funds the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Adaptation (ETC/CCA) to support
its work programme on adaptation. Expenditure by EEA on all work on climate change
impacts, vulnerability and adaptation is not available. But specifically for Climate-
ADAPT, an estimate was calculated for the combined expenditure of EEA and the
Commission of about 2.7 million EUR, for the period 2013-2016, based on EEA
information.
Figure VIII-2 shows the 124 research items categorised according to the knowledge gaps
identified in the Strategy that they address. A total of 50 items are related to newly
emergent knowledge gaps: mainstreaming; cooperation; adaptation technologies; and a
230
Factsheet: Horizon 2020 budget, European Commission, 2013. Retrieved
https://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/pdf/press/fact_sheet_on_horizon2020_budget.pdf
107
from:
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more generic category, including issues relating to the climate system and resilience.
Although they are not strictly within the pre-formulated knowledge gaps of Action 4,
they are related to other actions in the Strategy, so it seems reasonable to assume that
they result from the Strategy.
Figure VIII-2 Research projects and reports addressing the four knowledge gaps or other emerging knowledge
gaps
Source: Own analysis
Each of the 124 research items have been ascribed to the sector to which they primarily
relate: cities, water, infrastructure, agriculture, nature, fisheries, health, disaster risk
reduction, or ‘other’ (broad projects or programmes, encompassing many sectors).
The
most frequently addressed sectors were water (27 items), nature (25 items), and
agriculture (24 items). A total of 30 items were categorised as ‘other’.
Taking costs identified in H2020 grants as a proxy for spending per domain, most
addressed water, cities, and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Other research funding is
spent by JRC, other EU directorates, Member States, and others, for which detailed data
on expenditure was not found. The budget for the JRC reports could not be retrieved, as
JRC does not monitor this amount separately, however, JRC estimates the total amount at
Euro 10 million between 2013 and 2017.
108
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Figure VIII-3 Total expenditure per domain
Source: Own analysis
In summary, 45 H2020 projects and 34 JRC reports dealing with adaptation have been
identified. The total budget for the H2020 projects starting between 2014 and 2017 is
EUR 275 million. A further EUR 148 million has been committed for 2018-2020.
The European Climate Change Adaptation conference series, launched in 2013 following
the publication of the Strategy, has gained a significant momentum since its inception,
and had become the de facto European forum of excellence for adaptation scientists and
practitioners.
5. Climate-ADAPT
The information on the Climate–ADAPT portal is collected by the EEA, and the
European Topic Centre on Climate Change Adaptation (ETC/CCA), from a range of
information sources, including EU-funded research projects, Interreg, LIFE, national
policy pages, and reports from NGOs and sector networks. These documents are
submitted monthly to the database and subjected to a strict quality control process carried
out by the EEA and the ETC/CCA. Currently, a total of 76 case studies describe
implementation of adaptation actions and information on 40 adaptation options have been
gathered. Country pages present the information on the state of play on adaptation in
each Member State, which was reported under the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation in
2015 and was updated on a voluntary basis in 2016-2017. A total of 84 city profiles of
selected Covenant of Mayors and Mayors Adapt signatories have been included.
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The EEA mid-term evaluation report on Climate-ADAPT includes a set of use cases of
Climate-ADAPT
231
which gives an overview of who is using Climate-ADAPT and what
for. For example, the UK health sector has used Climate-ADAPT information to create a
risk and adaptation plan for the health sector in England, while the City of Bologna has
used Climate-ADAPT information to develop the Bologna Urban Adaptation Plan and
guidelines for medium-sized Italian cities.
6. Key policy initiatives where adaptation was mainstreamed
During the period covered by the evaluation, adaptation was mainstreamed in EU and
international
disaster risk reduction
polices. In 2013, the EU Civil Protection
legislation was revised to ensure better response to natural and man-made disasters.
Climate change was integrated in the new legislation as one of the reasons for the
increasing severity and complexity of disasters and included as a component of the EU
assessment of risks and in trainings for civil protection personnel. Since early 2014,
much effort has been put in mainstreaming adaptation in the implementation of the Civil
Protection Mechanism legislation and in all its annual work programmes. In 2017, a new
Commission proposal for the Union Civil Protection mechanism was adopted: it
recognizes a fundamental role for prevention in disaster risk management, and includes
consideration of climate change impacts as a key component of effective prevention and
preparedness.
Synergies between climate change adaptation and DRR were also enhanced in the
implementation of EU cohesion policy funds, in particular the ERDF and the CF.
Climate and disaster proofing are built into the appraisal of major projects for cohesion
policy support. Moreover, risk assessments are a precondition for funding from the
ERDF and CF.National climate change adaptation strategies are required, where
appropriate, to inform national risk assessments. Currently work is ongoing to integrate
climate change adaptation in the disaster risk reduction peer review system to promote
policy development and actions relevant to disaster risk reduction. Climate change
adaptation has also been mainstreamed in the work plan and in most outputs of the
Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Knowledge Centre (launched in September 2015).
From an international angle, Commission Services have worked to integrate climate
change adaptation in the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction (adopted in March
2015). Much of the work done on cities, infrastructure, insurance, knowledge and loss
and damage directly contributes to the implementation of the EU Action Plan on the
Sendai Framework. Adaptation is also well anchored in the work of the European Forum
for Disaster Risk reduction
(co-lead
by the EU Commission and United Nations Office
for Disaster Risk Reduction) which aims to
create a safer Europe by reducing risks and
vulnerability and supports Europe's contribution to the Sendai framework.
As regards the
EU’s Outermost Regions,
the Commission adopted in October 2017 a
new strategy
232
committing to consistently taking into account these regions’ specificities
in all EU policies. This entails taking into account the particular constraints of these
regions when designing the selection criteria and types of financial support. The
Commission has committed to implementing a number of initiatives to cater for the
climate vulnerabilities, which compound their specific limitations in terms of e.g.
remoteness, small size, insularity and socio-economic problems. Certain French
231
232
https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/help/climate-adapt-use-cases/climate-adapt-use-cases/
See footnote 138
110
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Outermost Regions were affected by hurricanes in 2017 (such as Saint-Martin, 95% of its
French part having been destroyed by hurricane Irma).
In terms of
EU water policy,
the Blueprint to safeguard Europe's water resources was
adopted in 2012 with the long-term objective to ensure the sustainability of all activities
that impact on water. It recognised the challenges brought about by climate change and
pointed to a number of means to preserve EU water resources. Blueprint actions included
inter alia the development of a Green infrastructure strategy
233
that includes a specific
chapter on adaptation, the development of a SWD on Agriculture and sustainable water
management
234
, and a current proposal
for “Minimum quality requirements for reused
water in the EU”.
235
In a separate process, the Floods Directive foresaw upon its entry into force in 2007 the
mandatory integration of climate change projections into their flood risk assessments,
maps and plans by the 2
nd
cycle of its implementation (2016-2021). 14 Member States
had already included climate change in their Preliminary Flood Risk Assessments and 16
in their Flood Hazard and Risk Maps by 2011 and 2013 respectively on the basis of
readily available information in the 1
st
cycle of implementation (2010-15).
The Commission is currently in the process of assessing the Flood Risk Management
Plans (FRMPs) in parallel with the River Basin Management Plans. A report
summarising the findings of these assessments will be published in the 2
nd
half of 2018
and will make reference to climate change. Over the 2
nd
cycle of implementation (2016-
2021) Member States are required to take into account the likely impact of climate
change on the occurrence of floods, thus putting a stronger requirement compared to the
1
st
cycle.
The main EU initiative in
urban policy,
the Urban Agenda for the EU is progressing
with the objective to include and better recognise the urban dimension in policies.
Climate adaptation is one of the priority themes under the Urban Agenda for the EU and
has been mainstreamed into its key elements, such as the EU One Stop Shop for Cities,
the Urban Data Platform, Urban Innovative Actions, and the Urban Investments and
Advisory Platform. A Climate Adaptation Partnership was launched in July 2017
236
and
is currently preparing an action plan to be adopted by the end of 2018. Synergies with
other Urban Agenda for the EU Partnerships are sought, including those on: Sustainable
Use of Land and Nature-Based solutions; Circular Economy; Air Quality; and Energy
Transition.
Adaptation was also
mainstreamed into the Commission’s 2016 proposal on the
Governance of the
Energy Union.
237
The proposal, which had been foreseen in the 2015
Energy Union Strategy
238
, specified the Member States’ reporting requirements on
233
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Green Infrastructure (GI)
–
Enhancing
Europe's Natural Capital, COM(2013) 249
234
Commission Staff Working Document: Agriculture and Sustainable Water Management in the EU,
SWD(2017) 153 final
235
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on minimum requirements for
water reuse, COM(2018) 337 final
236
https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/climate-adaptation
237
See footnote 223.
238
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic
and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank: A
111
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adaptation policy in greater detail than the current Monitoring Mechanism Regulation,
which it should replace in an effort to align with adaptation reporting under the Paris
Agreement. The energy and climate related reporting in the EU will be also simplified, as
it is regrouped under the same law. The draft regulation, on which the European
Parliament and the Council reached an informal agreement in June 2018, equally ensures
that the National Energy and Climate Plans to be submitted by the Member States in the
future include climate adaptation components where applicable.
Climate change adaptation has actively been mainstreamed in EU
development
cooperation
policy and actions. Strengthening climate change resilience, in particular in
most vulnerable countries is considered as an important component of EU development
cooperation and is therefore integrated in all the relevant EU policy documents (for
example Agenda 2030, and the European Consensus on Development).
Operationally, support to climate change adaptation is integrated into:
Development cooperation programs with partner countries (Instrument for
Development Cooperation, DCI and European Development Fund, EDF) in
sectors as energy, agriculture, water, forestry, disaster risk reduction, etc.
Regional envelopes (EDF and DCI budgets), for example in Latin America
(EuroClima) or in programmes on disaster risk reduction.
Financed through dedicated thematic programmes, such as the Global Climate
Change Alliance + (GCCA+)
Finance for climate change has increased in the past years from EUR 9.5 billion in 2013
to EUR 20.2 billion in 2016. To date, the European Commission is one of the major
donors for adaptation finance: in 2017, more than 50% of the climate change finance was
dedicated to adaptation projects.
During the period covered by the evaluation, awareness was raised on the link between
climate change, EU
external relations and security.
In the past couple of years concrete
steps have been made to integrate and recognize climate change as a threat multiplier
which if not managed well can spur a downward spiral of fragility and conflict.
Concretely, climate change has become an important part of the External Action Service
strategic reflections
239
and it has been integrated in the External Action Service work on
security and conflict prevention. The EU Conflict Early Warning System (EWS) assesses
the risk of emergence, re-emergence and escalation of violent conflict in the coming four
years. Climate change has over the last 2 years been a priority theme for conflict
prevention and fragility assessment in the EWS. For the countries that are prioritised by
the EWS, an in-depth conflict analysis is conducted which also looks at climate change
impacts.
Relevant to the security angle is also the progress made on recognizing and further
analysing the link between climate change and human displacement, as demonstrated at
the international level by the creation of a Task Force on Displacement in the context of
Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy,
COM(2015) 080 final
239
Such as the EU Global Strategy and A Strategic Approach to Resilience in the EU's External Action
112
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the UNFCCC.
240
In 2013, a Commission Staff Working Paper on Climate Change and
Migration was adopted together with the EU Adaptation Strategy. This paper provides an
overview of the research and data currently available on the interlinkages between
climate change, environmental degradation and migration.
Since 2013, EU policies on migration and external relations have increasingly taken into
account climate change as a trigger to displacement and climate change adaptation as an
effective tool to tackle root causes of migration. Examples include: Council conclusion
on Climate diplomacy in 2013
241
, 2016
242
and 2018
243
and the 2016 Communication on
Forced Displacement and Development
244
.
Environmentally induced migration continues to be a priority under the EU's external
cooperation instruments for the period 2014-2020. The Programme on Global Public
Goods and Challenges
245
includes a migration and asylum component which includes a
commitment to deliver on improving understanding of the impacts of climate change and
environmental degradation on migration flows and the potential of migration to
contribute to climate change adaptation. Moreover, the EU financed a number of projects
to develop knowledge and practices to address climate induced migration.
The 2017 Joint Communication
246
on Resilience developed to define an approach to
address the challenges identified in the EU’s Global Strategy for the European Union’s
Foreign and Security Policy
247
builds on the 2013-2020 Resilience Action Plan
248
and is
aligned with EU commitments to the 2030 Agenda
249
. It consider economic resilience as
an important area for the overall resilience of the EU, with climate change as a cross-
cutting disruptive element, mentioning financial contingency measures, sustainable and
inclusive investment, and promotion of a circular economy to protect vital services and
facilities in case of instability. The EU is to “work with the European Investment Bank,
other International Financial Institutions, business sector organisations and social
partners to enhance investment frameworks for economic and social resilience”,
notably
by “promoting risk transfer through risk financing mechanisms such as insurance and
contingency credit”.
How the topic of adaptation was mainstreamed in EU funds (CAP, CFP, ESIF) is
analysed in more detail in section 8 below.
240
https://unfccc.int/process/bodies/constituted-bodies/executive-committee-of-the-warsaw-international-
mechanism-for-loss-and-damage-wim-excom/areas-of-work/migration--displacement-and-human-
mobility
241
Council conclusions on EU Climate Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs Council meeting, Luxembourg, 24
June 2013
242
Council conclusions on European climate diplomacy after COP21, Foreign Affairs Council Meeting,
Brussels, 15 February 2016
243
Council conclusions on Climate Diplomacy, 26 February 2018
244
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Lives in Dignity: From Aid-
dependence to Self-reliance, COM(2016) 234 final
245
Commision Implementing Decision adopting a Multiannual Indicative Programme for the Thematic
Programme 'Global Public Goods and Challenges' for the period 2014-2020. C(2014)5072
246
Joint Communication on 'A Strategic Approach to Resilience in the EU's external action' JOIN(2017)
21 final
247
Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe. European Commission, 2016
248
Commission Staff Working Document: Action Plan for Resilience in Crisis Prone Countries 2013-2020,
SWD(2013) 227 final
249
Council conclusions on A sustainable European Future: The EU response to the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development, 20 June 2017
113
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7. Carbon Disclosure Project survey results on companies and climate risks
The 2017 company questionnaires for climate change, forestry and water undertaken by
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) did not extensively report on climate adaptation
activities on a company level. Consequently, the level of analysis on adaptation activities
by private organisations is limited by the generic framing of questions, and the overlap
between climate adaptation practices and conventional risk management strategies.
Accounting for the analytical limitations, the 2017 climate change questionnaire still
found cases of climate impacts capable of impact on businesses. Inter alia, the
questionnaire found that 84% of the 764 surveyed companies had identified inherent
'physical climate parameters' with the potential to generate a substantive change to the
business operations, revenue or expenditure. Similarly, in the 2017 questionnaire for the
CDP Forests Program found an even higher climate relevance of identified operational
risks, with 40% of identified operational risks having a direct climate relevance, and an
additional 51% with an indirect climate relevance. The Forests Program questionnaire
further suggests that companies consider such operational risks to be likely to occur, with
78% of companies indicating risks to be medium
–
high likelihood of affecting their
operations (CDP Forests Program 2017 questionnaire).
CDP's 2017 Water Information Request found that 93% of companies undertake water-
related risk assessments. 85% of surveyed companies indicate inherent water risks with
an ability to affect business production and continuity (CDP 2017 Water Information
Request). The assessment of adaptation actions and risk mitigation strategies is rendered
difficult by the overlap between these actions and more conventional business risk
mitigation strategies. Supplier engagement and diversification represents the most
commonly adopted response strategy (41% of actions), with 26% of strategies
incorporating made up of infrastructure & technological investment, due diligence,
monitoring & evaluation, facility relocation, risk transfer instruments and flood
emergency plans (see figure below).
Figure VIII-4. Most commonly implemented response strategies reported by
companies through the CDP 2017 Water Information Request
Most implemented response strategies
2%
4%
4%
12%
42%
1%
1%
Supplier engagement &
diversification
Stakeholder engagement &
promoting best practice
Infrastructure & technological
investment
Due diligence, monitoring &
evaluation
New products
Water management incentives
Facility relocation
Risk transfer instruments
24%
Flood emergency plan
10%
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For 2018 the CDP is restructuring the questionnaires to enable more direct linkages to
climate change mitigation and adaptation actions. Through these changes, it is anticipated
that companies will be able to report in greater detail on activities such as new service
developments, land management practices and supplier engagements with concrete
mitigation and/or adaptation benefits.
8. EU funds for climate resilience
Common Agriculture Policy
According to a 2016 study
250
, the EAFRD is the only ESIF where there seems to be a
greater focus on adaptation actions compared to mitigation objectives. While this seems
to enhance the status of Action 6 of the Strategy, there are two important caveats. Firstly,
while adaptation seems to be well acknowledged into Rural Development Programmes
(RDPs), it seldom appears as the objective having presided over the choice of the specific
measures. This is especially so due to the difficulty to separate mitigation and adaptation
related measures in agriculture and forestry sector, as those measures offer co-benefits.
Adaptation is considered by virtually all RDPs. It is more to the fore in those regions that
are already being affected by extreme weather events. While many measures (e.g.
targeting biodiversity, soil, and water use) have the potential to support climate
adaptation, whether they are implemented will need to be assessed by an ex post
evaluation of programmes. Secondly, the tracking methodology developed for the
EAFRD raises concerns about over-estimations. The European Court of Auditors has
suggested an alternative and more conservative use of the Commission’s climate
markers. It concluded that this could reduce the overall climate allocations under the
EAFRD by 42%.
251
The Commission took note of the suggestions while emphasising
that the tracking methodology needs to remain stable during the current MFF for reasons
of predictability, consistency and transparency. However, ways of fine-tuning the
tracking methodology for the EAFRD may be considered for the post-2020 programming
period without increasing the administrative burden.
More broadly, climate mainstreaming is supported under the EAFRD by the requirement
for RDPs to spend at least 30% on a range of climate and environmental measures.
252
Nevertheless, this minimum requirement includes measures which do not appear to have
a significant impact on the achievement of climate objectives.
253
It is also notable that
while rural development measures provide scope to fund adaptation that directly benefits
farm businesses (for example, support for more efficient irrigation systems) and delivers
wider public benefits (e.g. land management practices which reduce flood risks),
programmes appear to focus on the former.
The European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF),
which funds the CAP’s direct
payments, is not part of ESIF. Climate considerations are included via the greening
component (30% of total direct payments) and cross-compliance (basic requirements to
access direct payments).
According to the Commission’s calculations around 20% of
direct payments can be considered climate relevant. The European Court of Auditors
(2016) suggests that assumptions used for this estimate lack sound justification, in
250
251
See footnote 78
See footnote 170
252
Article 59.6 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 on support for rural development by the EAFRD
253
Ricardo Energy & Environment, IEEP, Trinomics, Climate mainstreaming in the EU Budget: preparing
for the next MFF. Final report, 2017
115
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particular, for measuring the climate relevance of the non-greening component. With the
application of more conservative estimates, they identify that the total contribution can be
reduced by EUR 9 billion from EUR 47.1 billion to EUR 38 billion.
254
The
Commission’s response to the report
states that it considers its methodology suitably
conservative and does not lead to an overestimation. The principal climate relevant
impact of the greening measures is carbon sequestration represented by the permanent
grassland measure. Diversification and ecological focus areas can also support
adaptation. Certain elements of the cross-compliance requirements related to
biodiversity, soil, water also indirectly contribute to adaptation. Cross-compliance has
helped to encourage adaptation actions to some degree. There is an ongoing evaluation
255
by the Commission of the impact of the CAP on climate change and greenhouse gas
emissions, which is expected to also provide evidence on adaptation actions in the CAP.
Cohesion Policy
Both the ERDF and the CF provide contributions to the climate adaptation objectives
under the adaptation Thematic Objective (TO5), under low-carbon economy (TO4) and
also in other Thematic Objectives due to the horizontal mainstreaming. The ESF does not
target TO5
256
. The climate tracking system applied under the Cohesion Policy, in
particular the ERDF and the CF, is the most sophisticated. The climate markers are
applied to a thematic list of 123 intervention codes
257
at the point when expenditure is
committed by the managing authorities. For the 2014-2020 programming period, the
intervention codes have been revised. A code specifically focusing on adaptation actions
(code 087: “Adaptation to climate change measures and prevention and management of
climate related risks e.g. erosion, fires, flooding, storms and drought, including
awareness raising, civil protection and disaster management systems and
infrastructures”) was introduced, to which a 100% climate marker was applied.
Furthermore, a separate code (100:
“Outermost
regions: support to compensate additional
costs due to climate conditions and relief difficulties”) was put in place to track
adaptation actions in outermost regions but only counts as 40%.
According to the study
258
estimates, which build on the amount of allocations for the
relevant intervention codes, EUR 6 billion has been allocated to adaptation objectives
under the Cohesion Policy with EUR 3 billion each for ERDF and CF. This accounts for
For more details of the calculations, see 'Spending at least one euro in every five from the EU budget on
climate action: ambitious work underway, but at serious risk of falling short', European Court of
Auditors, 2016, p.30.
255
See more at: Evaluation of the impact of the CAP measures on climate change and greenhouse gas
emissions, European Commission, Ares(2017)2886183
256
As the ESF supports social and employment objectives, climate change is not considered to be a
primary objective. Thus, it does not cover TO5. Nevertheless, in order to better capture the potential
contribution of the ESF to climate objectives (e.g. through investment in low-carbon skills), a
secondary
theme (01: “low-carbon, resource efficient economy”) was established. At the same time, its
relevance seems to be greater for mitigation actions than for adaptation.
257
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 215/2014 of 7 March 2014 laying down rules for
implementing Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying
down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the ESF, the CF, the
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and
laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the ESF, the CF and the
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund with regard to methodologies for climate change support, the
determination of milestones and targets in the performance framework and the nomenclature of
categories of intervention for ESIF.
258
See footnote 78
116
254
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11.2% of the total ERDF and CF allocation. Furthermore, another EUR 4 billion was
estimated to provide indirect climate (mitigation and adaptation) benefits. The review of
the Operational Priorities showed that nearly half of them addressed climate change
adaptation at the high strategic level of the Operational Priorities, which then translate
into specific objectives and actions. Most adaptation relevant allocations targeted flood
protection measures. Other allocations include actions on drought and heatwaves and less
frequently on specific sector-related actions (e.g. energy efficiency in buildings and
making transport infrastructure climate-resilient).
More broadly, climate change objectives (both mitigation and adaptation) are further
supported in Cohesion Policy by the legal provisions for the ESIF (e.g. horizontal
mainstreaming, ex ante conditionalities, major project assessments and common output
indicators).
Adaptation objectives are also an important component of the European Territorial
Cooperation (ETC) goal, which is supported by the ERDF. The ETC has been further
strengthened in the 2014-2020 programming period through closer alignment with the
macro-regional strategies and greater recognition and encouragement of Member States
to cooperate at the macro-regional and sea-basin level. More than 20% or almost EUR 2
billion of the ETC programmes expenditure is expected to contribute to climate change
objectives. Adaptation is emphasised in these programmes: with 75% of all cooperation
programmes including adaptation as part of their strategy, and a particularly high level of
support for adaptation in cross-border programmes (as opposed to transnational and
interregional programmes). In addition to the cooperation programmes themselves,
territorial cooperation is also being pursued by the EU macro-regional strategies (e.g. the
EU Strategy for the Danube Region or the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region
–
see Case
Study 3 in Annex XIV). In many cases, the macro-regional strategies have a targeted
focus on adaptation actions.
Support from the CF can be only applied in a limited number of Member States
259
. Those
Member States which cannot receive funds from the CF made a greater use of the
EAFRD for their adaptation actions, although the actual adaptation impacts of these
actions are not always clear (see comment above in section on climate-proofing the
CAP). Another interesting aspect is the urban dimension of Cohesion Policy. This is
primarily supported by the ERDF but also receives support through CF and ESF. To
strengthen the role of the ERDF in sustainable urban development, a target of 5% was set
as a minimum share of ERDF that needs to be spent directly on integrated urban
strategies by the cities. Furthermore, the emphasis on cities in ERDF investments have
been increased, as about EUR 15 billion from the ERDF is planned to be directly
managed by cities. At the same time, the EEA has highlighted that “although climate
change adaptation is not a major focus in this, the support for green infrastructure might
be considerable, as a major emphasis is on urban rejuvenation and brown field
regeneration”.
260
While green infrastructure has the potential to deliver adaptation
benefits, in the ERDF and CF Operational Programmes most of the green infrastructure
actions were described only in general terms, rather than in the more explicit terms used
259
260
Support from the CF can be only used by Member States whose Gross National Income (GNI) per
inhabitant is less than 90 % of the EU average. Also, the CF can only intervene in a few TOs, which
explains why it appears to be more concentrated on adaptation than ERDF.
'Building resilient cities key to tackling effects of climate change', European Environment Agency.
2016.
117
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for other types of investment (for example, investments to achieve water quality goals).
Thus, implementation of these actions is uncertain.
In addition to the 5% ear-marking for integrated urban strategies, ERDF allocations to
TO4 (”Supporting the
shift towards a low-carbon
economy in all sectors”) shall be at
least 20% in more developed regions, 15% in transition regions, and 12% in less
developed regions.
261
A similar ear-marking is not in place for the adaptation objective.
(TO5), but there is also possibility to finance low-carbon strategies, including mitigation-
related adaptation measures under TO4. Finally, climate considerations integrated into
decisions on major projects supported by the ERDF and CF, as a result of the legal
provisions on assessment of such projects, are also expected to have a positive impact on
climate adaptation and climate resilience.
Common Fisheries Policy
As mentioned above, the thematic objectives set in legislation for ESIF include TO5,
which explicitly addresses climate adaptation and risk management. However, the
legislation for the EMFF
262
does not specifically address TO5, indicating a lesser focus
on climate adaptation actions. Nevertheless, the study found that some of the measures
(e.g. the protection and restoration of marine biodiversity, and the adaptation of fishing
gear to altering conditions) under the EMFF have the potential to deliver adaptation
objectives.
At the same time, the climate tracking methodology for EMFF is not developed in great
detail. Furthermore, the ECA (2016) notes that Member States were not required to
report on climate expenditure until 2016 and, as such, the accuracy of Commission
estimates cannot be verified. It states that the current legal framework shows that “direct
and clear references to climate change objectives, both mitigation and adaptation, are still
rare and, as a result, the fisheries fund had not widened the scope of its contribution to
climate action”. Indirect contribution of EMFF to climate adaptation objectives cannot
be
tracked given the lack of detailed tracking methodology.
Overall expenditure on adaptation
An indicative split between adaptation and mitigation
–
based on the outcome of the
programming exercise
–
is presented below in Figure VIII-5 from a study
263
undertaken
for the Commission as part of the mainstreaming of climate action
264
into the European
Structural and Investment Funds in the programming period 2014-2020.
261
Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1301/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17
December 2013 on the European Regional Development Fund and on specific provisions concerning
the Investment for growth and jobs goal and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006.
262
Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014
263
COWI, Mainstreaming of adaptation into the ESIF 2014-2020, Study for the European Commission,
2017: Main Report
(https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/budget/docs/report_maindtreaming_adaptation_en.pdf);
Annex A with Case Studies
(https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/budget/docs/report_maindtreaming_adaptation_en.pdf);
Country Summaries for EU28
(https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/budget/docs/report_maindtreaming_adaptation_annex_b_en
.pdf)
264
See footnote 78
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Many measures that are good for mitigation also entail co-benefit for adaptation and
vice-versa. Hence an identification of measures exclusively supporting mitigation or
adaptation objectives would neither be desirable nor feasible. This however does not
prevent from tracking expenditures supportive of mitigation and adaptation objectives
separately, even if a certain proportion of such expenditures is then counted twice.
Figure VIII-5
EU Support and climate related expenditures - EUR Billion. [% of total]
Climate
related
EU support
Of which
Direct
Direct mitigation adaptation
Supportive
measures for both
ERDF and ETC
196.7
37.9
[19.3%]
30.8
[15.7%]
13.4
[21.1%]
1.2
[1.3%]
1.0
[18.2%]
5.4
[5.5%]
51.9
[11.4%]
3.4
[1.7%]
3.0
[4.7%]
-
-
-
3.6
[1.8%]
1.3
[2.0%]
-
-
-
63.4
CF
17.6
[27.8%]
ESF
and
Youth
Employment Initiative
88.9
1.2
[1.3%]
5.7
EMFF
1.0
[18.2%]
99.0
EAFRD
56.5
[57.1%]
7.5
[7.6%]
13.9
[3.1%]
43.6
[44%]
48.5
[10.8%]
453.7
Total
114.2
[25.4%]
9. Adaptation-related work in the European Standardisation Organisations
CEN-CENELEC were expected to map relevant EU standards that could ensure that new
major infrastructure projects are climate proofed. In May 2014, the Commission gave the
European standardisation organisations (ESOs) a mandate
265
to develop tools to consider
climate change in a systematic way in European standardisation, to identify standards
265
Commission Implementing Decision of 10.12.2014 on a standardisation request to the European
standardisation organisation, C(2014) 7912 final
119
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relevant for adaptation to climate change in the three priority infrastructure sectors
266
identified in the Strategy, and to revise those standards or to develop new ones as
appropriate. The first phase of the work under the mandate was completed at the
beginning of 2017 and resulted in a shortlist of 12 standards to be revised and 1 standard
to be written under the second phase, which started at the beginning of 2018 and is
expected to take about four years. CEN-CENELEC will then consider whether the
process should be extended to other standards. The technical committees are currently
asking for more detailed information on climate change projections data. In addition, the
'Guide for addressing climate change adaptation in standards'
267
was adopted in April
2016 by CEN-CENELEC. The guide applies to product- (including design), service-,
infrastructure- and test standards, and is intended to be applicable to both "climate-
influenced products" (i.e. products whose fitness for purpose may be affected if climate
change is ignored) and "climate resilience products" (i.e. products whose main aim is to
reduce vulnerability to climate hazards). The guide is primarily intended for authors of
standards.
10. Insurance and financial services
Currently, risk transfer does not constitute an integral part of adaptation approaches in
many Member States, in spite of the fact that the insurance industry’s risk pricing can
allow efficient scoping in terms of where risk reduction is required. Member States apply
diverse systems of insurance, which represents a challenge to an increased market-
penetration of risk transfer mechanisms across Europe.
The Strategy’s evaluation study noted that ideally risk transfer and insurance solutions
are an integral part of a comprehensive approach to climate adaptation and risk
management. There is growing evidence that countries with widespread market-based
insurance coverage do recover faster from the financial impacts of extreme events. While
the benefits of risk transfer tools, such as insurance, are increasingly being recognised
globally, there is still a large, and in some places growing insurance coverage gap, as the
difference between total damages due to natural catastrophes and damages covered by
insurance is increasing. On average, more than two thirds of the economic losses from
natural hazards remain uninsured globally
268
. The gap in EU countries could be as high
as 50%, given the level of development and concentration of people and assets in high-
risk zones.
Two studies commissioned by the EU
269
looked into insurance as a risk management tool
in agriculture. One provides an analysis of current agricultural risks and available risk
management instruments in agriculture and recognises climate change as a growing risk;
the other looks into insurance against weather and climate-related risks focusing on
private property and agriculture. The two studies point to uneven availability and uptake
of climate-related risk insurance among Member States, as well as differences in
signalling and risk prevention capacity of the different instruments. Both point to multi-
peril crop insurance as an interesting avenue, but to the low uptake of such risk
management tools. The studies recommend the integration and further support to risk
management instruments in the framework of the agricultural policy, to strengthen
266
267
Energy, transport and buildings.
https://www.cencenelec.eu/standards/Guides/Pages/default.aspx
268
See footnote 113
269
See footnote 92
120
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capacity to implement, manage and control such instruments, and to better link
vulnerability, funding and insurance as a risk management tool.
Having regard to Disaster Risk Reduction and adaptation to climate change, the EU
Action Plan on the Sendai Framework includes actions on insurance.
270
There were some concrete activities in relation to insurance and climate adaptation,
notably an expert group was created to consider how to collect better data on losses, as it
is easier to convince people to take adaptation actions when shown that this can reduce
losses.
Financial services are the major source of investments made in new infrastructure, which
should be climate resilient. For example, the insurance sector not only provides insurance
to assist in recovery from damages, it also relies on investing the premiums it receives to
generate an income to cover future claims (risk transfer). As a result, the insurance sector
is the largest institutional investor in infrastructure in Europe, with more than EUR 10
trillion of assets under its management.
The Capital Markets Union (CMU)
271
seeks to create the enabling conditions for new
forms of funding to be developed and strengthened for small firms, as well as for long-
term and infrastructure investment. It aims to use financial innovations to bridge the
information gap between investors and businesses. The CMU also seeks to mobilise
private capital to fund sustainable investment by identifying ways to create financial
regulation that accelerates the shift of private capital toward environmentally and socially
sustainable projects.
As part of the CMU efforts, the Commission also established and supported the work of a
High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, which produced a final report in
January 2018.
272
The main findings of the Group were based around priority actions,
many of which were taken on board by the Commission, who in March 2018 proposed an
EU action plan on financing sustainable growth.
273
Some relevant actions and proposals
in the new action plan are:
Subject to the results of its impact assessment, a Commission legislative proposal
on the development of an EU classification system for sustainable economic
activities.
Creating EU labels for green financial products to enable investors to identify
investments easily that comply with green or low-carbon criteria. The
Commission will propose a delegated act on the content of the prospectus for
green bond issuances.
Subject to the results of its impact assessment, a Commission legislative proposal
to clarify institutional investors' and asset managers' duties on sustainability and
to increase transparency of end-investors, including transparency on their strategy
and climate-related exposures.
Requiring insurance and investment firms to advise clients on the basis of their
preferences on sustainability. Subject to the results of their impact assessment, the
See footnote 94
https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/growth-and-investment/capital-markets-union_en
272
Financing a sustainable European economy, European Commission, 2018. Available:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/180131-sustainable-finance-final-report_en.pdf
273
See footnote 98
271
270
121
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Commission will propose delegated acts regarding the suitability assessment in
the Insurance Distribution Directive and the Markets in Financial Instruments
Directive
Work towards incorporating climate risks into institutions' risk management
policies and on the potential calibration of banks' capital requirements in the
Capital Requirement Regulation and Directive to take into account climate
change-related risks while safeguarding financial stability and ensuring coherence
with the EU taxonomy.
Enhancing transparency in corporate reporting; with a proposal to revise the
guidelines on non-financial information to further align them with the
recommendations of the Financial Stability Board's Task Force on Climate-
related Financial Disclosures
274
. Subject to the result of its impact assessment,
the Commission will draft a proposal requiring asset managers and institutional
investors to disclose how they consider sustainability factors in their investment
decision making process.
Regarding infrastructure investments, a delegated act
275
under the Solvency II
Directive
276
was amended in September 2015. These amendments are aimed at making it
cheaper for EU insurance companies to invest in qualifying infrastructure projects by
establishing and calibrating investment risk categories for such projects. The
Commission has also introduced measures
277
to review risk calibrations for investment in
infrastructure corporates
278
. In order to encourage private investment by banks in
infrastructure, the Commission proposal to amend the Capital Requirements Regulation
and Directive (CRR/CRD IV)
279
would create a more risk-sensitive regulatory
environment to promote high-quality infrastructure projects and reduce risks for
investors.
https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/467 of 30 September 2015 amending Commission
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35 concerning the calculation of regulatory capital requirements for
several categories of assets held by insurance and reinsurance undertakings.
276
See footnote 97
277
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1542 of 8 June 2017 amending Delegated Regulation
(EU) 2015/35 concerning the calculation of regulatory capital requirements for certain categories of
assets held by insurance and reinsurance undertakings (infrastructure corporates).
278
Infrastructure corporates are a new asset class created in EU rules which represent infrastructure
businesses which are already operational (in contrast to infrastructure projects), for example airports,
which may have additional investment requirements to expand or redevelop their infrastructure.
279
These are the Capital Requirements Directive and Capital Requirements Regulation which set out
regulations for the prudential requirements of the banking sector to ensure that it can better absorb
economic shocks and continue to finance economic activity and growth. The rules were updated in
2013, the so called CRR/CRD IV package, with the amendments part of the response to the financial
crisis.
275
274
122
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11. Summary of costs related to the Strategy
Summary of costs per year and action, EUR millions
Action
Resource Prior
inputs / to
2013
burdens
2013
0.04
280
2014
2015
2016
2017
Total
A1 Member State
adaptation
strategies
Commission’s core activity
Commission
0.0
Interviews suggest Member States' resources for
scoreboard update are negligible.
0.0
281
MS
A2 LIFE funding
Commission
MS
Private
Commission
282
Voluntary contributions as co-funding
Voluntary contributions as co-funding
190.1
0.0
0.0
0.87
0.53
0.56
0.6
0.55
0.80
3.9
A3 Covenant of
Mayors
MS
Commission
A4
Knowledge
gaps
MS
Private
Commission
A5
ADAPT
Climate-
284
MS
EEA
0.37
0.13
0.25
9.84
9.84
> 225.5
9.84
9.84
39.36
283
225.5
0.0
0.0
0.9
0.0
Voluntary contributions as co-funding
Voluntary contributions as co-funding
0.12
0.25
0.0.15
0.37
0.37
0.47
0.37
1.95
280
A large, complex study was conducted by the Commission in 2011 to prepare the Strategy. A subtask
estimated to cost EUR 35k was dedicated to support the development of the guidance for preparation of
national adaptation state, which was published at the same time as the Strategy in 2013.
281
The total funding for adaptation allocated in the LIFE Multiannual Work programme for 2014-2017.
282
Figures for the Commission relate to 4 contracts implemented since 2011 to fund the adaptation
dimension of the Covenant of Mayors/Mayors Adapt. The figures also include the first year of a 3-year
administrative arrangement between DG CLIMA and the JRC to fund the latter's support to the
Covenant of Mayors for EUR 400 000 (for 2017, EUR 0.65 million for the work of the Covenant of
Mayors Office and EUR 0.13 million for the work of the JRC). The Commission also funds local
mitigation in the EU, and beyond, under the Covenant of Mayors and the related work of the JRC.
283
The figures are totals based on an analysis of specific adaptation-themed projects and contracts funded
by H2020. Other projects funded by FP7, EEA, JRC, DG CLIMA were also identified but without
accurate estimates of costs, therefore, whilst relevant these are not included, except for noting that the
total will be greater than (>) the EUR 225 million in the table.
284
Data provided by EEA including a list of Commission funded contracts for Climate-ADAPT 2013-2017
for information technology development and Capacity building and knowledge assessments. Also
included an assessment of EEA staff and financial resources, totalling 2 Full-time equivalent (1 Full-
time equivalent = assumed to have EUR 75 000 annual cost) and other resources.
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Action
Resource Prior
inputs / to
2013
burdens
2013
Commission
285
0.49
2014
2015
2016
2017
Total
0.5
No data available
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.0
422.7
39.36
0.1
A6
Climate
proofing
MS
Commission
A7
Resilient
infrastructure
Private
287
A8 Insurance
Commission
Commission
Total
MS
Private
286
0.11
Notes and sources:
Gaps in the table signify that no data was found for this specific
item, although in reality there may still have been relevant costs incurred.
Single contract issued by the Commission for preparing guidelines for the implementation of Action 6
by managing authorities, covering ESIF/CAP/EARDF. Guidelines for the CFP were not in the scope of
that study or in the Impact Assessment and are, therefore, excluded.
286
The cost represents a contract to prepare the guidelines for project managers.
287
No costs are included as these were not estimated in the Impact Assessment. Although under this action,
a Green paper on insurance was published together with the Strategy in 2013, the costs of its
development are unaccounted, as green papers constitute the core business of the Commission.
124
285
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12. Coherence with other EU policies
Action 1 focuses on the development of strategies and plans to promote resilience at
Member State level. The work carried out within this action is very relevant and coherent
with EU objectives and legislation on disaster risk reduction. For example, the support
and knowledge developed on risk and vulnerability assessments, as an important step of
adaptation planning, is in line with the objective in the Union Civil Protection
Mechanism legislation on disaster risk management planning and risk assessment . The
scoreboard developed by the Commission to assess preparedness in Member States and
its indicators are closely linked to those developed under the Hyogo Framework for
Action
288
. Moreover, the coordination of disaster risk management and adaptation
policies is explicitly mentioned in the scoreboard. Coherent monitoring and evaluation
practices are important for DRR and adaptation. Joint work on indicators is of high
relevance, for instance, in the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Sendai
Framework.
In November, the Commission adopted a Communication to Strengthen EU disaster
Management. The Communication highlights the importance of prevention as part of the
disaster risk management cycle, as well as the need to reinforce coherence with other key
EU policies acting, inter alia, in the field of climate change adaptation. In the recent
Commission proposal for the EU civil protection mechanism legislation, Member States
are requested to produce prevention and preparedness plans which need to include
longer-term prevention efforts, looking at the overall adaptation to the increasing impacts
of climate change.
Action 3 is focusing on the implementation of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and
Energy initiative. High level of coherence was maintained with other legislative
instruments and urban initiatives, in the areas of water, environment and disaster risk
reduction. For example, the European Urban Water Agenda, the European Green Leaf
and Green Capital Awards initiatives, the new tool for cities assessing their
environmental performance, the 2017 Action Plan for nature, people and economy, just
to mention a few, are implemented in close cooperation with Action 3. Coherence with
disaster risk reduction policy is fostered in particular through indicators. The indicators
of the Covenant of Mayors were developed in due consideration of indicators adopted for
the Sendai DRR framework.
Furthermore, the urban dimension of the many EU policies is gaining importance after
the establishment of the Urban Agenda for the EU, within which the newly established
Climate Adaptation Partnership started a potentially new area of work. All these new
developments offer opportunities to reap further benefits from more coordination and
mainstreaming of urban adaptation action.
Actions 6, 7 and 8, under the Strategy’s “Climate-proofing EU action” objective, are
focused on key areas of the EU’s budget. They show a high level of coherence between
adaptation priorities and the relevant policy areas. For Action 6, the literature review
suggested it complements (and is reinforced by) the high-level political commitment to
spend at least 20% of the EU budget on climate objectives given that the CAP, Cohesion
Policy and the CFP make up around 70% of the total EU budget. However, current work
288
The HFA is a 10-year guideline to reduce vulnerabilities to natural hazards. It was endorsed by the UN
General Assembly in the Resolution A/RES/60/195 following the 2005 World Disaster Reduction
Conference.
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on the mainstreaming process in relation to the EU budget suggests that the absence of a
coordinating mechanism to focus the 20% of expenditure on the priorities most likely to
deliver climate outcomes, and the lack of a distinction between mitigation and adaptation
investment, limits the impact of the 20% commitment.
289
This is a complex undertaking,
because there are synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation to be
considered when tracking expenditure or developing policy, such as:
Sustainable management of ecosystems to implement simultaneously mitigation
and adaptation actions, for example, by conserving forests to protect natural
stores of carbon within trees and decrease soil erosion or water flows.
Urban densification is good for mitigation but may exacerbate vulnerability by
increasing heat island effects and heat impacts (in turn driving up cooling
demand). Similarly, increased use of biomass can affect land and water
availability for green infrastructure or nature-based solutions.
There is a need to better track expenditure under the CAP and Cohesion Policy that
delivers real adaptation benefits. While there is a tendency to simply assume that
appropriately labelled CAP and Cohesion Policy expenditure is relevant to adaptation,
there is scope to better define how the spending should contribute to resilience both
generally in the Strategy and in the specific programme legislation.
Action 7 (ensuring more resilient infrastructure) is translated into a set of guidelines,
which have clear potential to improve coherence in practice. Ensuring coherence between
adaptation and new infrastructure at the EU level is a complicated task given the
potential long-term lock-in effects.
13. Coherence with international policies
This section presents in more detail the relevance of different international frameworks
for EU adaptation policy, as a complement to Chapter 3.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has undertaken extensive work related to
ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
290
Two of the CBD's Aichi targets (10 and 15)
291
aim at minimizing the impact of climate
change on ecosystems. Voluntary Guidelines on ecosystem-based adaptation and disaster
risk reduction are under preparation for adoption at CBD COP XIV in November 2018.
In 2015,
the Agenda 2030 and the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals
292
for 2030
were adopted, many of which are either directly or indirectly relevant for climate change
adaptation (e.g. Goal 13 on climate action, Goal 11 on sustainable and resilient cities)
and towards which the related actions under the EU Adaptation Strategy contribute.
The mainstreaming of climate change adaptation in the EU's development policies is
coordinated and ensured at all stages of the planning and implementation process. In
addition, the main channel for EU support to policy dialogue and climate action in
developing countries is the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA+) initiative. The
overall objective of the GCCA+ is to foster policy dialogue and cooperation on climate
289
See footnote 253
CBD COP X/33; COP XII/20; COP XIII/4; technical series reports 41, 85 amongst others
291
https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/
292
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
290
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change between the EU and developing countries which are most vulnerable to climate
change and to contribute to their action to address climate change. The GCCA+ is
evolving with the aim of contributing to the sectoral implementation of NDCs, thus also
covering mitigation actions, along the lines of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement. It will
nevertheless also continue supporting National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Disaster
Risk reduction strategies.
Lessons learned in planning for and implementing the Strategy, including scientific
knowledge and tools gained, provide input to the process. In addition, the core principles
promoted by the Strategy
–
such as mainstreaming climate risks and vulnerabilities in
planning, developing national and sub-national plans, promoting risk transfer
mechanisms
–
are well aligned with core principles of EU development cooperation.
It should also be noted that the CBD’s Aichi Targets, adopted under the CBD’s Nagoya
Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing, particularly Targets 10 and 15, emphasise
climate impacts and resilience, and that action under the Strategy contributes towards
their delivery.
293
As part of the post-2015 development agenda, the Sendai Framework
for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030
294
was created with seven targets and four
priorities of action. To translate this framework into EU action, in July 2016 the
Commission published an Action Plan
295
on the implementation of the Sendai
Framework.
293
294
https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted at the Third UN World
Conference in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015.
295
Commission Staff Working Document: Action Plan on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction 2015-2030, SWD(2016) 205 final/2.
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Annex IX
Horizontal assessment of the adaptation
preparedness country fiches
1. Background and objectives
The European Commission adopted the Communication: “An EU Strategy on Adaptation
to Climate Change” in April 2013
296
. The Communication states that “The overall aim of
the EU Adaptation Strategy is to contribute to a more climate-resilient Europe. This
means enhancing the preparedness and capacity to respond to the impacts of climate
change at local, regional, national and EU levels, developing a coherent approach and
improving coordination.” The Strategy defines three objectives and eight actions
to meet
this aim. Action 1 is to “Encourage all Member States to adopt comprehensive adaptation
strategies” and includes a commitment that “By 2014, the Commission will develop an
adaptation preparedness scoreboard, identifying key indicators for measuring Member
States’ level of readiness.”
The Commission’s discussions with Member States on the adaptation preparedness
scoreboard began in 2013. A detailed draft scoreboard methodology was subsequently
developed, largely based on an approach recommended in the Commission guidelines on
developing adaptation strategies
297
, and was published on the Climate-Adapt website
298
.
This methodology was used by the Commission in 2015 to undertake an unpublished
pilot assessment and produce a national scoreboard of each Member
State’s performance.
Based on the lessons learned from the pilot phase, the Commission revised the
scoreboard methodology by streamlining the indicators and defining criteria for assessing
them, categories of information sought and guidance to enable a consistent approach to
analysing the state of play in Member States. The Commission consulted Member States
on the modified scoreboard methodology (see Annex X) and carried out a second
assessment, as part of the evaluation of the EU Adaptation Strategy in 2017-2018. The
resultant draft country fiches, including the national scoreboards, were published in
December 2017, in conjunction with the public consultation on the evaluation of the EU
Adaptation Strategy.
A further review of the national scoreboards and country fiches was undertaken in April
and June 2018 to take account of recent developments and to ensure the quality and
coherence of the country fiches. The final documents accompany this evaluation as a
separate Staff Working Document.
299
296
European Commission (2013). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The
Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: An EU
Strategy on adaptation to climate change, COM (2013) 216 final. Brussels: European Union. Available
from
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52013DC0216&from=EN
297
European Commission. (2013). Commission Staff Working Document: Guidelines on developing
adaptation strategies, SWD (2013) 134 final. Brussels: European Commission. Available from:
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/adaptation/what/docs/swd_2013_134_en.pdf
298
See:
https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/metadata/guidances/guidelines-on-developing-adaptation-
strategies
299
See footnote 49.
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2. Method
The adaptation preparedness scoreboard methodology addresses 11 main performance
areas in relation to the five steps of the adaptation cycle (see Figure IX-1 below). The
scoreboard methodology and detailed indicator list can be found in Annex X. A country
fiche was developed for each Member State that provides:
Contextual data on the national adaptation policy framework for each Member
State, including dates when national adaptation strategies (NAS) and national
adaptation plans (NAP) were adopted and revised
A narrative in relation to each of the indicators based on the criteria for assessing
them. The status of each of the indicators was assessed in relation to this narrative
as either already having been met (“Yes”) or, for some indicators, as
progressively
being met by ongoing implementation (“In progress”), or as not met
(“No”)
A summary table of the status of all indicators (the national adaptation
preparedness scoreboard).
The information used to produce the country fiches was drawn from a review of relevant
literature and, in many cases, interacting with Member State representatives.
The narrative and assessment of status in relation to each indicator were reviewed
horizontally across all 28 Member States using the scoreboard methodology (see Annex
X) to check that the nature and level of information and scoring were consistent.
The information on the national policy frameworks, the narrative associated with the
indicators and resultant scores in the final country fiches were used as a basis for this
horizontal assessment of the adaptation preparedness of Member States.
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Figure IX-1.
The adaptation preparedness scoreboard’s 11 main performance areas
in relation to the five steps of the adaptation policy cycle
•Preparing
the ground
1. A country-wide governance system is in place for adaptation policy
making and vertical and horizontal coordination arrangements are in place
between governmental bodies
2. Stakeholders (e.g. interest groups, scientists and general public) are
involved in the preparation of adaptation policies
Step A
Step B
•Assessing
risks and vulnerabilities to climate change
3. Systems are in place to monitor and assess current and projected climate
change, impacts and vulnerability
4. Knowledge gaps on climate change and climate change adaptation are
tackled
5. Knowledge transfer processes are in place to build adaptive capacity
across sectors
Step C
•Assessing
risks and vulnerabilities to climate change
6. For priority sectors, a range of adaptation options is considered, consistent
with the results of sectoral risk assessments and taking into account good
practices and measures
7. Dedicated and adequate funding resources have been identified and made
available to implement adaptation action
Step D
•Implementing
adaptation action
8. Climate change adaptation is mainstreamed into priority and key national
planning and sectoral policymaking
9. Climate change adaptation policies and measures are implemented
Step E
•Monitoring
and evaluation
10. Systems are in place to monitor and report on climate change adaptation,
including adaptation-related expenditures, via relevant indicators
11. An evaluation framework is in place to assess whether adaptation policy
objectives are met and a periodic review of the adaptation strategy is planned
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Methodological limitations
The country fiches were the result of a desk-based exercise, so their accuracy is entirely
reliant on the availability of published information and on the input received from
Member State representatives.
The scores for each indicator (“Yes”, “No”, or “In progress”) assess the state of play
within each country. They should only be considered at a Member State level alongside
the narrative that accompanies them in the country fiches. While effort was made to
ensure consistency across fiches in the assessment of each individual indicator, scores
should not be directly compared across the Member States. The assessment of status
requires subjective assimilation of a number of factors, including availability of
information, so two countries with a "Yes" in relation to the same indicator may have
different national situations leading to that assessment. Nevertheless, some of the
indicators with the simplest criteria (e.g. Indicators 1a and 8a, see Annex X) may be
more comparable and aggregable than those that have numerous, complex criteria and
information requirements (e.g. Indicators 6a, 6b and 9a).
The scoreboard methodology only provides an option for some specific indicators to be
scored as "In
progress". Scoring the other indicators definitively, as “Yes” or “No”, was
challenging where insufficient information was published and further verifiable
information could not be readily provided by Member State representatives.
Scores were based on strategies, plans and policies that were already adopted. No
account was taken in the scoring of proposed documents in development or consultation
at the time of the assessment. This was the case even where proposals were described in
the country fiches and the adoption of strategies, plans or policies was potentially
imminent.
In developing this horizontal assessment, it was important to bear in mind these
limitations in the way that the country fiches were produced and national scoreboards
were determined. It is equally important that they are borne in mind by readers of this
report to avoid over interpretation of the results, analysis and conclusions.
3. Results and analysis
The dates when Member States
300
adopted and revised a NAS and/or a NAP
301
provide
important context for the interpretation of the scoreboard assessment (Table IX-1). A
total of 25 Member States have adopted an NAS. Although Bulgaria, Croatia and Latvia
have not yet adopted a NAS, the documents are drafted and likely to be adopted in 2018.
300
301
Country codes used throughout section 3 are explained in section 5 of this Annex.
Different terms are used by different Member States, but these documents essentially capture similar
elements. In general, an NAS provides overarching objectives while a NAP includes more specific
details on actions to be taken.
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Table IX-1. Adoption of first NASs and NAPs
Year
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
To be adopted/
draft available
BE, PT (1 NAS)
LU*
st
Adoption of 1
st
NAS
FI
ES, FR
NL (1
st
NAS)
DE, DK, HU*
Adoption of 1
st
NAP
ES (1
st
NAP)
ES (2
nd
NAP)
HU (1
st
NAP only for 2009-
2010)
DE, FR
AT (1
st
NAS), IE (1
st
NAS), LT,
AT (1
st
NAP), DK
MT
PL, RO (1
st
NAS), UK*
SK
CZ, IT, PT (2
nd
NAS)
EL, NL (2
nd
NAS), RO (2
nd
LT (2
nd
NAP), RO
NAS), SI
AT (2
nd
NAS), CY, EE
IE (2
nd
NAS), SE
BG, HR, LV
AT (2
nd
NAP), BE, CZ, CY, EE
IE, LT (3
rd
NAP), SK, NL
BG, EL, HR, IT, LU, LV, PT, SI
ES (3
rd
NAP), LT (1
st
NAP), UK
FI
* The revision of the first NAS is currently ongoing and is expected to be completed in 2018.
An analysis is set out below in relation to each step of the adaptation policy cycle and
each of the 11 main areas of performance. Member States that have achieved positive
scores in relation to indicators are listed wherever there are less than 10 of them or for
indicators where such information may be important to those Member States that are yet
to make progress in that specific regard. Listing of Member States in this way should not
be interpreted as meaning that their actions in relation to an indicator are comparable;
inevitably different Member States’ relevant actions vary widely, as noted under
‘Methodological limitations’ (above).
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Step A: Preparing the ground for adaptation
1. A country-wide governance system is in place for adaptation policy making and
vertical and horizontal coordination arrangements are in place between governmental
bodies
All Member States have a central administration body officially in charge of adaptation
policy making.
Systematic coordination across sectors at a national level is in place in 23 Member States,
and is applied in relation to drafting of the NAS and subsequent implementation.
Currently, there is systematic coordination across national, regional and local levels of
administration in only 16 Member States (BG, DE, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HU, IE, IT, LT,
NL, PT, RO, SK, UK), but progress is being made in a further 10 to enable lower levels
of administration to influence policy making. In almost all of these Member States (22
out of 26) where vertical coordination is in place in some form, the involvement of sub-
national governance levels does not seem to have a sectoral focus. Vertical coordination
can take place not only during the drafting of the NAS but can also be sustained during
implementation. Involvement in both drafting and implementation has taken place in 16
Member States (AT, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, IE, IT, LT, NL, PT, RO, SK, UK).
Box 1 presents a selection of good examples of how vertical coordination mechanisms
support adaptation sub-nationally.
Box 1. Vertical coordination mechanisms: supporting sub-national
adaptation
The extent of vertical coordination has important implications for the level of
involvement of sub-national governance bodies in adaptation policy making. For
instance, in Germany, a working group on climate adaptation under the
Conference of Environmental Ministers meets twice a year to provide opportunity
for the federal states to input into policy-making at the national level, to exchange
experiences of NAS processes at the federal-state level, and to coordinate joint
activities. Similarly, vertical coordination among national, regional and local
authorities is achieved in Greece through the National Climate Change
Adaptation Committee, which includes representatives from the Union of Greek
Regions and the Central Union of Greek Municipalities. In Ireland, a network of
four Climate Action Regional Offices has been established to drive climate action
at regional and local levels by building expertise and capacity within the 31 local
authorities. A complex vertical coordination structure is also in place in France to
involve inter-communal and regional governance levels in adaptation policy-
making and implementation. Sweden also has established a vertical coordination
mechanism to support adaptation policy-making at the sub-national level,
although the mechanism is different in nature compared to those in other
Member States, as a result of Sweden’s highly devolved governance structure.
Since 2009, the administrative boards of the regions have been responsible for
coordinating adaptation at regional level and supporting the adaptation work of
local authorities. In March 2018, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological
Institute (SMHI) published new step-by-step guidance for municipalities working
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on climate adaptation.
302
While the involvement of sub-national governance levels does not seem to have
a sectoral focus in most Member States, vertical coordination puts a specific
emphasis on flooding issues in Denmark. In 2013, after mandating municipalities
to develop their adaptation action plans, the Danish Government established a
national task force with detailed and specific expertise in local adaptation issues,
which developed web-based mapping of flood, rainfall and storm-surge risk for
various time horizons, modelled according to IPCC 2007 scenarios. A team of
subject specialists on adaptation, flooding, and erosion was also established by
the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and Coastal Authority with the aim
to advise, guide, support, and help coordinate municipalities in implementing
adaptation solutions. Latvia is another example of a country where vertical
coordination has a sectoral focus. Latvian municipalities and planning regions
are involved in the development of climate adaptation policy in the following
sectors: civil protection and emergency planning, building and infrastructure,
biodiversity and ecosystem services, and agriculture, fishery and forestry.
At the city level, involvement in the EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate and
Energy
303
provides a sound mechanism to foster city-level adaptation policy
making. In some cases, this is augmented by further support from national
initiatives. For instance, the Spanish Network of Cities for Climate was created in
2009 by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces and the Spanish
Ministry of Environment to coordinate, foster and provide technical support and
to contribute to the translation of the national climate and energy objectives at
the local level. Another good example is provided by the Ministry of the
Environment of the Czech Republic, which has officially committed to providing
strategic guidance, financial and technical support to local authorities that are
signatories to the Covenant. The Ministry has, therefore, been recognised by the
European Commission as a Covenant National Coordinator.
2. Stakeholders (e.g. interest groups, scientists and general public) are involved in the
preparation of adaptation policies
With only two exceptions, all Member States have a dedicated process in place to
facilitate stakeholders' involvement in the preparation of adaptation policies. Most
country fiches indicate that a wide range of stakeholders have been consulted, including
the private sector, non-governmental organisations, research organisations and
universities, as well as the general public, in addition to government departments and
local authorities (Figure IX-2).
302
See:
http://www.klimatanpassning.se/en/news-archive/new-guide-will-help-municipalities-with-
adaptation-to-climate-change-1.132803
303
See:
www.covenantofmayors.eu
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Figure IX-2. Types of stakeholders involved in the preparation of adaptation policy
All but one Member State integrated transboundary cooperation to address common
challenges with relevant countries, almost invariably with regard to water, and more
occasionally with regard to biodiversity, energy, health and “other” issues, including
mountain ranges (Figure IX-3). The extent of transboundary cooperation and whether it
is driven by the NAS/NAP varies between Member States, with 15 of the Member States
having addressed this dimension in the NAS/NAP. Other drivers include international
initiatives (e.g. the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River, and
the Alpine Convention), and EU initiatives (e.g. EU macro-regional strategies) and
projects. Examples of transboundary cooperation are presented in Box 2.
Figure
IX-3.
Sectoral transboundary cooperation on adaptation issues
Box 2. Examples of transboundary cooperation
The Czech Republic provides a unique and interesting example of transboundary
cooperation, as it consulted with the Slovak authorities during the development
of the Czech NAS. Transboundary cooperation on adaptation has also been
fostered by the British-Irish
Council. In 2018, the Council’s 15
th
ministerial
meeting focused on how shared challenges on climate adaptation can be jointly
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tackled. Portugal also sets a good example in this regard, as one of the thematic
focal areas of the NAS is international cooperation. A specific working group was
established to foster this action and, particularly, to establish an Iberian
cooperation system. An EU co-financed LIFE project, the SAHARA project
304
,
supports this action.
In addition to LIFE funding, the EU Cohesion Policy supports transboundary
adaptation projects (via Interreg projects). About 1,470 territorial cooperation
projects dealing with climate change, risks management and sustainable
management of natural resources have been identified
305
, nearly 15% of more
than 9,816 projects funded during the programming period 2007-2013. For
example, relevant projects include the Climate Change, Impacts and Adaptation
Strategies in the Alpine Space project (ClimChAlp), the Adaptation Strategies in
Transboundary Areas project (STRADA), and the Climate Change Capitalisation
project (C3-Alps) in which AT, DE, IT, FR, SI (CH and LI) are involved. In
addition, the Pyrenees Climate Change Observatory (OPCC) provides a
knowledge platform about adaptation to climate change in the Pyrenees covering
FR and ES bordering regions and Andorra.
306
During the summer of 2017, the Interact network launched a thematic network on
Climate Change and Risks
307
in order to support the Interreg projects. This
network brings together practitioners from the Interreg community, regional
stakeholders, experts and other EU programmes and knowledge communities
active in the field of climate change and risks. Its overall goal is to facilitate the
exchange of practices and lessons learnt and to gain further knowledge.
EU-driven transboundary adaptation action is translated through the four macro-
regional strategies
308
that involve 19 Member States. For instance, the EU
Strategy for the Danube Region puts a special focus on adaptation to extreme
weather events and provides an important platform to foster cooperation
between AT, BG, CZ, DE, HR, HU, RO, SK and SI on joint monitoring and flood
management. At the same time, this cooperation has benefitted from the prior
existence of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube
River
309
(ICPDR) under which a specific adaptation strategy was adopted in
2012. The existence of other international river basin committees (e.g. on the
Meuse or the Sava) also foster joint climate adaptation actions in other Member
States.
In addition to extensive transboundary cooperation on river basins, multiple
initiatives exist for mountain ranges and for biodiversity. While these initiatives
cover a wide range of issues adaptation to climate change is also addressed. For
304
305
See more about LIFE projects at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm
Based on the KEEP database:
https://www.keep.eu/keep/
–
a comprehensive database regarding the
territorial cooperation projects and beneficiaries in Europe
306
See more about Interreg projects at:
https://www.interregeurope.eu/discover-projects/
307
http://www.interact-eu.net/contact?field_fields_of_expertise_tid=All&field_networks_tid=81
308
The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, the EU Strategy for
the Adriatic and Ionian Region and the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region. See:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/cooperation/macro-regional-strategies/
309
See:
http://www.icpdr.org/main/
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example, transboundary cooperation between AT, DE, FR, IT, SI and LI and CH
is fostered by the EU-Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP), and climate
adaptation
is specifically considered by the ‘risk governance’ and ‘green
infrastructure’ action groups. Furthermore, international conventions on the
Alps
310
and Carpathians
311
are in place. There is also transboundary cooperation
with non-EU Members on biodiversity and adaptation issues in Northern Europe.
The Fennoscandia Green Belt initiative supports a joint nature conservation
cooperation between Finland, Norway and Russia and, among other foci, on
threats to ecosystem services from climate change.
Finally, there is a wide range of trilateral initiatives focused on adaptation issues.
Examples include the cooperation between Benelux countries (BE, NL and LU),
which have cooperated on climate change issues since 2014, the trilateral
Wadden Sea cooperation between DK, DE and NL, and the cooperation
agreements between CY, EL and Egypt, and CY, EL and Israel. In 2017, the
latter focused on the exchange of knowledge and know-how on adaptation policy
monitoring, evaluation and good practice at regional and local scales.
Step B: Assessing risks and vulnerabilities to climate change
3. Systems are in place to monitor and assess current and projected climate change,
impacts and vulnerability
A total of 14 Member States have established observation systems to monitor climate
change, extreme climate events and their impacts, and systems are being developed in all
of the other Member States. According to the country fiches, Member States collect data
on climate impacts in relation to multiple types of variables. Those most commonly
captured are sectors affected (14 Member States), costs (12 Member States), and number
of people affected (six Member States: BE, FR, IT, LU NL, RO).
312
Climate change scenarios and projections are available at national level for 25 Member
States, and at a sub-national for 10 Member States. Only three Member States rely solely
on international data. Climate change scenarios and projections are being used to assess
future economic, social and environmental impacts in at least 23 Member States, with
others steadily making progress in this respect.
Sound climate risk and/or vulnerability assessments for priority sectors are being
undertaken to support adaptation decision making by at least 22 Member States, with all
but one of the other Member States making progress in that regard. The frequency with
which different sectors are addressed is shown in Figure IX-4. In addition to those sectors
specified in the figure, small numbers of Member States addressed a wide range of
“Other” individual sectors or themes,
including: coastal; desertification; disaster risk
management; economy; finance; ICT networks; infrastructure; insurance; land use;
maritime; mountains; natural environment; society; soil; spatial planning; tourism; urban;
and waste management. Three Member States (DE, SI, UK) were identified as having
assessed all vulnerable sectors. Climate risk and/or vulnerability assessments are:
310
311
See:
http://www.alpconv.org
See:
http://www.carpathianconvention.org/
312
Climate impact monitoring is not in place in five Member States.
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coordinated centrally in 22 Member States, although in six of these countries further
assessments have been driven by independent research projects or scientific
organisations; sector driven in three countries (PL, PT, SE), albeit independently in one
case; and carried out as a wholly independent research project in NL.
313
A recent European Environment Agency (EEA) report
314
concluded that a variety of
approaches is used for impact and vulnerability assessments, including literature review,
dedicated research programmes and projects, model-based studies and stakeholder-driven
processes. Most of the assessments have a broad scope, with up to 19 different sectors
and thematic areas covered, such as in the case of FI and UK. The EEA report found that
similar categories to those cited in Figure IX-4 (below) are addressed in the assessments.
Figure IX-4. Categories of sectors where climate risk/vulnerability assessments are
undertaken
315
Transboundary risks are taken into account in a coordinated manner by three Member
States across all or a wide range of sectors (DE, FI, PT) when undertaking climate risk
and/or vulnerability assessments. A total of 19 Member States are assessing
transboundary risks primarily in relation to the water sector. Consideration of
transboundary risks is driven by the NAS in three Member States (UK, plus FI and PT
also being driven at a project level) whereas in other countries it is sector-driven or
implemented at a project level.
4. Knowledge gaps on climate change and climate change adaptation are tackled
Work is being carried out to identify, prioritise and address the knowledge gaps in 15
Member States (Figure IX-5, below, categorises the knowledge gaps identified in these
country fiches). A further 11 countries have identified knowledge gaps but there seems
to be limited activity to address the gaps through further research and work. In most of
313
314
315
It has not been possible to establish whether or not information on climate risk and/or vulnerability
assessments is coordinated for one Member State.
EEA, 2018, National climate change vulnerability and risk assessments in Europe, 2018, European
Environment
Agency,
EEA
Report
1/2018,
ISSN
1977-8449
(https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/national-climate-change-vulnerability-2018)
It has not been possible to establish the sectoral coverage of climate risk/vulnerability assessments
undertaken for one Member State.
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the countries, the NAS includes actions related to knowledge but one-off projects are the
primary driver in four countries.
Box 3 (below) summarises principles emerging from the country fiches for good
practices in addressing climate change and climate adaptation knowledge gaps. In the
EEA report on national impact and vulnerability assessments
316
, most mentioned
knowledge gaps and themes where additional knowledge needs remain today are the
consideration of non-climatic factors, cross-sectoral interactions and cross-border
impacts, common metrics for impacts and vulnerabilities, uncertainties, long-term
adaptation and targeted communication.
Figure IX-5. Types of knowledge gaps identified in countries where work is ongoing
to address them
Box 3. Principles for good practices in addressing knowledge gaps
Principles for good practices emerging from the country fiches include:
Member States taking responsibility.
National authorities initiate and fund research programmes in order to
invest in evidence-based adaptation. Examples: AT, BE, DE, DK, ES, FI,
FR, PT, SE, UK.
Linking research and policy to ensure timely results.
Waiting for research results need not be a barrier to implementation. In
several Member States, knowledge development occurs together with the
policy process, starting with awareness raising, development of scenarios
and vulnerability analysis, progressing to applied research and
technological development, and supporting application of results in
316
EEA, 2018, National climate change vulnerability and risk assessments in Europe, 2018, European
Environment
Agency,
EEA
Report
1/2018,
ISSN
1977-8449
(https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/national-climate-change-vulnerability-2018)
139
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practice. Examples: AT, BE, DE, DK, FI, NL, UK.
Breadth of knowledge development enables identification of key
vulnerabilities.
Many Member States identify sectoral vulnerabilities, setting priorities that
matter most to their economies or are most relevant to their geographical
situation. Examples: AT, FR, HR, IE, SI, UK.
Research responsibilities are shared between researchers and other
stakeholders.
Several countries structure research programmes to coordinate effort and
enable input from research institutes, sub-national governments, non-
governmental organisations and the private sector. Examples: AT, BE,
DE, DK, FI, NL, UK.
Addressing knowledge gaps is a path-dependent, self-reinforcing process.
Investment in the development of knowledge on climate change and
climate adaptation seems more likely in countries that already have a
strong research base, including a high-level meteorological office. Larger
Member States with greater critical mass are better able to close
knowledge gaps. Examples: DE, FR, UK. Smaller countries and countries
with a small research budget make progress by becoming involved in
European research projects and by cooperating with countries that face
similar issues. Examples: MT, PT, SI.
5. Knowledge transfer processes are in place to build adaptive capacity across sectors
Adaptation-related data and information (e.g. climate projections, vulnerability and risk
assessments, adaptation tools) are available to all stakeholders, including policy makers,
in 17 Member States. At least some stakeholders have access to such information in a
further nine Member States. A total of 19 of these countries have a national web-based
platform for disseminating information. In addition, at least one of the countries without
a national platform has a regional platform covering part of the Member State. In
2014
317
, only 12 Member States had a dedicated adaptation platform, while also
transnational regions such as the Alpine, Baltic Sea or Pyrenees regions had a publicly
available adaptation platform.
Coordination of associated capacity-building activities (including education on climate
adaptation concepts and practices, and dissemination of training materials), usually
driven by the NAS or NAP, is established in half of Member States. However, systematic
actions on capacity building are being pursued in a further 11 countries.
317
EEA, 2015, Overview of climate change adaptation platforms in Europe, European Environment
Agency,
EEA
Technical
Report
5/2015,
ISSN
1725-2237
(https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/overview-of-climate-change-adaptation)
140
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Box 4 (below) summarises principles emerging from the country fiches for good
practices in relation to knowledge transfer, including capacity building. The challenges
are similar to the ones detected in the 2015 EEA report on adaptation platforms
318
:
engaging with stakeholders, identifying relevant information and knowledge, effective
presentation and linking platforms across sectors, scales and platforms. Nevertheless,
funding and sustaining a platform and technical, structural and design elements of an
adaptation platform were also mentioned as challenges.
Box 4. Good practices in knowledge transfer
Provision of a national website on climate change and
obvious response to the need to facilitate knowledge
currently being pursued by all but two Member
comprehensiveness and applicability of the information
platforms is highly variable. Good practices emerging
address two challenges:
climate adaptation is an
transfer. It is an option
States, however, the
provided by such online
from the country fiches
How to make knowledge accessible and applicable?
Member States address this challenge by:
o
Promoting uptake of knowledge by making information available in the
local languages. Examples: AT, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, HU, LV, NL, PT,
SE, UK;
o
Presenting inspirational and practical case studies. Examples: AT, DK,
FI, FR, PT, SE; and
o
Using interactive websites to encourage input and to promote
collaboration between different stakeholders. Examples: DK, ES, FR,
HU, PT.
How to guide non-scientific users through multiple sources of information?
Information on climate change and adaptation arising from more than two
decades of research is now available, which is disseminated by numerous
international and national websites, inside and outside the EU
319
. Some
Member States have sought to develop national websites that provide an
overview and waymark information. Examples: DE, UK.
In addition to disseminating information, Member States can promote knowledge
transfer through capacity building, which:
318
319
Is especially relevant for sub-national governments, as demonstrated by
the country fiches. Examples: AT, DE, DK, IE, PT, SE, UK.
Can be targeted to vulnerable sectors, such as forestry or health.
See footnote 317
The Evaluation of the EU Adaptation Strategy (2018) indicates that the EEA Climate-ADAPT website
plays an important role in structuring adaptation information. Interviewees from national governments,
in particular, noted that Climate-ADAPT is used as a starting point and, as it is interactive, it can be
used by Member States to share their experiences.
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Examples: CZ, DK, EE, ES, HR, PT, UK.
Can include use of workshops that function as a two-way communication
channel, alerting national stakeholders to new sub-national issues and
vice versa. Examples: DE, ES, SE, UK.
Some countries are seeking to achieve through interactions with the
general public and schools. Examples: AT, CZ, DK, EE, FI, HR, IE, PT.
Step C: Identifying adaptation options
6. For priority sectors, a range of adaptation options is considered, consistent with the
results of sectoral risk assessments and taking into account good practices and measures
Detailed risk and/or vulnerability assessments have been used by 25 Member States to
identify adaptation options for at least a majority of priority sectors. The frequency with
which different sectors are addressed is shown in Figure IX-6. In addition to those sectors
specified in the figure, small numbers of Member States have addressed a wide range of
“Other” individual sectors or themes, including: coastal; desertification; disaster risk
management; economy; finance; ICT networks; infrastructure; insurance; land use;
maritime; mountains; natural environment; society; soil; spatial planning; tourism; urban;
and waste management. Six Member States (FR, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK) were identified as
having assessed all priority sectors.
Figure IX-6. Risk assessments and adaptation options identified for priority
sectors
320
The selection of adaptation options appears to be based on robust methods (e.g. multi-
criteria analyses and/or stakeholder consultations, see Box 5) in 24 Member States,
which have also identified priority actions per sector. Four Member States have yet to
progress robust identification and prioritisation of adaptation options.
320
Sectoral information on risk assessments and adaptation options is not available for one Member State.
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Box 5. Prioritising options using multi-criteria analysis and stakeholder
input
Prioritisation of adaptation options is important for the efficient and effective use
of limited adaptation resources. Combining the use of multi-criteria analysis
(MCA)
321
with literature, modelling, and stakeholder and/or expert input is a good
way to achieve more robust outcomes. A selection of examples of Member
States adopting such combined approaches are presented here.
In Croatia, a host of potential adaptation measures were identified during the
development of the NAS. The measures were discussed with more than 130
stakeholders during a series of workshops, and MCA was used to prioritise each
of them as a ‘very high, high or medium priority’ for implementation. As a result,
79 sectoral measures were selected, and divided into the five foci of the NAS.
These measures were then aligned with spending priorities and programmes and
42 included as ‘very high priority’ measures in the draft NAS.
In Cyprus, the prioritisation of more than 200 adaptation measures, identified
across the 11 sectors in the NAS, made use of stakeholder opinion surveys,
which were then processed and evaluated using a MCA. Eight criteria were used
in the MCA: 1) Efficiency of the measure; 2) Environmental concerns; 3)
Supporting the prevention of climate change impacts; 4) Urgency for
implementing the measure; 5) Usefulness of implementation irrespective of
climate change; 6) Technical viability; 7) Economic viability; and, 8) Public
acceptance. The MCA produced alternative adaptation scenarios based on
different weightings of system vulnerabilities, evaluation criteria and stakeholder
types. The highest performing options across the scenarios were taken forward
in a ‘sustainable adaptation scenario’ and included in the NAS. Performance was
ranked equally between the technical, environmental and social criteria, whilst
economic aspects were evaluated in a separate cost-benefit analysis (CBA).
In the Czech Republic, adaptation options were selected using expert judgement
and prioritised by different ministries and thematic working groups using an MCA.
Measures were ranked according to four criteria: 1) multiple adaptation effects to
tackle the impacts of climate change; 2) spill-over social, economic or mitigation
impacts; 3) impact on the environment and ecosystems; and 4) financial needs
for implementation. Criterion 1 was assessed by the thematic working groups
and attributed a weight twice as important as the other three criteria, which were
evaluated by external consultants. Based on the MCA, measures were
categorised into priority one measures and priority two measures.
Similar combined approaches have also been used in Estonia, the Netherlands
and the UK (England) among others.
321
MCA is an analytical approach that allows for quantitative and qualitative criteria to be analysed within
the same single framework. It can be combined with weightings to produce rankings and/or scoring of
the options being assessed to support decision making.
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There has been less progress in coordinating disaster risk management and climate
adaptation. Mechanisms are in place to ensure coherence between the two policies in
only 10 Member States, although are in progress in 13 of the other countries (see Figure
IX-7 below).
7. Dedicated and adequate funding resources have been identified and made available to
implement adaptation action
Consistent funding is available for the implementation of adaptation actions to increase
climate resilience in vulnerable sectors and in cross-cutting ways (e.g. national scenarios
and climate services, capacity building, website) in only nine Member States (DE, DK,
EE, ES, FR, LT, PT, RO, SE), but adaptation is financed in at least some sectors in all of
the other countries, with one exception. The lack of funding that is specifically labelled
for adaptation is also reflected in the fact that only 14 Member States include budget
allocations in their NAS or NAP.
322
Step D: Implementing adaptation action
8. Climate change adaptation is mainstreamed into priority and key national planning
and sectoral policymaking
The country fiches identify that climate adaptation has been considered in the national
frameworks for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 21 Member States.
However, only 15 Member States consider climate adaptation in Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA).
Only nine Member States (CZ, FR, HU, LU, LV, NL, PT, RO, UK) have taken climate
change impacts and projections into account in national disaster risk management plans
and associated preparedness/prevention strategies. This is reflective of the current state of
play in relation to coordination of disaster risk management and climate adaptation (see
Point 6 above and Figure IX-7 below). Box 6 provides a selection of examples of good
practice.
322
It is unclear whether or not there are budget allocations associated with the NAS in two Member States.
144
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Figure IX-7. Coordination of disaster risk management plans with adaptation, and
consideration of climate projections
Box 6. Coordinating disaster risk reduction and adaptation
Climate change is affecting vulnerability to hazards, changing patterns of
exposure and thereby having a significant impact on the risk of natural disasters,
which are likely to increase in frequency and severity. Promoting coordination
between strategies and actions for adaptation and disaster risk reduction, and
fostering systematic integration of climate science and knowledge in disaster risk
assessments and management, is crucial for a coherent response to climate and
disaster risk.
A small number of Member States exemplify good practice.
Disaster risk management in France is based on plans published at the level of
each department, which set out how the response to a range of risks will be
organised. These plans include the identification of key climate-related risks and
take account of climate change and modelling (e.g. in the relation to flood risk
zones). The plans ensure that climate impacts and projections are addressed in
disaster prevention and preparedness strategies and management plans.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch Safety Regions
323
are mandated to address
disaster risk management on their territory and base their plans on climate
323
These are 25 regions covering the entire country that have administrative responsibility for risk
assessment and response. The emergency services (e.g. fire brigade, police and paramedics) cooperate
and are organised in teams corresponding to the Safety Regions. The Safety Regions differ from the
country’s 12 provinces. For further information see ‘Ministry of Security and Justice (nd) Safety
145
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projections. In 2015, the ‘Water and Evacuation’ programme started, with the aim
to improve the preparedness of the Dutch Safety Regions for the consequences
of floods due to climate change. Between 2015 and 2017 instruments were
developed and made publicly available to assist the Safety Regions in their
preparedness for water-related disasters, including floods. The programme is
monitored by the Steering Group Management Water Crises and Floods
(Stuurgroep Management Watercrises en Overstromingen, SMWO). The SMWO
governance structure falls under the Steering Group National Security in which
Dutch Safety Regions, the Ministry of Security and Justice, the Ministry of
Infrastructure and the Environment and the Dutch Water Authorities, and the
Ministry of Defence take part. This structure provides a good practice example of
how information sharing and appropriate actions on climate change and disaster
risk prevention can be coordinated across all key agencies.
In Portugal, the national authority for civil protection (ANPC) is liaising with the
work of the national platform for disaster risk reduction linked to climate
adaptation and is coordinating one of the sectoral working groups that integrate
with the NAS. In this way, close cooperation and articulation between disaster
risk management and climate adaptation is assured. The NAS also includes a
sector working group on safety of people and assets, which contributed to the
ANPC’s 2014 National Risk
Assessment
324
. This assessment explicitly includes
climate change impacts and how they may accentuate or attenuate natural,
technological or hybrid risks. The NAS also acts to support disaster risk reduction
at sector level, promotes good practices (e.g. early warning systems) and
produces manuals on best practices for risk management and prevention.
Similar coordinated approaches are also established in a small number of other
Member States, including the Czech Republic and the UK.
The EEA report on Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in
Europe
325
shows that there are opportunities to further enhance coherence
between climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction as both policies
use the concept of resilience and this provides common ground to build on more
coherent policies and actions. Example include the co-design and co-
development of climate services, an area where Copernicus (‘Europe’s
eyes on
Earth
326
’) can contribute. In addition, there are opportunities to improve and
harmonise the sharing of vast amount of complementary knowledge available at
websites, portals and platforms. Incomplete records of past disasters highlight
the need for an improved monitoring and risk assessment as comprehensive,
harmonised and interoperable disaster loss databases are needed to improve
existing damage and risk models. Finally, national level coordination of
Regions
Act.
Available
from:
https://english.nctv.nl/binaries/j-18732-web-eng-wet-
veiligheidsregios_tcm32-84093.pdf
324
ANPC
(2014).
Avaliacao
Nacional
de
Risco
Available
from:
http://www.prociv.pt/bk/RISCOSPREV/AVALIACAONACIONALRISCO/Documents/2016_Avaliac
ao_Nacional_Riscos.pdf
325
EEA, 2017, Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Europe: enhancing coherence of
the knowledge base, policies and practices, European Environment Agency, EEA Report 15/2017,
ISSN 1977-8449 (https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/climate-change-adaptation-and-disaster)
326
http://www.copernicus.eu/
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indicators needs improvement to measure progress and better understand and
value the co-benefits of nature-based solutions in adaptation and disaster risk
reduction.
A total of 15 Member States
327
have land use, spatial, urban and maritime planning
policies that explicitly address climate impacts, and require or encourage adaptation.
Only six Member States (BE, DE, FI, SE, SK, UK) have national policy instruments that
promote adaptation at sectoral level, in line with national priorities and in areas where
adaptation is mainstreamed in EU policies. However, all but two of the other countries
are promoting adaptation in certain sectors, with significant gaps in others (e.g.
construction, energy, fisheries, health and industry) (see Figure IX-8). In addition to
those sectors specified in the figure, small numbers of Member States are mainstreaming
adaptation in a wide range of “Other” individual
sectors include insurance or alternative
policy instruments providing incentives for investments in risk prevention (DE and DK
only).
Figure IX-8. Sectors in which national policy instruments promote adaptation
9. Climate change adaptation policies and measures are implemented
At least 22 Member States are implementing their NAS and/or NAP, albeit with gaps in
key sectors or in some actions identified as priorities. In one Member State (FI), it is
clear that the NAP and associated priorities are being implemented in a coordinated way.
Of those Member States that have progressed implementation, only 14
328
have
cooperation mechanisms in place to foster and support adaptation at a local and
subnational scale.
327
328
BG, CZ, DE, DK, FI, FR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, PT, SE, SI, UK
AT, DE, DK, ES, FI, HU, IE, LT, NL, PL, PT, SE, SK, UK
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Half of the Member States have made little or no progress, as yet, in making procedures
or guidelines available to assess the potential impact of climate change on major projects
or programmes, and facilitate the choice of alternative options (e.g. green infrastructure).
Thirteen Member States are involving stakeholders in the implementation of adaptation
policies and measures.
Step E: Monitoring and evaluation
10. Systems are in place to monitor and report on climate change adaptation, including
adaptation-related expenditures, via relevant indicators
A total of 16 Member States are undertaking some monitoring and reporting of
adaptation activities. The extent differs to which these Member States are monitoring and
reporting on: NAS and/or NAP implementation; integration of climate adaptation in
sectoral policies; or regional, sub-national and local actions (see Figure IX-9).
Figure IX-9. The focus of adaptation monitoring and reporting being undertaken by
Member States
148
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11. An evaluation framework is in place to assess whether adaptation policy objectives
are met and a periodic review of the adaptation strategy is planned
While 24 Member States have planned a periodic review of their NAS and/or NAP,
stakeholders are actively involved in the assessment, evaluation and review of national
adaptation policy in only 13 Member States. Nevertheless, the EEA reports that most
countries have focused primarily on monitoring and reporting while the evaluation of
adaptation policies has started recently in a handful of countries
329
.
An overview of monitoring and evaluation frameworks and a selection of good practices
is provided in Box 7.
Box 7. Monitoring and evaluation frameworks
Monitoring and reporting of implementation has taken place at sectoral and sub-
national levels in seven Member States (AT, DE, ES, FI, LT, SK and UK). In
most countries, reporting of sectoral and sub-national level implementation is
covered within the central report on the implementation of the NAS/NAP with
dedicated chapters on the relevant actions. On the other hand, there are three
Member States (HR, NL and SI) where, even though central monitoring and
reporting on the implementation of the NAS is not in place, separate sectoral
progress reports are published. For instance, in the Netherlands, a progress
report on the Delta Programme, covering adaptation actions related to flooding
and the water sector, is published annually.
The frequency of central reporting varies; for instance, in Austria a progress
report is published every five years, in Spain every three years, while in Lithuania
an implementation report on the NAP is published annually by the responsible
ministry. The type of monitoring information can be qualitative and quantitative.
For instance, in Austria monitoring is based on a stakeholder survey (‘self-
assessment approach’;
based on the NAP and sent to the key actors mentioned
therein) and a criteria-approach
(‘indicator-based approach’ with qualitative and
quantitative data collections).
In contrast to the dissemination of monitoring results, a periodic review of the
NAS/NAP is in place or planned in 24 out of the 28 Member States and is either
embedded in the national climate change legislation or the NAS/NAP itself.
Fundamental conceptual and methodological challenges remain for monitoring,
reporting and evaluation activities owing to a still limited experience with the use
of adaptation indicators. A forthcomingworking paper of the EEA, supported by
the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and
Adaptation, analysed available national adaptation indicator sets. While several
countries are working on adaptation indicators, and new information is expected
329
EEA, 2015, Overview of climate change adaptation platforms in Europe, European Environment
Agency,
EEA
Technical
Report
5/2015,
ISSN
1725-2237
(https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/overview-of-climate-change-adaptation)
149
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to be available in the near future, there are currently only a few European
countries with an operational set of indicators in place (AT, FI, DE, NL, UK). The
countries use indicator sets instead of single indicators and combine quantitative
information with descriptive expert knowledge. There is also a clear link between
the sectors covered in the NAS/NAP and in the adaptation indicator sets. Several
data underpinning the indicators are either recorded continuously (e.g. water
parameters) or collected from different entities (for example in the case of
subnational measures), making it necessary to report them in a structured format
for evaluation. While not always one-to-one, the adaptation indicator sets
available contain a large amount of information that is suitable for the reporting
under the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) indicators globally and at the EU-level (for SDG13 on
Climate Action and beyond). Monitoring, reporting and evaluation experiences in
for example the thematic areas of biodiversity, adaptation and international
development, and sustainability have transferable lessons learned that may
improve climate change adaptation evaluation practices.
Regarding the active involvement of stakeholders in the monitoring and
evaluation process, 13 Member States have put in place stakeholder
engagement mechanisms, which include involvement within central and sectoral
committees as well as holding stakeholder workshops or discussions. For
instance, in Finland, a specific group was established to monitor NAP
implementation and the group involves the central coordinating ministry, other
relevant ministries, research institutes, and local, regional and other relevant
actors and associations.
4. Conclusions
Overall, Member States have made good progress in developing a NAS and/or NAP, or
are in the process of finalising them (three Member States are in the final stages of
adopting a NAS). This progress suggests that there is a now a significantly higher
baseline of preparedness and adaptation policy-making than in 2013, when the EU
Adaptation Strategy was launched. It also suggests that the Strategy catalysed action in
Member States and particularly in those that were in earlier stages of developing an
adaptation policy. The EU’s facilitative role through providing guidance, funding
research and adaptation action under the Strategy can be traced throughout the five steps
of the adaptation policy cycle.
The aggregated scoreboard for the 28 Member States is provided in Figure IX-10
(below). It indicates a difference in progress by Member States across the five steps of
the adaptation policy cycle. While most Member States have made good progress with
the first three steps (A. Preparing the ground for adaptation; B. Assessing risk and
vulnerabilities; and C. Identifying adaptation options), many have yet to implement
adaptation actions and undertake monitoring and reporting. Larger Member States and
those that adopted a NAS earlier than others (see Table IX-1 above) have made more
progress. Progress in relation to some indicators is also influenced by administrative
culture and geography. For instance, not all Member States wish to coordinate sectoral
adaptation actions under a single strategy and the need for detailed transboundary
arrangements is less relevant for more isolated Member States.
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Conclusions on each step of the adaptation policy cycle are provided below:
Step A: Preparing the ground for adaptation
All MS have a basic governance structure for adaptation policy-making. Although some
degree of vertical coordination is in place in almost all Member States to enable sub-
national stakeholders to influence policy development and implementation, this does not
seem to have a sectoral focus. Nevertheless, most country fiches indicate that a wide
range of stakeholders have been consulted in the preparation of adaptation policies.
While the extent of transboundary cooperation, and whether it is driven by the
NAS/NAP, varies between Member States, almost all are planning to address common
challenges with relevant countries; invariably with regard to water. It is clear that
international initiatives (e.g. the International Commission for the Protection of the
Danube River, and the Alpine Convention), EU initiatives (e.g. the macro-regional
strategies) and EU-funded projects are important in helping to prepare the ground for
cooperation.
Step B: Assessing risks and vulnerabilities
Climate change scenarios and projections are widely available at national level. They are
being used in most Member States to undertake sound, centrally-coordinated assessments
of climate vulnerabilities, risks, and future economic, social and environmental impacts,
with other Member States making progress in this respect.
While most Member States have included actions related to knowledge in their NAS and
have identified adaptation knowledge gaps, there seems to be limited activity to address
these gaps in almost half of the Member States.
Adaptation-related data (e.g. climate projections, vulnerability and risk assessments,
adaptation tools) are available to at least some stakeholders in almost all Member States,
and disseminated by a majority of them via a national web-based platform. However,
coordination of associated capacity-building activities is less advanced and established in
fewer than half of Member States.
Step C: Identifying adaptation options
Most Member States have used detailed vulnerability and/or risk assessments in
combination with robust methods (e.g. multicriteria analyses and/or stakeholder
consultations) to prioritise sectoral adaptation options. However, notably, less than half
of Member States have mechanisms in place to coordinate disaster risk management and
climate adaptation.
EU funds play an important role in enabling funding to be made available nationally for
implementation of adaptation actions in at least a few sectors in almost all Member
States. Nevertheless, there is a lack of reliable funding, with only half of Member States
having budgets attached to their NAS or NAP.
Step D: Implementing adaptation action
Although most Member States have begun implementing their NAS and/or NAP, around
half or more of Member States are yet to ensure that:
Climate adaptation is considered in Strategic Environmental Assessments
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Synergies with disaster risk reduction are progressed
Land use, spatial, urban and maritime planning policies encourage adaptation
Adaptation is integrated into insurance policies
Cooperation mechanisms are established to foster local and subnational action
There is appropriate consideration of potential climate impacts on major projects
or programmes and of alternative options, including green infrastructure
Stakeholders are involved in implementing adaptation policies.
Step E: Monitoring and evaluation
While most Member States have planned a periodic review of their NAS and/or NAP,
their monitoring and reporting is not yet robust and there is a need to develop stakeholder
involvement (including of subnational levels) in their assessment, evaluation and review.
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Figure IX-10. Aggregated scoreboard for the 28 EU Member States
330
330
For a more detailed explanation of what each indicator means and how its value is determined, please
refer to the scoreboard methodology in Annex X.
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5. Country codes of EU Member States
Country codes are used in Section 3 (Results and analysis) of this Annex in accordance
with the rules of the EU Interinstitutional Style Guide
331
. Hence, the two-letter ISO code
(ISO 3166 alpha-2) is used except for Greece and the United Kingdom, for which the
abbreviations EL and UK have to be used:
AT
BE
BG
CY
CZ
DE
DK
EE
EL
ES
FI
FR
HR
HU
IE
IT
LT
LU
LV
MT
NL
PL
PT
RO
SE
SI
SK
UK
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Germany
Denmark
Estonia
Greece
Spain
Finland
France
Croatia
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Latvia
Malta
Netherland
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Sweden
Slovenia
Slovakia
United Kingdom
331
See at:
http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-000100.htm
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Annex X
Policy framework
A
EU adaptation preparedness scoreboard indicator list and methodology
Adaptation strategies
A1
A2
A NAS has been adopted
Number and scope (% of population or territory covered) of adaptation
strategies adopted at relevant subnational levels, in line with national
multilevel governance arrangements
A national adaptation action plan has been adopted
Number and scope of adaptation action plans adopted at local or relevant
subnational levels
Adaptation action plans adopted at sectoral level, or embedded in
sectoral strategies
B
Adaptation action plans
B1
B2
B3
Scoreboard
Adaptation
policy
making
process
Step
1:
Preparing the
ground
for
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
1.
A
country-wide
governance system is
in place for adaptation
policy
making
and
1a
A central administration
body officially in charge of
adaptation policy making
- Country Fiches to provide details on the coordinating administration and
its role
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
adaptation
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
vertical and horizontal
coordination
arrangements are in
place
between
governmental bodies
1b
Horizontal
(i.e. sectoral)
coordination mechanisms
exist
within
the
governance system, with
division of responsibilities
YES = evidence that systematic coordination is in place (depending on
the implementation phase)
- Country Fiches to present clearly what is the case (i.e. coordination
only during drafting the NAS or continued during the implementation
phase)
IN PROGRESS: Some coordination activity between bodies responsible for
relevant sectors, but with no clear division of responsibilities, or
incomplete sectoral coverage.
1c
Vertical
(i.e. across levels
of
administration)
coordination mechanisms
exist
within
the
governance
system,
enabling lower levels of
administration to influence
policy making.
YES = Idem 1b
- Additionally, Country Fiches to also present details if
–
cooperation only
in certain sectors (e.g. water); specific delegation mechanisms are in
place, e.g. for devolving power & responsibilities to regions.
IN PROGRESS: Some coordination mechanisms between relevant levels
of administration, but with incomplete coverage or incomplete
implementation.
- Country Fiches to provide details on the processes used (e.g. public
consultations, involvement in working groups etc.)
- Country Fiches to indicate what categories of stakeholders have been
consulted (e.g. industry representatives, organised civil society, etc.)
If at the time of preparation of the Country Fiches, the policy cycle is in a
stage where stakeholder involvement is not relevant (e.g. just after the
adoption of a strategy or a plan), the Country Fiches should seek
evidence from the last stakeholder involvement period.
2. Stakeholders (e.g.
interest
groups,
scientists and general
public) are involved in
the
preparation
of
adaptation policies
2a
A dedicated process is in
place
to
facilitate
stakeholders' involvement
in
the
preparation
of
adaptation policies
2b
Transboundary cooperation
is planned to address
common challenges with
YES = stable cooperation mechanisms are in place (ideally described in
or driven by the NAS)
-
Country
156
Fiches
to
present
details
on
the
specific
cooperation
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
relevant countries
mechanisms (do not have to be formal governmental processes, e.g.
macro-regional strategies count as well)
- Country Fiches to present details re. the specific sectors / fields of
cooperation (e.g. flood risk management)
- Country Fiches to present details on identified transboundary projects
and/or other common initiatives (although if this is the only cooperation
identified would normally not qualify for a positive assessment).
Step
2:
Assessing
risks
and
vulnerabilities
to
climate
change
3. Systems are in
place to monitor and
assess current and
projected
climate
change, impacts and
vulnerability
3a
Observation systems are in
place to monitor climate
change, extreme climate
events and their impacts
YES = observation systems are in place, records on extreme events are
being kept, and these records include figures on impacts (e.g. casualties,
damages, financial losses etc.)
- Country Fiches to present details on what observations systems are in
place for monitoring climate events, as well as their impacts.
- Country Fiches to present details on what kind of records regarding
climate impacts are being identified.
- Country Fiches to try identifying what and how the climate-related
impacts are captured (e.g. loss & damage figures, surface/areas affected,
no. of people affected etc.).
IN PROGRESS: observation systems are in place only in some sectors.
3b
Scenarios and projections
are used to assess the
economic,
social
and
environmental impacts of
climate change, taking into
account
geographical
specificities and are based
on latest best available
science (e.g. in response
to
revised
IPCC
YES = projections are available, and based on most recent science; and
are being used for assessing impacts (even if only preliminary
vulnerability screenings are being carried out)
Note: Indicators 3b and 3c should be looked at together. 3b tends to
have a geographical scope, while 3c has a sectoral one.
Initial analysis will present a simple schema of the coverage of scenarios
and projections. In due course, further detailed information could be
added by desk officers or Member States on (i) the projections available
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
assessments)
in the Member States: source (domestic research or international
sources) and how are they maintained, singular or ensembles, RCM or
downscaled
GCM,
available
resolutions;
(ii)
whether
an
overall/aggregated risk & vulnerability assessment was carried out across
several sectors or one of a national coverage was done; (iii) optionally,
details on any existing sub-national/regional assessments are useful for
complementing
the
sectoral
perspective
IN PROGRESS: not country specific enough, old scenarios, not based on
recent science
3c
Sound
climate
risks/vulnerability
assessments for priority
vulnerable
sectors
are
undertaken
to
support
adaptation
decision
making. The selection of
vulnerable sectors may be
based on a lighter pre-
screening
vulnerability
assessment.
YES = comprehensive risk & vulnerability assessments are carried out in
(a critical mass of the) priority sectors identified;
- Country Fiches to present details on what sectors were analysed, the
level of detail in the analyses, and information on the studies supporting
these assessments
- Country Fiches to seek details whether the analyses were coordinated
at a central level, were sector-driven carried out independently, or were
separate research projects carried out independently
IN PROGRESS: some evidence of good quality risk and vulnerability
assessments in some sectors; but sectoral coverage is partial
3d
Climate risks/vulnerability
assessments
take
transboundary risks into
account, when relevant
YES = transboundary risks are taken into account in a coordinated
manner, ideally enshrined in NAS
- Country Fiches to provide details on how and where transboundary
risks were considered (i.e. for which sectors), and if this coordinated by
the NAS or is sector-driven (e.g. in water management and flood risk), or
project-driven
IN PROGRESS: Transboundary risks are taken into account by some
sectors, but gaps exist in relevant sectors.
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
4. Knowledge gaps on
climate change and
climate
change
adaptation are tackled
4a
Work is being carried out
to identify, prioritise and
address the knowledge
gaps
YES: gaps are identified and work is ongoing to address them (not
checking if all relevant sectors are addressed)
- Country Fiches to provide details on the processes employed for
periodically tackling the knowledge gaps and mention if this is driven by
NAS or other arrangements are in place;
- Country Fiches to provide details on any preliminary identification of
knowledge gaps being carried out (e.g. identified in NAS).
- Country Fiches to provide details on the publicly-funded research
programmes or mechanisms identified (e.g. proper prioritisation, specific
research centres created);
- Country Fiches to provide details on any sector-driven (e.g. water
management, agriculture etc.) or project-driven (EU funds available)
research for identifying knowledge gaps
IN PROGRESS: gaps are only identified, no work to address them
5. Knowledge transfer
processes are in place
to
build
adaptive
capacity
across
sectors
5a
Adaptation relevant data
and
information
is
available
to
all
stakeholders,
including
policy
makers
(e.g.
through
a
dedicated
website
or
other
comparable means).
YES = highly visible sources of information on adaptation are available
and contain: general climate data (e.g. climate projections), vulnerability
and risk assessments, adaptation tools and examples, information on
adaptation policy and related institutional and legal frameworks etc.
A centralised (Climate-ADAPT type) platform is desirable, but a limited
set of de-centralised sources complementing each other could also satisfy
the need (provided that they are easily identifiable and well established
in their specific sectors).
- Country Fiches to provide details and links on the following categories:
- adaptation general info - specific platforms or adaptation sections in
the
wider
climate
change
platforms;
-
NAS/policy
oriented
adaptation
pages;
and
- climate projection repositories (e.g. from the met offices or research
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
projects).
- additionally, specific adaptation projects' web sites could be identified.
- Country Fiches to provide details on the identified science-policy
interfaces
falling
into
one
of
the
categories:
- stable processes and/or organisations (e.g. research and/or expertise
centre acting as a focal point, partnership structure between
organisations, programme run by the central administration consisting of
systematic meetings, workshops etc.). To mention if specific action in
NAS/NAP
supports
this;
- ad-hoc process (e.g. for drafting the NAS)
IN PROGRESS: adaptation relevant data available to some stakeholders,
but with significant groups not targeted.
5b
Capacity building activities
take place; education and
training
materials
on
climate change adaptation
concepts and practices are
available and disseminated
YES = systematic actions on capacity building, carried out in a
coordinated way, usually driven by the NAS or NAP.
- Country Fiches to provide details on the identified mechanisms falling
into
one
of
the
categories:
- systematic and coordinated activities, usually driven by the NAS or
NAP (e.g. an established support service offering assistance to
authorities, training programmes etc.). To mention if specific action in
NAS/NAP
supports
this;
- ad-hoc process carried out by various organisations, but not
coordinated by a specific programme or action in the NAS.
- Country Fiches should try to identify capacity building actions in: public
administration, academia, business sector, and awareness-raising actions
for the wider public.
IN PROGRESS: systematic actions on capacity building but not in a
coordinated manner.
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Step 3:
Identifying
adaptation
options
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
6. For priority sectors,
a range of adaptation
options is considered,
consistent with the
results of sectoral risk
assessments
and
taking into account
good practices and
measures
6a
Adaptation options address
sectoral risks identified in
3c,
the
geographical
specificities identified in 3b
and follow best practices
as
defined
in
similar
contexts
YES = detailed/elaborated risk assessments used to identify adaptation
options for (a majority of) the priority sectors.
Note: The reply should be correlated with the ones for the indicators 3b
and 3c.
- Country Fiches to identify whether all or only some of the priority
sectors have risk assessments and adaptation options identified. If latter,
to mention which sectors have detailed risk assessments;
- Country Fiches to mention whether indicative adaptation actions are
identified based only on lighter processes (e.g. stakeholder consultations,
expert judgement);
- Country Fiches could analyse the 'horizontal' actions and seek
information on how they were derived (e.g. based on good practices).
6b
The selection of priority
adaptation options is based
on robust methods (e.g.
multi-criteria
analyses,
stakeholders' consultation,
etc.) and consistent with
existing
decision-making
frameworks
YES = a prioritisation mechanism is clearly indicated and/or prioritisation
tools/guidance/criteria are made available for being used during project
selection.
- Country Fiches to indicate how selection and prioritisation of adaptation
options was made:
- using processes (e.g. expert judgement, consultations among
organisations
or
with
stakeholders),
and/or
- using tools and methodologies (MCA, CBA, guidelines for
prioritisation);
- Country Fiches to specify whether the prioritisation was made at the
sectoral level (i.e. choosing priority actions per sector), or across sectors
(i.e. choosing priority sectors for kick-starting actions), or both;
- Country Fiches to indicate whether specific prioritisation tools have
been published (e.g. guidelines for selection, MCA etc. which would be
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
used for all measures);
- Country Fiches to identify further plans for carrying out specific
prioritisation (e.g. to prioritise in the context of specific actions, sectors,
geographical areas; to develop new tools (CBA, MCA) etc.
6c
Mechanisms are in place to
coordinate disaster risk
management and climate
change adaptation and to
ensure coherence between
the two policies.
YES = (at least) bi-lateral mainstreaming (i.e. DRR in NAS and climate
change in DRR). Institutional arrangements supervising the exchange
would be a plus, since this indicator focuses mainly on 'mechanisms' and
needs to differentiate from the indicator 8b.
- Country Fiches to bring details on:
- how DRR planning is taking into account climate change impacts and
projections;
- how NAS/NAP includes DRR measures;
- any institutional frameworks and/or procedures entailed for
coordination (e.g. special working groups, climate change specialists
involved in DRR policy-making, or DRR practitioners involved in
adaptation planning).
IN PROGRESS: at least one of the three is present but not all
7.
Dedicated
and
adequate
funding
resources have been
identified and made
available to implement
adaptation action
7a
Funding is available to
increase climate resilience
in vulnerable sectors and
for
cross-cutting
adaptation action
YES = actions in NAS or the relevant priority sectors receive consistent
funding for implementation. Reliable multi-annual funding commitments
(e.g. through ESIF) for some sectors could lead to a positive assessment,
while a mere identification in NAS of indicative funding sources without
clear evidence of funds disbursed should not.
Country Fiches to provide details on which of the 2 cases above would
apply
–
budgets attached to NAS/NAP or separate funding for priority
sectors. If the latter, it should try to identify what are the sectors and
where the funding comes from (e.g. national/regional, via line ministries,
ESIF etc.). For the funding to be taken into account in the CF, adaptation
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
does not have to be the main objective of the intervention, but it should
feature among the stated objectives.
Country Fiches to identify whether the NAS provides for funding cross-
cutting adaptation action also (e.g. national scenarios and climate
services, capacity building, website)
IN PROGRESS: if adaptation is only financed in a few sectors or there is
no funding for cross-cutting adaptation action
Step 4:
Implementing
adaptation
action
8.
Climate
change
adaptation
is
mainstreamed
into
priority
and
key
national planning and
sectoral policymaking
Consideration of climate
change
adaptation
has
been
included
in
the
national frameworks for
EIAs
Prevention/preparedness
strategies in place under
national
disaster
risk
management plans take
into
account
climate
change
impacts
and
projections
- Country Fiches to provide details regarding both EIA and SEA national
legislation
8a
8b
YES = projected future climate extremes are factored in the DRM plans
and associated risk analyses, while historical climate extremes should
normally be covered by all risk analyses and DRM action plans.
Note: Attention to be granted to correlating this answer with the one
given for 6c.
- Country Fiches to analyse DRM plans and the associated risk analyses.
8c
Key land use, spatial
planning, urban planning
and
maritime
spatial/
urban planning policies
take into account the
impacts of climate change
YES = clear evidence that land use and spatial/urban policies at Member
State level explicitly address climate impacts, and require or encourage
adaptation; and evidence that the policies are followed in practice across
the majority of the Member State.
- Country Fiches
mainstreaming:
should
provide
details
regarding
the
type
of
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
- spatial planning, urban planning, maritime spatial planning;
- geographical scope
–
national, regional or local.
8d
National policy instruments
promote
adaptation
at
sectoral level, in line with
national priorities and in
areas where adaptation is
mainstreamed
in
EU
policies
YES = evidence of mainstreaming in sectoral policies is identified. The
mere mentioning of a sector in the NAS is not enough, unless is being
backed by actual policy instruments identified in that sector that include
adaptation.
- Provide details regarding:
- what sectors are currently including adaptation considerations;
- what policy instruments are promoting adaptation in each sector;
- was the NAS the driver for mainstreaming in these sectors or
something else triggered an autonomous adaptation (e.g. EU acquis or
policy)?
IN PROGRESS: individual sectoral policies promote adaptation, but
coverage is patchy, with significant gaps
8e
Adaptation
is
mainstreamed in insurance
or
alternative
policy
instruments,
where
relevant,
to
provide
incentives for investments
in risk prevention
YES = evidence of insurance (or guarantee) schemes that are
incentivising investments in enhanced resilience and risk prevention is
identified in both the national framework (NAS/NAP) and as being active
in the field.
Insurance schemes available for current extremes are available in many
places, but by themselves would not qualify for a positive assessment.
Furthermore, schemes for ensuring the affordability of insurance (for e.g.
flood risks) do not incentivise adaptation per se.
- Country Fiches to mention what specific objectives or actions on
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
insurance are contained in the NAS.
- Country Fiches to provide details on how the insurance schemes are
incentivising adaptation.
9a
Adaptation policies and
measures
are
implemented,
e.g.
as
defined in action plans or
sectoral policy documents
YES = only if coordinated implementation of NAS/NAP is underway, and
clear evidence of adaptation priorities identified being put into effect.
Note: actions such as effective mainstreaming in sectors (confirmed by
the indicator 8d) and further/detailed vulnerability and risk assessments
should be seen as concrete implementation, provided they are required
as such by the NAS/NAP
- Country Fiches should mention if national / sectoral / regional action
plans are drafted, or the NAS is the only programmatic document
governing adaptation
- Country Fiches should provide a brief account on what actions are being
implemented (e.g. mostly horizontal, sectoral
–
if yes, in which sectors,
etc.)
- Country Fiches should mention in what stage is the implementation
(recently started, several years past etc.), if progress reports have been
issued.
- Country Fiches could mention notable examples of autonomous
adaptation action being implemented
IN PROGRESS: evidence that the NAS/NAP is being implemented, but
with gaps in key sectors or in some actions identified as priorities.
9b
Cooperation
mechanisms
in place to foster and
support
adaptation
at
relevant scales (e.g. local,
YES = only if cooperation (with regions and cities) is actually active
during the implementation. From that point of view this indicator should
be correlated with 9a which shows that implementation has started. If
the cooperation is made possible by frameworks in place (this should be
correlated with the indicator 1c on vertical integration), but no
165
9.
Climate
change
adaptation
policies
and
measures
are
implemented
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1966798_0168.png
Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
subnational)
implementation is underway the assessment should be negative.
However, in this latter case a separate mention should be made in the
CF. The same, if the NAS/NAP are calling for such a vertical cooperation.
Note: This indicator should be seen as focused on the adaptation actions
carried out at regional and local levels, supported by formalised
collaborative frameworks. It differs from indicator 1c which shows rather
how regional and local levels are feeding back into the national actions
(NAS, NAP).
9c
Procedures or guidelines
are available to assess the
potential impact of climate
change on major projects
or
programmes,
and
facilitate the choice of
alternative options, e.g.
green infrastructure
YES = only if guidelines and procedures refer specifically to projects and
programmes. Spatial development could be assimilated, as it forms the
basis of development programmes.
- Country Fiches should specify who is promoting the guidelines (i.e.
government bodies, other organisations, or they are results of projects)
and if they are actually used in practice (as opposed to simply being
made available).
- Country Fiches should note if NAS/NAP include specific actions for
publishing and applying such guidelines or procedures.
9d
There are processes for
stakeholders' involvement
in the implementation of
adaptation policies and
measures.
YES = if the involvement of stakeholders is already happening. The
stakeholders are seen here as 'non-public administration' bodies.
Note: It is important to notice that this indicator refers to stakeholders
actually implementing adaptation actions, not only participating in
monitoring and evaluation (since the indicator 11b is specifically reserved
for that)
- Country Fiches should provide details on what categories of
stakeholders are involved (e.g. academia, research, business sector,
NGOs etc.) and how are they involved (e.g. implementation of specific
actions, steering & consultations, selection of projects etc.).
-
Country
166
Fiches
should
note
if
NAS/NAP
provide
specific
 kom (2018) 0738 - Ingen titel
1966798_0169.png
Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
mechanisms/forums for involving the stakeholders.
Step 5:
Monitoring
and
evaluation
10. Systems are in
place to monitor and
report
on
climate
change
adaptation,
including adaptation-
related expenditures,
via relevant indicators
10a
Monitoring and reporting:
Information on NAS/NAP
implementation
is
monitored and the results
of the monitoring are
collected
and
disseminated.
YES = if reports on the implementation of NAS/NAP are being published.
Note: This indicator should be seen as referring to national centralised
reporting on the progress of adaptation action (i.e. implementation of
NAS/NAP).
- Country Fiches should provide details on the national reports:
- year(s) of publication and periodicity, latest report number;
- body that published the report;
- type of reporting
–
quantitative (based on indicators), qualitative on
the progress, or both;
- availability of financial information on allocated budgets and the costs
of actions;
- sources of information
–
e.g. reports from sectors/stakeholders, own
monitoring carried out by the central adaptation body etc.
10b
Monitoring and reporting:
The integration of climate
change
adaptation
in
sectoral
policies
is
monitored and the results
of the monitoring are
disseminated.
YES = if reports on adaptation in certain sectors are being published,
whether it is a centralised single report or different reports for each
sector. In the latter case, the reports should cover enough sectors, as
counted against the priority sectors identified in the NAS.
Availability/development of indicators is a detail that should be added,
but the lack of it should not result in a negative assessment.
Note: This indicator should be seen as having a sectoral focus, looking at
monitoring and reporting on progress.
- Country Fiches should provide details on:
167
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
- how sectoral
mainstreaming
is monitored and reported: coordinated
centrally or by the sectors themselves;
- what types of reports are being published: central report with details
on sectors, or separate sectoral reports;
- type of sectoral reports (if is the case)
–
are they only about
adaptation, or adaptation is just a topic among others addressed in that
report? (If only centralised reports are published, those are presumably
pure adaptation ones).
10c
Monitoring and reporting:
Information on regional,
sub-national or local action
is monitored and the
results of the monitoring
are
collected
and
disseminated
Note: This indicator should be seen as having a regional/local focus,
looking at specific reporting carried out by sub-national administrations.
It should be looked at in correlation with indicator 1c on vertical
coordination.
- Country Fiches should present if:
- the sub-regional level is reporting to the national one on their progress
on adaptation; or
- the sub-regional level issue their own progress reports independently,
addressed to the wider public; or
- no formal reporting is carried out, but feedback from sub-national to
national level is done via other mechanisms (e.g. sub-national presence
in national coordination committees for adaptation). These mechanisms
should lead to having national reports that include information on
adaptation action carried out at sub-national levels.
11.
An
evaluation
framework is in place
to
assess
whether
adaptation
policy
objectives are met
and a periodic review
11a
A periodic review of the
NAS and action plans is
planned
YES = if clear mechanisms are in place for reviewing at least one of the
NAP or NAS. Full reviews NAS and NAP constitute even stronger
mechanisms.
- This is an important indicator to understand a central part of the
adaptation governance in the Member States. As such, the Country
168
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Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
of
the
adaptation
strategy is planned
Fiches should aim to explain the following:
- how is the evaluation planned and/or carried out
–
on NAP, on NAS, or
both;
- what is the frequency of the evaluations and when is the next one
planned;
- how is the revision planned and/or carried out
–
on NAP, on NAS, or
both;
- what is the frequency of the revisions and when is the next one
planned;
- how is the review timeline determined
–
i.e. provisions in the
legislation on adaptation, in the NAS or NAP themselves, or ad-hoc
revisions based on the findings of (planned) evaluations.
11b
Stakeholders are involved
in
the
assessment,
evaluation and review of
national adaptation policy
YES = if structured involvement is identified in any of the 2 processes
(monitoring and review). 'Involvement' should be understood as
stakeholders actively participating in monitoring and/or review, as
opposed to them only providing information (via e.g. public consultations
or reporting).
Note: In case reporting is identified, this should be linked to indicator 9d,
as It relates to implementation.
- Proposal: the term 'assessment' should be replaced by 'monitoring'.
'Evaluation' should be deleted, as is seen as an integral part of the
'review'.
- Country Fiches should provide details on:
- how stakeholders are involved (e.g. describe what coordination/review
committees are they part of). Identify whether these are central
committees overseeing national adaptation action, or sectoral
169
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1966798_0172.png
Adaptation
policy
making
process
Main area of
performance
N°
Key
domain
relevance
of
Criteria
for positive and "In progress" replies,
Categories of information
sought, and
Notes
for better focus
committees for priority sectors of action;
- which processes are they involved in
–
monitoring, evaluation, revision
of NAS/NAP.
170
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Annex XI
List of EU policy initiatives where adaptation is mainstreamed
Table XI-1. Initiatives where climate adaptation is mainstreamed into EU policy (in force), including updates
In
EU
AS
Y
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
AGRI
Agriculture
Proposal
for
a
Regulation
establishing rules for direct payments
to farmers under support schemes
within the framework of the
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
332
COM(2011) 625
Regulation
(EU)
No
1307/2013 of the European
Parliament and of the
Council of 17 December
2013 establishing rules for
direct payments to farmers
under support schemes
within the framework of the
Common
Agricultural
333
Policy
and repealing
Council Regulation (EC) No
334
637/2008
and Council
Regulation
(EC)
No
335
73/2009
Regulation
(EU)
No
1306/2013 of the European
Greening of the first pillar has introduced three requirements
for farms:
crop diversification;
maintaining existing
permanent grassland;
and having
ecological focus area
on
the agricultural area (Article 43). These requirements have
adaptation co-benefits despite not being the primary objective
of the measures.
The greening requirements are in addition to cross-compliance
requirements, which include minimum good agricultural and
environmental conditions (GAEC) on soil, biodiversity and
water.
Y
AGRI
Agriculture
Financing,
monitoring
management
and
of
the
common
Farm advisory system covers the requirements to be respected
332
333
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, COM(2011) 0625 final
Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013
334
Council Regulation (EC) No 637/2008 of 23 June 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003
335
Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 of 19 January 2009
171
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
agricultural
336
628
policy
COM(2011)
Parliament and of the
Council of 17 December
2013 of the financing,
management and monitoring
of the common agricultural
337
policy
and repealing
Council Regulations (EEC)
338
No 352/78 , (EC) No
339
165/94 ,
(EC)
No
340
2799/98 ,
(EC)
No
341
814/2000 ,
(EC)
No
342
1290/2005
and (EC) No
343
485/2008
Regulation was adopted and
is currently in force:
Regulation
(EU)
No
345
1305/2013
of
the
European Parliament and of
in relation to agricultural practices beneficial for the climate.
The cross-compliance system incorporates in the CAP basic
standards concerning the environment, climate change, good
agricultural and environmental condition of land, public health,
plant health and animal welfare.
Y
AGRI
Agriculture and
forestry
Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the
Council on support for rural
development by the European
Agricultural
Fund
for
Rural
The EAFRD, in line with climate mainstreaming targets,
requires that at least 30% of EAFRD funding goes to measures
relevant for the environment and climate change.
The Rural Development policy offers support to EU Members
336
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy, COM(2011) 628
Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013
338
Council Regulation (EEC) No 352/78 of 20 February 1978
339
Council Regulation (EC) No 165/94 of 24 January 1994
340
Council Regulation (EC) No 2799/98 of 15 December 1998
341
Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 of 17 April 2000
342
Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005
343
Council Regulation (EC) No 485/2008 of 26 May 2008
337
172
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
Development (EAFRD) COM(2011)
344
627
the Council of 17 December
2013 on support for rural
development by the EAFRD
and
repealing
Council
Regulation
(EC)
No
346
1698/2005
States for implementing agricultural and forest adaptation
policies and priorities, offering a wide ranging set of measures
that can be used and combined by Member States to address
the regional and local specific impacts and vulnerabilities.
The fifth Union priority for rural development is “promoting
resource efficiency and supporting the shift towards a low
carbon and climate resilient economy in agriculture, food and
forestry sectors”, with a focus, among the others, on adaptation
related areas such as efficiency in water use, carbon
conservation and sequestration..
The fourth Union priority on “Restoring, Preserving and
enhancing ecosystems”, focus,
among the others, on the water
management and prevention of soil erosion and soil
management.
The regulation also indicates that all priorities “shall contribute
to the cross-cutting objectives of innovation, environment and
climate change mitigation and
adaptation.” (Article 5)
Climate change mitigation and adaptation and biodiversity also
appear as a thematic sub-programme. (Article 7)
Several measures can be used for adaptation purposes, for
example: the farm advisory system, which helps stakeholders
Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD),
COM (2011) 0627 final.
346
Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005
344
345
173
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
to improve “the economic and environmental performance as
well as the climate friendliness and resilience of their holding,
enterprise and/or investment” (Article 15).
The agri-environment-climate measures encourage farmers to
apply agricultural practices that contribute to climate change
mitigation and adaptation. (Article 28)
Others measure such as Investments in physical assets (Article
17), Organic farming (article 29), Areas facing natural or other
specific constraints (article 31).
Measures relevant for forest adaptation, including inter alia
agro-forestry, afforestation, investments improving the
resilience and environmental value of forest ecosystems,
prevention of forest fires and natural disasters, or the forest-
environmental and climate services and forest conservation that
includes the conservation and promotion of forest genetic
resources.
Operational Groups (Art. 36, Cooperation) linked to the
European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity
and Sustainability, specifically considers the promotion of a
climate friendly and resilient agriculture and improving
processes to preserve the environment, adapt to climate change
and mitigate it. It is financing several operational groups
relevant for adaptation.
Regulation Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No
807/2014 lays down provisions supplementing Regulation
(EU) No 1305/2013 as regards i.a. forests and forest
management practices. The regulation stipulates for instance
for afforestation and creation of woodland measures that "the
174
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
selection of species, varieties, ecotypes and provenances of
trees shall take account of the need for resilience to climate
change and to natural disasters […]". Programming of such
measures and definition of eligibility criteria for accessing such
support is however undertaken at Member State level.
Y
AGRI/ENV/GRO
W
Forest Policy
New EU Forest Strategy COM(2013)
659
Complemented by Multi-Annual
Implementation Plan of the new EU
347
Forest Strategy SWD(2015) 164
Communication
from
the
Commission to the European
Parliament, the Council, the
European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee
of the Regions on a new EU
Forest Strategy: for forests and
the
forest-based
sector
COM(2013) 659
348
The EU Forest Strategy (2013) supplements the EU Adaptation
Strategy as far as forests are concerned, integrating climate
action in the wider coherent approach towards sustainable
forest management. One of its priority areas is "Forests in a
changing climate", where the Strategic objective is to enhance
the forests adaptive capacity and resilience, building on the EU
Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change. A Multiannual
Implementation Plan of the EU Forest Strategy was developed
alongside the EU Forest Strategy. The 2015 implementation
plan recommends action by Member States to “demonstrate
how they enhance their forests’. The Strategy highlights the
need for adaptation in forests: “Forests are vulnerable to
climate change. It is therefore important to
maintain and
enhance their resilience and adaptive capacity,
including
through fire prevention and other adaptive solutions. The
role of forests in climate action primarily appears in achieving
mitigation objectives; nevertheless the opportunity for rural
development support to adaptation actions is highlighted.
347
348
Commission Staff Working Document: Impact Assessment, SWD(2015) 164 final
Communication from the Commission: A new EU Forest Strategy: for forests and he forest-based sector, COM(2013) 0659
175
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
N
COMP
State Aid
Guidelines on State aid for
environmental protection and energy
349
2014-2020
Adopted and implemented
The Forest Strategy is currently under mid-term review.
Although adaptation to climate change is not explicitly
mentioned as eligible for state aid, the guidelines list aid to
water re-use as an authorised measure, which has co-benefits in
terms of adaptation. Aid to hydropower is only authorised if it
does not have negative impacts on water systems in the
meaning of the Water Framework Directive, whose
implementation guidance covers climate adaptation (see related
entry below in this table). Environmentally harmful subsidies
(which include subsidies that lead to maladaptation, e.g.
excessive water extraction) are also ineligible according to the
guidelines.
The Joint Communication examines different aspects of state
and societal resilience, including climate and environmental
resilience, migration and forced displacement and security. It
proposes four building blocks to incorporate resilience into the
EU's external action:
•
•
•
•
Improving analysis of risks, underlying causes and
resilience factors (capacities to cope with risks and
shocks, to adapt and to transform)
A more dynamic monitoring by the EU of external
pressures to allow early action
Integrating the resilience approach into EU
programming and financing of external assistance
EU cooperation with multilateral and bilateral
N
DEVCO / ECHO
Resilience
EU Approach to Resilience
Communication, Action Plan
–
Joint Communication on A
Strategic
Approach
to
Resilience in the EU's
350
External Action
349
Communication from the Commission: Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020 (2014/C 200/01) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52014XC0628(01)
350
Joint Communication to the European Parliament and the Council: A Strategic Approach to Resilience in the EU's external action, JOIN(2017) 21 final
176
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
institutional partners
N
ECHO / DEVCO /
NEAR
Development
cooperation/
humanitarian
assistance
/
foreign policy
Communication on Lives in Dignity:
from Aid-dependence to Self-
reliance. Forced Displacement and
Development
(COM(2016)
234
351
final)
Follow-up
by
DEVCO/ECHO/NEAR and
EEAS
This Communication focuses on situations of protracted forced
displacement in partner countries due to conflict, violence and
human rights violations, irrespective of the status of the
displaced under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Elements of
the new policy may also be applicable to
displacement caused
by natural disasters and climatic events,
while recognising
the different politics, contexts, needs and solutions.
The new framework should be responsive to climate change as
a cross-cutting issue.
N
DEVCO / ENV
Development
cooperation
Communication on preparing an EU
position
on
the
post-2015
development agenda (COM(2014)
352
335)
Post-Cotonou: towards a renewed
partnership with the countries of
Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific
Council
Conclusions
adopted in 2014.
N
DEVCO
Development
cooperation
Joint communication:
A renewed partnership with
the countries of Africa, the
353
Caribbean and the Pacific
This Communication sets out the ideas and proposed building
blocks for a renewed post-2020 political partnership with the
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
Negative impacts of climate change are included in the list of
significant problems the ACP countries are facing, with climate
change remaining one of the most pressing threats to the
achievement of sustainable development.
One of the six priorities of the new political partnership is
351
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Lives in Dignity:
from Aid-dependence to Self-reliance Forced Displacement and Development, COM(2016) 0234 final.
352
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A decent Life for
all: from vision to collective action, COM(2014) 335
353
Joint Communication to the European Parliament and the Council: A renewed partnership with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, JOIN(2016) 52 final.
177
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
protecting the environment and fighting climate change. Under
this priority, the partnership should enshrine a commitment to
pro-poor climate resilience policies and should include
commitments on,
inter alia,
the implementation of adaptation
policies. Better preparedness, reduced exposure to
vulnerability, and ability to recover from disasters are
considered as key to avoiding loss of lives and livelihoods.
In identifying topics of common interest and action, the
partnership has to build on the experience of the high ambition
coalition process that paved the way for the Paris Agreement.
Recognizes the increased needs for climate change adaptation
in the world, and includes it as one of the objectives of EU
development cooperation.
The Communication recognizes the link between climate
change and forced displacement and also its possible impact on
security.
N
DEVCO
Development
Cooperation
The New
30/06/2017
European
Consensus,
Adopted.
2017/C
210/01
Adopted 26.4.2016
COM(2016) 234 final
DEVCO
Migration
Communication on
Lives in Dignity: from Aid-
dependence to Self-reliance. Forced
Displacement and Development
Decision establishing a Union Civil
Protection Mechanism
Y
ECHO
Disaster
risk
prevention and
management
Decision was adopted and is
currently in force: Decision
No 1313/2013/EU of the
European Parliament and of
the Council of 17 December
2013 on a Union Civil
354
Protection Mechanism
In Chapter II in order to fulfil the prevention objectives the
Commissions shall “
establish and regularly update a
cross-sectoral overview and map of natural and man-made
disaster risks the Union may face, by taking a coherent
approach across different policy areas that may address or
affect disaster prevention and
taking due account of the likely
impacts of climate change”
and
“encourage
an exchange of
good practices on preparing national civil protection systems
to
354
Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013
178
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
cope with
the impact of climate change”.
(Article 5)
Climate change adaptation is also mainstreamed into Chapter
III on preparedness where it is indicated that a training network
should be set up which shall aim to “enhance all phases of
disaster management,
taking into account adaptation to and
mitigation of climate change”
(Article 13)
Summit is a UN initiative to improve humanitarian action, and
one of the 4 themes is "Reducing Vulnerability and Managing
Risk"
N
ECHO
Disaster Risk
Reduction and
Humanitarian
Assistance
Communication at
Humanitarian Summit
the
World
Sept. 2015 Communication
'Towards
the
World
Humanitarian Summit: A
global
partnership
for
principled and effective
humanitarian action'. Follow
up through 'Grand bargain
on humanitarian financing'
commitments
To be updated in 2017.
Technical report by JRC on
comparison of national risk
assessments
already
available.
May 2017 Commission
SWD “Overview of natural
and man-made disaster risks
the European Union may
face”
N
ECHO
Disaster Risk
Reduction
Overview of natural and man-made
disaster risk in the EU, SWD(2014)
134 final of 08.04.2014
Adaptation considerations are well reflected.
N
ECHO
Disaster Risk
Reduction
Overview of Natural and Man-made
Disaster Risks the European Union
may face, EU SWD (2017) 176 final
of 23.5.2017
And JRC technical report
Climate change and its impact on disaster risk in EU are
integrated.
N
ECHO
Disaster
Risk
Risk Assessment and Mapping
Guidelines for Disaster Management
Voluntary
guidelines
developed in support of the
Union Civil Protection
Both include numerous references to climate change and
climate change adaptation, e.g. taking into account climate
change when preparing risk assessments and coherence with
179
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
Reduction
(2010)
and Risk Management
Capability Assessment Guidelines
356
(2015)
Civil protection peer review guidance
357
and frameworks
355
Mechanism
CCA measures
N
ECHO
Disaster Risk
Reduction
Second round of peer
reviews
in
2018-19
extensively
covers
integration of CCA in
disaster
management
activities
Currently under negotiations
with Council and Parliament
Questions on links to climate change adaptation included in the
frameworks
N
ECHO
Disaster Risk
Reduction
Commission Proposal to amend
decision 1313/2013/EU on a Union
Civil Protection Mechanism
The proposal puts emphasis on reinforcing Member States'
prevention action, with due consideration of climate change
impacts and adaptation measures
N
ECHO
Disaster
reduction
risk
Sendai Framework Action Plan
–
a
disaster risk-informed approach for
all EU policies
SWD 2016 (205) June 2016
Updated once a year
N
ECHO/JRC
Disaster Risk
Reduction
Disaster
Risk
Management
Knowledge Centre (DRMKC)
DRMKC operational since
2015, providing science-
policy interface among 10
DGs and Member States.
The action plan is a compilation of activities carried out by
different Commission Services which directly and indirectly
contribute to the implementation of the Sendai framework, DG
CLIMA's actions on adaptation of relevance to the Action plan
are included.
Climate change and its impact on disaster risk in EU is
integrated.
CLIMA part of Steering Group
355
Commission Staff Working Paper: Risk Assessment and Mapping Guidelines for Disaster Management, SEC(2010) 1626 final
Commission Notice: Risk Management Capability Assessment Guidelines (2015/C 261/03)
357
www.eupeerreviews.eu
356
180
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In
EU
AS
N
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
EEAS
Foreign policy
EU Global Strategy July 2016
Currently being
implemented
N
EEAS
Foreign Policy
Joint communication on: ' A Strategic
Approach to Resilience in the EU's
External Action', 2017
Partnership Instrument
JOIN(2017) 21 final
The EU’s 2016 Global Strategy on Foreign and Security
Policy
358
mentions climate change explicitly as a threat and
considers economic resilience as an important area for the
overall resilience of the EU, with climate change as a cross-
cutting disruptive element.
The text of the strategy reflects climate risks, noting that
"Climate change and environmental degradation exacerbate
potential conflict, in light of their impact on desertification,
land degradation, and water and food scarcity". Resilience to
shocks is a key concept of the strategy. However, the potential
contribution of action on climate adaptation in these areas is
not pursued in the document although it is clearly an element in
Commission action under programmes such as the European
Neighbourhood Instrument, and the Development Cooperation
Instrument.
Climate change recognized as a threat multiplier for security
and migration. Climate resilience included as an important
element of societal and economic resilience.
The PI funds activities that support the external dimension of
EU internal policies and help to address major global
challenges, including climate change. Though mitigation
focused, adaptation is also considered.
The 2017 Annual Action Program for the PI, includes and
Action Fiche for cooperation with major economies for the
implementation of the Paris Agreement, with Adaptation
planning, including the main pillars of the EU adaptation
strategy and their key instruments being one of the four
N
FPI
Foreign policy
Regulation (EU) 234/2014
establishing a Partnership
Instrument for cooperation
with third countries
358
Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe: A Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy, European Commission, 2016.
181
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
thematic axes for intensified cooperation with the non-EU G20
members.
Y
ENER
Energy
Transport
&
Proposal for a Regulation on
guidelines for trans-European energy
infrastructure
Regulation
adopted:
Regulation
(EU)
No
347/2013 of the European
Parliament and of the
359
Council of 17 April 2013
Regulation was adopted and
is currently in force:
Regulation
(EU)
No
1316/2013 of the European
Parliament and of the
Council of 11 December
360
2013
establishing the
Connecting Europe Facility,
amending Regulation (EU)
361
No
913/2010
and
repealing Regulations (EC)
362
No 680/2007
and (EC)
363
No 67/2010
The Cost-Benefit Analyses shall consider systems resilience
(including resilience to climate change);
The selection criteria for Projects of Common Interest include
provisions on systems resilience (including resilience to
climate change).
The 8
th
recital refers to the 20% climate mainstreaming target
and indicates that “it is important to ensure that climate change
mitigation and
adaptation,
as well as
risk prevention and
management,
are promoted in the preparation, design and
implementation of projects of common interest."
Reference to climate change also appears in other recitals,
Article 22 (“Member States shall inform the Commission
annually, if relevant through an interactive geographical and
technical information system, about the progress made in
implementing projects of common interest and the investments
made for this purpose, including the amount of support used
with a view to attaining climate-change
objectives”) and
Y
ENER / MOVE
Energy
Transport
&
Regulation
establishing
Connecting Europe Facility
the
359
360
See footnote 83
Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013
361
Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010
362
Regulation (EC) No 680/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2007
363
Regulation (EC) No 67/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009
182
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
Article 27 on evaluation undertaken by the EC.
Y
ENV
Biodiversity
COM(2011)244
on Our life
insurance, our natural capital: an EU
biodiversity strategy to 2020
Complemented by
COM(2017) an Action Plan for
nature, people and the economy
364
A fitness check of the nature
directives was carried out by
the Commission in 2015-
2016, and reported in
December 2016. The fitness
check report was followed
in April 2017 by the
publication of an “Action
Plan for nature, people and
the economy” (COM (2017)
365
198 final) .
The 2017 Action Plan emphasises the importance of resilience
to climate change. Its focus on addressing common challenges,
including cross-border issues, is likely to involve a role for
action on climate risks. The Action Plan and accompanying
SWD mentions climate resilience co-benefits in a number of
places, and suggests updating guidance and other documents to
reflect them, and to encourage contributions towards climate
objectives, A proposed adaptation strategy to deal with
potential effects of invasive species and climate change on
fisheries in the Mediterranean is also included.
N
ENV
Built
environment
Level(s) - Building sustainability
performance
Published - In testing phase
by voluntary participants
until March 2020.
Level(s) is a voluntary reporting framework that provides a
common "sustainable" language for the buildings sector. It
includes 6 macro objectives among which: "Efficient use of
water resources particularly in areas of continuous or seasonal
water stress" and looking at water reuse and rainwater
harvesting; and "Adaptation and resilience to climate change"
looking at health and thermal comfort under projected future
climate conditions, increased risk of extreme weather events
and impacts on durability and resistance of building elements;
and increased risk of flooding.
364
365
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM(2011)
0244 final
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: An Action Plan
for nature, people and the economy, COM(2017) 0198
183
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In
EU
AS
Y
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
ENV
Environment
Proposed Commission Decision
laying
down
criteria
and
methodological standards on good
environmental status of marine
waters and specifications and
standardised methods for monitoring
and assessment, and repealing
366
Decision 2010/477/EU ; and
proposed Commission Directive
367
amending Directive 2008/56/EC
of the European Parliament and of
the Council as regards the indicative
lists of elements to be taken into
account for the preparation of marine
strategies
Commission Decision (EU)
2017/848 of 17 May 2017
laying down criteria and
methodological standards on
good environmental status
of marine waters and
specifications
and
standardised methods for
monitoring and assessment,
and repealing Decision
2010/477/EU In force
Adaptation as such is not mentioned in the articles of the
Directive; however, adaptation to climate change is explicitly
mentioned in the preamble (whereas clause 42) as a
justification for a flexible and adaptive approach to marine
protection and management programmes, and for marine
strategies to be updated on a regular basis.
The new Commission Decision acknowledges that marine
ecosystems will change and that the determination of GES
needs to be periodically adapted to reflect such changes
(MSFD allows this updating every 6 years): see notably Recital
13, and Art. 4.1i. The new MSFD Annex III includes
parameters that are relevant for monitoring climate change
effects. The general focus of the descriptors and hence GES
overall is on issues other than climate change, but there are two
key issues relating to climate change:
a)
how to determine and assess GES in a dynamic
ecosystem context (hence the need to understand climatic
change in our seas and distinguish this from the more 'local'
and directly manageable effects of pressures that MSFD can
deal with)
b)
whether achieving GES will bring a degree of
resilience to our oceans (through reducing the adverse effects
of pollution, deterioration in biodiversity and ecosystem
functioning, etc.) that can help mitigate the wider effects of
climate change (especially ocean acidification).
Commission Decision of 1 September 2010 on criteria and methodological standards on good environmental status of marine waters (notified under document C(2010) 5956,
2010/477/EU
367
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/marine-strategy-framework-directive/index_en.htm
366
184
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
Y
ENV
Environment
COM(2012) 628: Proposal for a
Directive of the European Parliament
and of the Council amending
Directive 2011/92/EU on the
assessment of the effects of certain
public and private projects on the
368
environment
Directive 2014/52/EU of the
European Parliament and of
the Council of 16 April
2014 amending Directive
2011/92/EU
on
the
assessment of the effects of
certain public and private
projects
on
the
369
environment
Y
ENV
Water
management
Follow up to the 2012 Water
Blueprint
Blueprint
adopted
on
12.11.2012,
COM(2012)
673 and
672, Council
Conclusions endorsing it
adopted on 17.12.2012.
Blueprint remains relevant,
however the timescale for
all the specific actions under
the Blueprint has elapsed
(other than for those stated
The review of the EIA Directive put climate change more
directly in the assessment requirements. Article 3 now
specifically refers to climate as a factor that needs to be taken
into consideration. For Annex II projects “the risk of major
accidents and/or disasters which are relevant to the project
concerned, including those caused by climate change, in
accordance with scientific knowledge” should be considered.
Furthermore, a description of the likely significant effects of
the project on the environment
resulting from “the impact of
the project on climate (for example the nature and magnitude
of greenhouse gas emissions) and the vulnerability of the
project to climate change” should be included.
Climate Change adaptation considerations are reflected in
several of the proposals of the Blueprint that were included and
worked upon during the Work Programmes 2013-2015 and
2016-2018 of the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) of
the Water Framework and Floods Directives. This has included
the drafting and adoption by Member States of a Guidance
document on Ecological flows
370
, and a Policy Document to
promote uptake of Natural Water Retention Measures
371
, a
Guidance document on Integrating Water Reuse into Water
Planning and Management in the context of the Water
Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2011/92/EU, COM(2012) 0628 final
Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014
370
Ecological flows in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive Guidance Document No.31, Technical Report
–
2015
–
086, European Commission, 2015
371
EU policy document on Natural Water Retention Measures, Technical Report
–
2014
–
082, European Commission, 2014
369
368
185
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
as "ongoing").
Y
ENV
Invasive
species
alien
Proposal for a regulation of the
European parliament and of the
council on the prevention and
management of the introduction and
376
spread of invasive alien species
Regulation
(EU)
No
1143/2014 of the European
Parliament and of the
Council of 22 October 2014
on the prevention and
management
of
the
introduction and spread of
377
invasive alien species
Framework Directive (WFD) Water Reuse, promoting best
practice for the reduction of leakages
372
, Integrating WFD in to
the CAP, a Guidance document on Water Accounts
373
and
Guidance on Exemptions to the Environmental Objectives
according to Article 4(7)of the WFD
374
. In addition a pilot
project to build on the knowledge base and promote the uptake
on NWRM platform has been set up, running between 2014
and 2015.
375
Finally, a legal proposal
for “Minimum requirements for water
reuse in the EU” was adopted by the Commission on 28 May
2018.
The regulation does not mention adaptation.
Climate change appears in the context of increased risk of
invasive alien species. Recital 2 indicates that “the risks such
species pose may intensify due to increased global trade,
transport, tourism and climate change”. Furthermore, Article 5
requires the undertaking of a risk assessment which should
include “a thorough assessment of the risk of introduction,
establishment and spread in relevant biogeographical regions in
current conditions and in foreseeable climate change
conditions”.
At the same time, Article 2 specifically says that the regulation
does not apply to “species changing their natural range without
372
373
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/quantity/building_blocks.htm
Guidance document on the application of water balances for supporting the implementation of the WFD version 6.1, European Commission, 2015
374
Guidance document on Exemptions to the Environmental Objectives according to Article 4(7), European Commission, 2017
375
www.nwrm.eu
376
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species, COM(2013)
0620 final
377
Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014
186
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
human intervention, in response to changing ecological
conditions and climate change”.
Y
ENV
Nature
Protection
Guidelines on Climate Change and
Natura 2000
Guidelines on Climate Change
and Natura 2000:
Dealing with
the impact of climate change
on the management of the
Natura 2000 Network of areas
378
of high biodiversity value
Y
ENV
Biodiversity
Communication
infrastructure
on
green
COM(2013)
249:
Communication
from
the
Commission to the European
Parliament, the Council, the
European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee
of the Regions on Green
Infrastructure
(GI)
—
Enhancing Europe’s Natural
Capital.
Communication
The whole guidance focuses on climate change and it provides
a detailed assessment on
the ways in which Natura 2000 sites
can offer nature based solutions to help in climate
adaptation.
Furthermore, it provides detailed guidance on the
types of adaptation measures
that are needed for the
Natura2000 sites, which will remain essential safe havens for
Europe’s biodiversity, strengthening resilience to climate
changes and giving nature the necessary space to adapt to new
climatic situations.
The link between green infrastructure (GI) and climate change
and disaster risk management are presented in a dedicated
chapter within the Communication. This chapter emphasises
the role of GI in climate change adaptation and it calls for
greater use of ecosystem-based approaches.
The Communication also refers to the EU Adaptation
Strategy: “The recent EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate
Change therefore aims to explore the need for additional
guidance for authorities and decision-makers, civil society,
private business and conservation practitioners on ensuring
the full mobilisation of ecosystem-based approaches to
adaptation."
A report on the review of progress in
implementing the GI strategy has been carried out in 2017, and
adopted on 06/05/2013
379
378
379
Guidelines on Climate Change and Natura 2000, Technical Report
–
2013
–
068, European Commission, 2013
See footnote 233
187
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
should be published by mid-2018...
N
ENV
EIA
Strategic Environmental Assessment
(SEA) Directive (Directive 2001/42
/EC) on the assessment of certain
plans and programmes on the
environment
Under evaluation
The Directive is currently under evaluation until end 2019. The
evaluation will also examine coherence with other policies,
including climate change adaptation and mitigation.
An environmental assessment for plans and programmes
falling under the scope of the SEA Directive should, among
others, address the likely significant effects on the
environment, including climatic factors.
Useful tool to indicate how climate change adaptation can be
included.
N
ENV
EIA
Guidance for integrating climate
change and biodiversity into EIA and
SEA
Guidelines on soil sealing
Guidelines published
380
N
ENV
Soil protection
(SWD(2012) 101 final/2)
(http://ec.europa.eu/environ
ment/soil/sealing_guidelines
.htm)
and
Ongoing
N
ENV
Urban
environment
Water
management
European
Green
Capital
European Green Leaf Awards
N
ENV
Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the
Council on minimum requirements
for water reuse was adopted by the
Commission on 28 May 2018.
Planned
for
2018
(Commission proposal May
2018)
European Commission departments have prepared Guidelines
on best practice to limit, mitigate or compensate soil sealing
Soil sealing often affects fertile agricultural land, puts
biodiversity at risk, increases the risk of flooding and water
scarcity and contributes to global warming.
Recognizing the cities' achievements in green growth and
environmental sustainability, including adaptation to climate
change.
Climate change adaptation is one of the reasons underlying the
promotion of water reuse and definition of minimum
requirements.
380
Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into Environmental Impact Assessment, European Commission, 2013; and Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and
Biodiversity into Strategic Environmental Assessment, European Commission, 2013
188
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In
EU
AS
Y
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
ENV
Environment
Directive establishing a framework
for Community action in the field of
water policy (Water Framework
Directive) 2000/60/EC
Under Fitness check
DG ENV considers that climate change Adaptation is currently
mainstreamed in the implementation of the Directive:
As explained in the Water Framework Directive Common
Implementation Strategy (CIS) Guidance 24 on ''River Basin
Management in a Changing Climate'' although climate change
is not explicitly included in the text of the WFD, the step-wise
and cyclical approach of the river basin management planning
process makes it well suited to adaptively manage climate
change impacts. The above mentioned Guidance illustrates
ways in which preparations can be made for climate change
within River Basin Management Planning, including to tackle
floods and droughts. A workshop in 2012 focussed on
Groundwater aspects and Climate Change. According to the
Guidance Document, as agreed by all Member States, the 2
nd
RBMPs which were due to be adopted at the end of 2015
should include climate change considerations and the designed
Programmes of measures should be "climate proofed".
Currently the EC is undertaking an assessment of these plans.
Issues specific to flooding are primarily addressed through the
Floods directive (see below). The review in 2012 of the Water
Scarcity and Droughts Strategy, which was part of the
Blueprint, addressed Climate Change and called for better
integration of water scarcity and droughts management in the
next cycles of WFD implementation. The Blueprint placed
focus on the reduction of the vulnerability of water resource to
different pressures (including the ones caused by climate
change) and put forward several proposals to reinforce this
aspect in WFD implementation. These have been followed by
DG ENV and Member States under the CIS process and the
2013-2015 and 2016-2018 Work programmes (see follow-up to
the Water Blueprint in the previous section). A number of
actions aiming at efficiency in water use have been developed.
These include Ecodesign and Eco-labelling for water using
189
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
appliances and development of the reference document on
good practices on leakage management. There are efforts
undertaken in leading Member States towards rational water
management including implementation of water pricing based
on recovery of costs of water services and incentives for
efficient water use. It has been done through discussions and
exchange of experiences, within CIS, on cost recovery and the
drafting and adoption of guidance document on water accounts.
The aim of the water accounts guidance is to promote a
coherent framework to cross-evaluate the information on
drivers, pressures and impacts on water quantity, in which
climate change is expected to have relevant impacts. The
Guidance on water accounts was based also on the results of
2014 grants for building water accounts, which provided useful
recommendations and examples at sub-basin and basin scales.
Further works on economic, hybrid and quality accounts, might
be developed in the future in the form of ad hoc activities or
under other working groups’ activities
At the same time enforcement of water pricing implementation
and addressing illegal abstraction are undertaken through ex-
ante conditionality assessment for accession to EU funding by
Member States. In addition to the ex-ante we are active in
influencing and assessing Member States' RDPs to ensure that
they contribute positively towards climate change adaptation
–
both through the WFD agriculture working group and internal
review of draft RDPs. Also in the internal review of other
Operational Programs (Environment /Climate) for CF/ERDF in
relation to water investments we support actions that focus on
adaptation. Within LIFE work program the focus for the water
priorities was placed on measures that contribute towards both
mitigation and adaptation, with an emphasis on ecosystem
resilience. The European Innovation Partnership on Water has
190
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
included Flood and Drought Risk Management as one of its
priority areas, with several Action Groups working on the
development of innovative approaches and solutions to deal
with the effects of climate change.
Y
ENV
Environment
(water
management)
Directive on the assessment and
management
of
flood
risks
2007/60/EC
Under Fitness check
Climate change is already mainstreamed in the directive with
explicit references, and is being mainstreamed also through its
implementation:
The Floods directive explicitly refers to Climate Change and
requires that the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment and the
Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs), which are
periodically reviewed and if necessary updated, take into
account the likely impacts of climate change on the occurrence
of floods. It is also requires that impacts of climate change
shall be taken into account by the Commission in drawing
Floods Directive Implementation reports.
Moreover the framework set out by the directive to manage
flood risks which is based on preparedness, prevention, and
protection is intrinsically an adaptation framework that aims ''at
the reduction of the adverse consequences for human health,
the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity
associated with floods'' (accounting for the impact of climate
change on floods).
The 1st FRMPs were due to be adopted at the end of 2015 and
were to be subsequently reported to the EC by end of March
2016. Currently the EC is undertaking an assessment of these
plans.
191
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In
EU
AS
N
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
ENV / DEVCO
Sustainable
Development
Capital Markets
Union
Communication on the post 2015
381
Sustainable Development Goals
Communication COM(2018) 97 final
- Action Plan on Financing
Sustainable Growth
2015 work programme
More information needed with regards to relevance to climate
adaptation.
Adaptation to climate change is one of the categories in the
proposal for a taxonomy. More specifically, it is one of the
first categories to be worked out, for which economic activities
will be classified by the extent to which they contribute to
adaptation as an environmentally sustainable objective.
N
FISMA
Adopted in March 2018,
presenting a number of
legislative proposals on
establishing a taxonomy for
environmentally sustainable
objectives,
non-financial
reporting including climate
risk disclosure and a
standard on Green Bonds.
In May 2014, the European
Commission
gave
the
European
standardisation
organisations (ESOs) a
mandate
to
initiate
standardisation
activities.
Detailed information on
progress on standardisation
is included in the main
report (see section 3.3.2.1).
Y
GROW
Eurocodes and
standardisation
Commission Implementing Decision
of 28.5.2014 on deciding to make a
standardisation request to the
European
standardisation
organisations pursuant to Article 10
(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012
of the European Parliament and of
the
Council
in
support
of
implementation of the EU Strategy
on Adaptation to Climate Change,
382
C(2014) 3451 final
Strategy
for
the
sustainable
competitiveness of the construction
The European Standardisation Organisations adopted in 2016 a
shortlist of 13 standards for revision, with work beginning in
2017. The specific activity is exclusively focused on adaptation
needs, and represents the mainstreaming of adaptation into
standards for the areas of energy, transport, and buildings.
N
GROW
Construction
/
Communication
adopted
Adaptation is a cross cutting issue of the Thematic Groups put
in place for the Strategy implementation.
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A New Start,
COM(2014) 0910 final
382
Commission Implementing Decision of 28.5.2014, C(2014) 3451 final.
381
192
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
Buildings
sector and its Enterprises.
COM (2012) 433
GROW
Construction
Buildings
/
Regulation laying down harmonised
conditions for the marketing of
construction products (EU) 305/2011
Entered into force since July
2013
N
GROW
Tourism
Communication “Europe, the world's
No 1 tourist destination
–
a new
political framework for tourism in
Europe”
Communication on a "Green Action
Plan for SMEs"
Communication
COM (2010) 352
adopted
N
GROW / ENV
SMEs
COM(2014) 440 adopted on
383
2
July
2014
and
accompanying SWD(2014)
384
213
In particular, Thematic Group 1 is looking at criteria related to
adaptation for financing and insuring infrastructure
investments.
Climate change Adaptation is currently mainstreamed with the
tools and empowerments already available for the
implementation of the Regulation.
Since the demands set on the performance of construction
products can always be adapted to climate change policy needs
both at EU and at national level, and since newly developed
aspects within the framework of Basic Work Requirements
have enhanced and enlarged the field of such adaptation, the
opportunities of implementing these policy choices are open
for use.
One of the action included in the Communication considered
to:
(14) Facilitate identification by the European tourism industry
of risks linked to climate change in order to avoid loss-making
investments, and explore opportunities for
developing and supplying alternative tourism services.
Sets out EU actions that support SMEs to become more
resource efficient, foster green entrepreneurship, promote
business opportunities in circular economy and facilitate access
to green markets
383
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Green Action
Plan for SMEs: Enabling SMEs to turn environmental challenges into business opportunities, COM (2014) 440
384
Commission Staff Working Document: List of EU actions supporting SMEs in a green economy, SWD(2014) 0213 final
193
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In
EU
AS
Y
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
HOME
Migration
mobility
and
COM(2011)743
Approach
to
385
Mobility
on The Global
Migration
and
Migration has been a highly
active area of policy over
the years since publication
of the adaptation strategy,
with a focus on solidarity
among Member States in
addressing
the
refugee
crisis.
The
underlying
strategy for migration policy
was set out in the 2015
communication
“A
European
agenda
on
migration”
(COM(2015)
386
240 final).
There is an
ongoing fitness check of the
legal migration acquis.
In place
The “European agenda on migration” notes the importance of
climate as one of the root causes that need to be addressed,
implying that action on climate mitigation and on support for
adaptation through external aid is part of the solution.
However, there does not appear to be a systematic linkage
between climate risks, migration impacts, and Community
action (either in terms of preparing for refugee arrivals, or in
terms of focussing EU and national aid efforts).
Climate change impacts and their relevance to human mobility
patterns are integrated in the ongoing work under the current
fitness check of the legal migration acquis. The fitness check
should be finalized by the end of the year.
N
RTD
Research
FP7/H2020 ECONADAPT
N
RTD
Research
HELIX
Finished
ECONADAPT is an EC FP7 research project whose purpose is
to support adaptation planning through building the knowledge
base on the economics of adaptation to climate change and
converting this into practical information for decision makers.
Assisting decision-makers and the research community in
making adaptation more understandable and manageable by
providing a set of credible, coherent, global and regional views
of different worlds at 2, 4 and 6°C, and now 1.5°C.
385
386
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: The Global
Approach to Migration and Mobility, COM(2011) 0743 final.
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the 'Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and
Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A European Agenda on Migration' (COM(2015) 240 final)
194
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In
EU
AS
N
N
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
RTD
RTD
Research
Public Health
COACCH
Draft Communication on Improving
Health Security in the EU
A One Health
counteracting the
infectious diseases
approach to
threat from
Ongoing
Under development
COACCH aims to advance a knowledge on climate change
impacts and policy directly usable by stakeholder communities.
CLIMA has proposed to include actions on vector management
and on solutions to integrate climate data with epidemiological
surveillance
MARE
Maritime
REGULATION (EU) No 1380/2013
387
(Common Fisheries Policy)
Marine knowledge 2020
388
Adopted in 2013
N
MARE
Maritime policy
Ongoing.
The CFP focuses on sustainable use of resources and it should
respect the Water Framework Directive, take a long-term
approach and apply the precautionary principle.
Mainstreaming includes using Copernicus Climate Change
services for adaptation of businesses that depend on marine
resources to climate change, and a case study on coastal
erosion.
More information needed with regards to relevance to climate
adaptation.
“Through their maritime spatial plans, Member States shall aim
to contribute to the sustainable development of energy sectors
at sea, of maritime transport, and of the fisheries and
aquaculture sectors, and to the preservation, protection and
N
MARE / ENV
Employment
Communication for a European
Strategy for more growth and jobs in
389
Coastal and Maritime Tourism
Directive
2014/89/EU
of
the
European Parliament and of the
390
Council of 23 July 2014
Adopted February 2014
Y
MARE / ENV
Maritime
spatial planning
and integrated
coastal
In force
387
388
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013R1380
https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/marine_knowledge_2020_en
389
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A European
Strategy for more Growth and Jobs in Coastal and Maritime Tourism, COM(2014) 086 final
390
Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning
195
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
management
establishing a framework
maritime spatial planning
&
for
improvement of the environment, including resilience to
climate change impacts.” (Article 5)
Guidelines adopted
During infrastructure planning, Member States shall give due
consideration to improving resilience to climate change and to
environmental disasters.
Y
MOVE
Energy
Transport
TEN-T Guidelines (Regulation (EU)
No 1315/2013
N
MOVE
Transport
networks
EU-led governance of Core Network
Corridors (CNCs)
Specific
analyses
are
currently being performed
for each CNC (due by the
end of 2017).
In force
EU-led governance of Core Network Corridors (CNCs) are
proactively paying attention to implications of climate change
on CNCs, as well as the need for adaptation.
Y
MOVE
Transport
Regulation was adopted and is
currently in force: Regulation (EU)
No 1315/2013 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 11
391
December 2013
on Union
guidelines for the development of the
trans-European transport network and
repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU
The European Union Strategy for the
Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR)
Article 5 indicates that the TEN-T network should be resource-
efficient via the “adequate consideration of the
vulnerability
of transport infrastructure
with regard to a changing climate
as well as natural or man-made disasters, with a view to
addressing those challenges. Furthermore, Article 34 requires
that “during infrastructure planning, Member States shall give
due consideration to improving resilience to climate change
and to environmental disasters.
Climate change is in focus of the strategy Horizontal Action
Climate. HA Climate covers mitigation and adaptation and
ensures that the transnational cooperation between the Baltic
Sea countries on climate issues is continuously prioritised and
that major stakeholders are engaged in the policy debate.
Y
REGIO
Regional
development
Communications
concerning the European
Union Strategy for the
Baltic Sea Region:
10.6.2009
-
COM(2009)
391
Regulation (EU) No 1315 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013
196
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
248 final;
23.03.2012 - COM(2012)
128 final
Y
REGIO
Regional
development
The European Union Strategy for the
Danube Region (EUSDR)
Communication concerning
the
European
Union
Strategy for the Danube
Region
The climate adaptation aspects of the strategy are addressed
under the environmental heading (priority area 5), with a
reference to the need for “Preventive and disaster management
measures implemented jointly”. Cooperation in the areas of
Green Infrastructure and application of long-term, ecosystem-
based solutions is also promoted by the Strategy.
Climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as disaster
risk management are horizontal principles for all four pillars.
N
REGIO
Regional
development
The European Union Strategy for the
Adriatic
and
Ionian
Region
(EUSAIR)
Communication concerning
the
European
Union
Strategy for the Adriatic and
Ionian Region
–
17.06.2014
–
COM(2014) 357 final
Communication concerning
the
European
Union
Strategy for the Alpine
Region
–
28.07.2015 -
COM(2015) 366 final
Report
concerning
the
governance
of
macro-
regional
strategies
-
20.05.2014 - COM(2014)
284 final
N
REGIO
Regional
development
The European Union Strategy for the
Alpine Region (EUSALP)
Climate change and risk prevention is one of the core priorities
of the strategy. Action 8 focuses on risk management and
climate change adaptation.
N
REGIO
Regional
development
The four European Union Macro
Regional Strategies
Commission has issued several reports concerning all the four
EU macro regional strategies. In the last implementation report
(2016) climate change was mentioned as one of the areas
where macro-regional cooperation adds value.
197
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
Report
concerning
the
added value of macro-
regional
strategies
-
27.06.2013 - COM(2013)
468 final
Report
on
the
implementation
of
EU
macro-regional strategies -
16.12.2016 - COM(2016)
805 final pdf
Y
REGIO
Regional
development &
Cohesion
policy
'Common Provisions Regulation' on
the
European
Structural
and
Investment Funds
Regulation
(EU)
392
1303/2013
No
- Recalls the ambition to devote at least 20 % of the budget of
the Union to climate change objectives;
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation are part of the
horizontal principle of sustainable development observed by
each Programme;
- Introduces a methodology for gathering information on the
support for climate change objectives;
- Establishes 11 'Thematic Objectives' for the intervention of
ESIF
–
where TO5 is dedicated to 'promoting climate change
adaptation, risk prevention and management'
- Climate adaptation co-benefits from measures such as
improved energy efficiency
- Pre-conditions for funding (ex-ante conditionalities) also
relevant.
- Includes legal requirements on the climate proofing of major
projects (investments in infrastructure of above EUR 50 or 75
million EU support))
392
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, COM (2011) 615
198
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In
EU
AS
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
N
REGIO
Regional
development &
Cohesion
policy
Implementing Regulation
Implementing
Regulation
393
(EU) No 215/2014
- Fund specific regulations for ERDF, CF and ETC includes
investment priorities relevant to adaptation
- assessment (Application form) for major projects;
- Methodology for carrying out cost-benefit analyses for major
projects.
- Presents the methodology for tracking the financial support
for climate change objectives (mitigation and adaptation);
- Presents specific 'investment fields' for adaptation actions.
Provisions on climate change adaptation included in the:
-
The Pact of Amsterdam establishes an overarching Urban
Agenda for the EU and was agreed by EU Ministers
responsible for Urban Matters on 30 May 2016. Climate
adaptation, including green infrastructure solutions, are one of
its priority themes. A Partnership on Climate Adaptation was
been launched in 2017 offering a unique opportunity for local
authorities, Member States, European Commission and other
EU organisations to work together to deliver concrete
improvements on the ground (through better regulation, better
funding and better knowledge). This framework offers
opportunities to advance urban adaptation action in Europe as
well as mainstream and align adaptation action with other
Urban Agenda Partnerships, such as Sustainable use of land
and Nature-Based solutions, Circular Economy, Air quality and
Energy transition. The Action Plan on climate adaptation is
currently under development by the CA Partnership and is
planned to be adopted by the end 2018.
Y
REGIO
Territorial
Cohesion
&
Urban
development
The Urban Agenda for the EU
Report
from
the
Commission to the Council
on the Urban Agenda for the
EU
–
12.11.2017
-
COM(2017) 657 final
393
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 215/2014 of 7 March 2014 laying down rules for implementing Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013
199
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In
EU
AS
Y
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
REGIO
Territorial
Cohesion
&
Urban
development
Urban Innovative Action
On-going
UIA is an EU initiative funded by ERDF, aiming at testing
innovative solutions at urban scale. The objective is to
capitalise and disseminate knowledge to the benefits of EU
cities. The 3
rd
call of UIA, launched in October 2017, covers
the topic of “adaptation to climate change”.
A number of actions are assigned to DG CLIMA and have to
do with the promotion of adaptation in outermost regions,
including LIFE support and the commitment to include
outermost regions in any new or updated EU strategy for
adaptation.
RegioStars Awards identify good practices in regional
development and highlight original and innovative projects that
are attractive and inspiring to other regions. There are different
award categories each year with climate being often of them,
Annually organised week at which regional and urban
representatives from across Europe are sharing views and
approaches on how to best support smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth in Europe with investments from EU
cohesion policy.
The regulation requires taking into account the link between
animal health and climate change, i.e. that climate change may
influence the emergence of new diseases, the prevalence of
existing diseases and the geographic distribution of disease
agents and vectors, including those affecting wildlife.
N
REGIO
Regional
development &
Cohesion
policy
A stronger and renewed strategic
partnership with the EU's outermost
regions COM(2017) 623 final
Adopted
N
REGIO
Regional
development &
Cohesion
policy
Regional
development &
Cohesion
policy
RegioStars awards
On-going
N
REGIO
European Week of Regions and
Cities
On-going
N
SANTE
Health
Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the
European Parliament and of the
Council of 9 March 2016 on
transmissible animal diseases and
amending and repealing certain acts
in the area of animal health (‘Animal
Health Law’)
Adopted
200
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In
EU
AS
Y
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
To what extent adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
SANTE
Plant Health
COM(2013) 267:
Regulation
of
Parliament and of
protective measures
394
plans
Proposal for a
the
European
the Council on
against pests of
Regulation (EU) 2016/2031
of the European Parliament
of the Council of 26
October 2016 on protective
measures against pests of
plants,
amending
Regulations
(EU)
No
228/2013,
(EU)
No
652/2014 and (EU) No
1143/2014 of the European
Parliament and of the
Council
and
repealing
Council
Directives
69/464/EEC, 74/647/EEC,
93/85/EEC,
98/57/EC,
2000/29/EC,
2006/91/EC
and 2007/33/EC
Recital 4 notes that “plant health is threatened by species
injurious to plants and plant products which now present a
greater risk of being introduced into the Union territory owing
to globalisation of trade and climate change”.
Table XI-2. COM legislative proposals currently with European Parliament and Council
In
Strategy
N
Lead DG
Policy Area
Title of initiative
Status
Level to which adaptation is mainstreamed in the initiative
Budget
MFF 2021-2027
<<<to be completed based
on legal proposals 2021-
394
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on protective measures against pests of plants, COM(2013) 0267 final
201
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2027)
N
AGRI
Agriculture
Review of political and
legal
framework
for
organic production
Impact assessment finalised.
Commission
proposal
adopted in March 2014,
now in co-decision.
Agreement
trilogues.
reached
in
The proposal aims to bring more harmonisation and build a
level playing field for organic producers. The strengthening
and harmonisation of production rules may have a positive
effect on adaptation to climate change.
The proposed Regulation on the Governance of the Energy
Union includes provisions on adaptation consistent with
obligations under the Paris Agreement, notably by including
adaptation goals in the future National Energy and Climate
Plans and through more precise reporting requirements for
Member States.
As climate change is a circumpolar challenge, the EU is ready
to work with the Arctic states, indigenous peoples and relevant
Arctic regional and multilateral fora to share experience,
expertise and information on climate change, impacts,
adaptation and resilience, with a view to developing an
ambitious climate adaptation agenda for the Arctic region.
The regulation includes preparedness of the electricity sector
for extreme weather events, listing this in Recitals 2 and 13
and including it in Article 5 on establishing a methodology for
crisis scenarios in the electricity sector.
N
CLIMA / ENER
Energy and climate
Energy Union Governance
N
EEAS
Arctic policy
JOIN(2016) 21 final April
2016
An
integrated
European Union policy for
the Arctic
Currently under discussion
in European Parliament
N
ENER
Energy
Proposal for a regulation
COM(2016)862
395
on risk
preparedness
in
the
electricity sector and
repealing
Directive
396
2005/89/EC .
Capital
Requirements
Regulation
(EU)
No
Part of the Clean Energy
Package; Council adopted a
general
approach
in
December 2017
N
FISMA
Capital
Requirements
Under revision
Includes long term financing in critical infrastructure. The
revision means to increase long-termism in EU prudential
395
396
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on risk-preparedness in the electricity sector and repealing Directive 2005/89/EC, COM(2016) 862 final
Directive 2005/89/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning measures to safeguard security of electricity supply and infrastructure
investment
202
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575/2013
N
FISMA
Capital
Markets
Union/Sustainable
Finance
Proposal for a regulation -
COM(2018)353/978670
on the establishment of a
framework to facilitate
sustainable investment
Proposal for a regulation
on disclosures relating to
sustainable
investments
and sustainability risks
and amending Directive
(EU) 2016/2341
Proposed
by
the
Commission on 24 May
2018
requirements for investors.
Includes an article on adaptation as an environmental objective
in the context of environmentally sustainable economic
activities
N
FISMA
Capital
Markets
Union/Sustainable
Finance
Proposed
by
the
Commission on 24 May
2018
Includes adaptation as one of the elements of non-financial
disclosure obligations in the context of sustainable
investments.
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Annex XII
Assessment of the quality of the evidence gathered
in the evaluation support study
Notes below the table explain the basis for the description of the extent of evidence as
high, medium or low for each type of evidence. The extent seeks to summarise both the
coverage of the evidence and its depth.
Extent of each type of evidence for assessment of each evaluation question, in
approximate order of data gathering
EQ1
Literature review
First stakeholder
b
workshop
Targeted stakeholder
c
survey
Stakeholder interviews
Second stakeholder
e
workshop
Interactive exercise with
f
Working Group 6
Case studies
Open public
h
consultation
g
d
a
EQ2
(L)
i
EQ3
(H)
(M)
j
EQ4
H
M
EQ5
L
L
EQ6
(L)
EQ7
M
EQ8
L
L
EQ9
H
EQ10
M
L
H
L
M
H
L
(L)
(L)
(H)
(H)
(H)
H
H
H
L
M
H
(L)
(L)
(H)
0
H
0
M
M
H
M
L
M
L
L
H
H
(H)
(M)
M
L
H
L
(H)
H
0
H
H
L
H
Notes:
a. H, Coverage of 7 or more actions; M, coverage of 6 or more actions but limited
information in literature examined; L, coverage of fewer than 6 actions
b. H, 20 or more questions; M, 10-20 questions; L, fewer than 10 questions; 0, no
questions
c. Key: H, 20 or more questions; M, 10-20 questions; L, fewer than 10 questions
d. Key: M, addressed 2-4 actions; L, addressed 1 action.
e. A major focus of the second stakeholder workshop was on draft recommendations
from the evaluation and a high level of evidence was collected on these. Key for
evidence related to evaluation questions: H, over 10 inputs; M, 5-9 inputs; L, 1-4
inputs.
f. This brief exercise was carried out with Member State experts participating in a
meeting of Working Group 6 on Adaptation of the Climate Change Committee on
24 January 2018. The experts were asked to vote for which of the draft
conclusions in relation to Evaluation Question 4, 5 and 10 they considered the
most pertinent.
g. Case studies relate to EQ4, EQ5 and EQ9
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h. Key: H, 3 or more questions relate to the EQ; M, 2 questions; L, 1 question
relates to EQ
i. Assessment of EQ2 was informed by the same inputs as EQ1.
j. Assessment of EQ3 is informed by the inputs to EQ4
Evidence gathering started with the literature survey and this provided limited evidence
for assessment of Evaluation Questions 2, 5, 6 and 8.
The first stakeholder workshop provided valuable evidence in relation to the topics
covered. However, it generally covered one action for the evaluation questions
considered, so the extent of evidence was generally low.
The targeted stakeholder survey provided a moderate or high extent of evidence for
Evaluation Questions 1, 3, 4 and 9. No questions were included on efficiency, and there
was limited evidence for Evaluation Questions 2, 5, 6 and 10.
The stakeholder interviews were a substantial source of evidence, except for Evaluation
Questions 2 and 6.
The second stakeholder workshop considered draft recommendations in detail.
Contributions from the stakeholder panel and from the floor, provided additional
evidence on Evaluation Questions 1, 9, 10 and particularly 4 and 5. A brief interactive
exercise with members of Working Group 6 provided some limited evidence on
Evaluation Question 4, 5 and 10.
Case studies were chosen to illustrate key points arising from the evaluation questions.
They were developed to enhance and support the key conclusions and recommendations
for the report where the evidence is currently less strong and would benefit from further
illustration
The open public consultation had 385 respondents, of which 217 were private individuals
and 168 other stakeholders. One section of the consultation addressed general
conclusions related to draft recommendations. In a section on specific and technical
conclusions, there were three or more questions relating to each of Evaluation Questions
1, 7, 9 and 10. In particular, there were sufficient stakeholder responses to consider
responses by stakeholder type where appropriate, providing evidence for Evaluation
Questions 2 and 6.
The greatest data limitation was with the data from the targeted stakeholder survey.
Although the combined response from 60 participants allows consideration of most of the
evaluation questions in detail, it does not permit partitioning of responses by stakeholder
groups, as required for Evaluation Questions 2 and 6. There were 34 interviews in total,
which were not intended to permit detailed assessment of evaluation questions by
stakeholder type. Responses to the open public consultation have addressed this
limitation in relation to EQ2 but the nature of responses does not enable provision of a
response to EQ6.
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Annex XIII Economic costs of climate change
Introduction
Anticipating the potential impacts of climate change and in which sectors they will be
more important, is central to planning appropriate policy responses.
Unabated climate change will lead to economic costs, often known
as the ‘costs of
inaction’. A key issue for economic analysis –
and especially macro-economic analysis -
is the need to use consistent and harmonised socio-economic scenarios when modelling.
There are several possible combinations of mitigation and socio-economic scenarios used
by different models, which explains the different timelines, scopes and warming levels
mentioned below.
Economic costs in general
Globally,
recent studies indicate that the economic costs of climate change may be high,
even with modest climate change.
397
The costs may rise significantly with greater
warming; unmitigated warming can reduce average global incomes roughly 23% by 2100
and enlarge global income inequality, relative to a scenario without climate change.
398
Looking at the past, a recent EEA study concludes that the total reported economic losses
caused by weather and climate-related extremes in the
EEA member countries
over the
period 1980-2016 was over EUR 433 billion
399
.
For the EU,
estimations for the future have recently been made by the JRC under the
PESETA III project.
The JRC PESETA III project estimates impacts from climate change for 11 sectors in the
EU, analysing, for most of the sectoral studies, a high warming scenario and a 2°C
warming scenario.
For 6 of those impact categories (residential energy demand, coastal floods, inland
floods, labour productivity, agriculture and heat-related mortality) the potential impact on
welfare (expressed as consumption) has been assessed. The impacts simulated are
associated to climate change that would occur by the end of the century assuming a high
warming scenario. The overall welfare loss represents 1.9% of GDP
400
.
ECONADAPT: 'The Economics of Climate Change Adaptation'; CIRCLE 2
http://econadapt.eu/
Burke et al. 2015, Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production.
Nature
527: 235–
239, doi:10.1038/nature15725. See also Burke et al. 2018, Large potential reduction in economic
damages under UN mitigation targets Nature 557: 549–553, doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0071-9.
399
EEA Report No 15/2017, “Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Europe” (2017),
updated in 2018 as part of the EEA indicator on 'Impacts of extreme weather and climate related
events in the EEA member countries'. Based on NatCatSERVICE data received under institutional
arrangements.
400
The JRC PESETA economic assessment is based on simulating what would be the impact of future
climate change occurring on today's economy.
398
397
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As the coverage of potential impacts is largely incomplete, the damage estimate is of
course not equal to the total economic costs of climate change. These are likely to be
significantly higher.
In this context, it should also be noted that estimating the costs of all climate impacts
remains very challenging. It is difficult to capture, for example:
Biophysical impacts without a monetary valuation, e.g. the effects of climate
change in ecosystems services.
The damages due to possible climate tipping points.
The impact on the EU economy of impacts of climate change occurring in third
countries (transboundary effects), including issues such as migration.
JRC PESETA III does look at some transboundary effects. It estimates the additional
welfare impact in the EU associated to changes in trade flows due to climate impacts
occurring in third countries for four impact areas (residential energy demand, river
flooding, labour productivity and agriculture). The transboundary effect was estimated to
increase the EU welfare loss by 20%.
JRC PESETA III also finds that there is a clear North-South divide in the regional
distribution of climate impacts across the EU, hidden behind the results for the whole of
Europe. This is evident in the effects on heat-related human mortality, labour
productivity, water resources, habitat loss, energy demand for cooling and forest fires.
The Mediterranean area appears to be the most vulnerable to climate change.
Below a more detailed overview is given of the estimated impacts, without adaptation
policies, in all 11 PESETA III sectors.
1. Coastal areas
By 2100 annual damages could reach up to €961 billion and annual population affected
could be up to 3.65 million people under a high warming scenario and socio-economic
change.
401
2. River floods
Nowadays, average annual flood damage amounts to €5.3 billion. By 2100, annual flood
damage could rise up to €112 billion under a high warming scenario and corresponding
socio-economic scenario.
3. Droughts
Even under 2°C warming, Mediterranean regions will experience a strong reduction in
soil moisture, while North and East Europe show a future increase in soil humidity. The
projected patterns of change in soil drought hazard are actually a continuation of the
drying and wetting trends observed across Europe over the past 50 years: more droughts
in the west of the Mediterranean region and less droughts in Central and Eastern Europe.
401
Vousdoukas et al. 2018, Climatic and socioeconomic controls of future coastal flood risk in Europe.
Nature Climate Change
8: 776–780, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0260-4
207
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4. Agriculture
Even under 2°C warming, irrigated crop yield declines for most crops and regions in
Europe, in large part due to a shortening of the growing season. Yield changes for rain-
fed crops depend on regional water availability and crop-specific water requirements.
5. Energy
By the end of century, under a high warming scenario, residential energy demand for
heating and cooling is projected to decline by 27%. However, this positive EU average
result hides strong differences between EU Member States.
6. Transport infrastructure
By the end of the century, under a high warming scenario, about 200 airports and 850
seaports of different size across the EU could face the risk of inundation due to higher
sea levels and extreme weather events. Especially countries by the North Sea have the
greatest number of airports at risk of coastal flooding that exceeds 1m.
7. Water resources
Under 2°C warming, annual median river flows are projected to increase in most of
Europe, except for the Mediterranean, where a decrease in flow is projected in all four
seasons. Southern European countries are projected to face increased water shortages.
For many countries in Central Europe, the projections indicate a reduced reliance on
upstream inflow to meet local water demands.
8. Habitat loss in the Mediterranean
Under a high warming scenario, 16% of the present Mediterranean climate zone may
become arid by the end of the century: an area equivalent to around half of Italy.
9. Forest fires
Mediterranean soils become drier, particularly under a high warming scenario. Areas
exhibiting low soil moisture extend further northwards from the Mediterranean than
nowadays. The present area of high moisture surrounding the Alps decreases in size with
climate change. The danger of forest fires increases with climate change around the
Mediterranean, with Spain, Portugal and Turkey being the three countries with the
highest danger risk.
10. Labour productivity
Under the high warming scenario, by the end of the century daily average outdoor labour
productivity could decline by around 10-15% from present-day levels in several Southern
European countries. Countries in northern Europe could also see some smaller declines in
daily average outdoor labour productivity.
11. Heat-related mortality
Climate change-attributable impacts on heat-related mortality are also studied under
PESETA III, under a high warming scenario. EU annual mortality could largely increase
208
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by the end of the century, reaching 132,000 additional deaths/year, with most of the
increase occurring in the Southern regions
402
.
402
Forzieri G, Cescatti A, Batista e Silva F, Feyen L 2017. Increasing risk over time of weather-related
hazards to the European population: a data-driven prognostic study. The Lancet Planetary Health 5
(e200-e208).
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Annex XIV Case studies
Four case studies were developed in the evaluation support study
403
to enhance and
support the key conclusions and recommendations for the final report of the study.
Each case study was supported by a targeted literature review and up to 3 interviews with
key stakeholders.
The format of each case study was tailored to its specific demands rather than adhering to
a strict template.
As they constitute valuable evidence for the purposes of the evaluation SWD, they are
reproduced in full in this Annex.
The case studies address:
1. Fire preparedness
2. Impacts of climate change of neighbouring countries and implications for EU
trade
3. The Danube Macro-regional strategy and its contribution to action at Member
State level
4. Adaptation of infrastructure in the energy sector.
403
See footnote 4.
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Case Study 1
Fire preparedness and the impact of climate change
Context and the EU response
The purpose of this case study is to support the wider evaluation of the EU Adaptation
Strategy by providing evidence about forest fire preparedness and coherence with
adaptation at an EU level and in Member States.
The issue of forest fire preparedness in response to climate change has received EU
attention for many years. It was the focus of an EU-wide workshop in 2010, convened by
Forest Europe (the brand name of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests
in Europe, which is the pan-European voluntary high-level political process for dialogue
and cooperation on forest policies in Europe). The workshop sought to: review current
national forest fire prevention systems; identify innovative strategies, best available
practices and possible policy instruments; and develop policy conclusions and
recommendations for the EU.
404
Deliberations within the framework of Forest Europe
eventually culminated in the establishment of a Forest Europe Expert Group on
Adaptation to Climate Change in 2017. Consideration of forest fire preparedness in
relation to climate change adaptation planning has progressed since this workshop at
national, regional and EU levels.
The EU Adaptation Strategy recognises the importance of ensuring a coherent and
coordinated approach to the impacts of climate change at local, regional, national and EU
levels. In particular, the Strategy acknowledges that more needs to be done to strengthen
preparedness for natural and man-made hazards, and ensure disaster risk reduction and
climate change adaptation are better aligned and integrated into planning. The evaluation
of the Strategy has identified that, currently, both policy areas are sometimes
mainstreamed in parallel into key EU policies and strategies rather than in consort.
However, with specific reference to forest fires, the EU LIFE Climate Action sub-
programme has funded a number of projects that aim to address fire preparedness and
climate change adaptation, including in relation to cross-border forest fires. A list of
these projects and further details can be viewed by visiting the LIFE projects online
database, selecting “Themes”, “Risk management” and “Natural risks –
Flood, Forest
fire, Landslide”
405
.
Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean region of France account for around
85% of the total burnt area in Europe each year.
406
For many countries within the EU, the
likely impact of climate change on the severity/frequency of forest fires will be of great
importance, based on current trends and projections. It is becoming ever more a reality,
as noted in the most recent EEA report on climate change impacts in Europe.
407
In 2017,
it was reported that the number of wild fires in forests across Europe had more than
doubled compared to the previous year. These were severe across southern Europe, with
Portugal experiencing the most intense forest fires in October last year
408
. Up-to-date and
Forest Europe, 2010, Assessment of Forest Fire Risks and Innovative Strategies for Fire Prevention, 4–6
May 2010 Rhodes, Greece, Workshop Report.
405
A selection of LIFE projects funded since 2014 that address forest fires across the EU can be viewed
here:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm
406
Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2016, European Commission, 2017.
407
See footnote 113
408
http://www.euronews.com/2017/10/16/how-europe-s-wildfires-have-more-than-trebled-in-2017
211
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comparable data across Europe is maintained by the European Forest fire Information
System (EFFIS)
409
.
The JRC PESETA II study
410
estimated that the burnt area of southern Europe would
more than double with climate change.
411
Other researchers have concluded the same
using current models (SREX A2), as noted in EEA’s report.
412
They also cited recent
findings that suggest a warmer climate across Europe will lead to a greater area
becoming fire-prone with longer fire seasons. Specifically, the impact of fire events may
be strongest in southern Europe.
413
A follow-up JRC PESETA III study identified that the three countries with the highest
fire risk are Spain, Portugal and Turkey; with Greece, part of central and southern Italy,
Mediterranean France, and the coastal region of the Balkans also being in increasing
danger both in relative and absolute terms
414
. A detailed mapping of wildfire risks by the
University of Leicester (2016) found Catalonia, Madrid and Valencia are among those
cities/regions that are most at risk
415
.
EFFIS supports Member States’ services in charge
of forest protection against fires and provides Commission Services and the European
Parliament with updated and reliable information on wildland fires in Europe
416
.
Countries need to address forest fire preparedness by planning and implementing actions
to reduce climate vulnerability and increase adaptive capacities. Research suggests that
forest fire risks could be substantially reduced if further adaptation measures are
introduced, including silvicultural management to increase the structural diversity of
plantations and simplified forest ecosystems, prescribed burning and use of fire breaks,
and behavioural changes.
417
Feedback from consultees
Representatives from a national authority in Spain and from the Provincial Council of
Barcelona, Catalonia provided input to this case study. In addition to describing the
overall approach to forest fire preparedness and climate change adaptation in the
Province, the latter also referred to the LIFE Montserrat project (described below), as an
example of best practice.
409
410
http://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
Projection of economic impacts of climate change in sectors of the European Union based on bottom-up
analysis, see
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/peseta
411
Climate impacts in Europe: The JRC PESETA II Project, European Commission, 2014.
412
See footnote 113
413
See footnote 113
414
de Rigo, D., Libertà, G., Houston Durrant, T., Artés Vivancos, T., San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., Forest fire
danger extremes in Europe under climate change: variability and uncertainty, EUR 28926 EN,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2017, ISBN: 978-92-79-77046-3,
doi:10.2760/13180, JRC10897European
415
https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2016/march/wildfire-map-reveals-countries-in-
europe-most-at-risk-of-catastrophic-fire-damage
416
http://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
417
Khabarov, N et al., 2014, Forest Fires and adaptation options in Europe, Regional Environmental
Change 16)1, 21-30 (doi: 10.1007/s101130-014-0621-0); and European Commission, Modelling the
impacts of climate change on forest fire danger in Europe Sectorial results of the PESETA II Project,
2017.
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Spain has been proactive in seeking to integrate disaster risk reduction and climate
change adaptation planning at the national level
418
, as well as at the provincial and local
levels. The EU Adaptation Strategy has been a useful guide in preparing strategies and
plans where the needs of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation coincide.
For example, the Provincial Council of Barcelona has followed EU and national-level
guidance in supporting local administrations to develop supra-municipal strategies for
forest fire preparedness; identifying and coordinating all actors in the territory.
Importantly, by downscaling EU and national strategies, sub-national responses have
been tailored to local circumstances.
The Provincial Council of Barcelona has learnt from experience that planning and
monitoring is essential to forest fire preparedness. A comprehensive stakeholder
engagement plan is a critical part of this process. Engaging key actors (e.g. forest owners,
the fire service, local authorities and the Catalan Government) minimises barriers to
preventing forest fires. The Provincial Council adopts a holistic approach to forest fire
preparedness through plans in relation to land, forest management, fire prevention and
surveillance, fire management and land restoration. The Provincial Council encourages
and actively supports dissemination of lessons, project-level actions and success stories
at the regional level and networking with other national and community projects.
The LIFE Montserrat project
419
in Spain provides evidence of ongoing adaptation actions
in relation to fire risks. The Provincial Council reports that an increase in the frequency
of wildfires in the Montserrat Mountain region is attributable to changes in land use and
socioeconomic activities, and that climate change may have made fires more intense and
severe. Increased development has led to a decline in traditional rural activities in the
region while forest and scrubland areas with increased fuel load have expanded. The
project is seeking to address the high fire risk in the region through nature-based
solutions (e.g. sustainable forest management and livestock grazing) and increasing
public awareness of the risks. The project provides additional co-benefits through
conserving and restoring wildlife habitats, habitat connectivity and associated ecosystem
services for people. The recent wildfires at the end of 2017 suggest that the LIFE
Montserrat project is a model that is worth replicating across the Mediterranean area, i.e.
creating large managed areas to prevent widespread forest fires by combining extensive
forest management with extensive grazing and restoring a traditional mosaic landscape.
Considerations for the future
The stakeholders who contributed to this case study identified a need to further enhance
coherence between climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction across all levels
of governance (global, European, national levels) via closer vertical and horizontal,
cross-border and transnational coordination and collaboration. In particular, while the EU
supports Member States through existing platforms (e.g. Climate-ADAPT), EU-wide
conferences and research (e.g. LIFE, H2020) to capture and disseminate relevant
experiences, lessons and approaches, the stakeholders felt that the EU Adaptation
Strategy could seek to strengthen collective and interconnected planning.
418
Moreno Rodriquez, 2014, Los incendios forestales en España en un contexto de cambio climático:
Información y herramientas para la adaptación. Available:
http://www.adaptecca.es/sites/default/files/editor_documentos/infoadapt_memoria_final_proyecto.pdf
419
http://lifemontserrat.eu/en/
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Case Study 2
Spillover effects from climate change impacts occurring
outside the EU
Context and the EU response
Some stakeholders interviewed for the evaluation of the EU Adaptation Strategy have
suggested that the Strategy does not sufficiently recognise and address the EU’s
vulnerabilities to climate change impacts outside Europe, and of missing potential
opportunities for cooperation with non-EU countries in that regard. Climate change
worldwide may have consequences for trade, food security, immigration, and
biodiversity. The purpose of this case study is to provide supporting evidence for the
wider evaluation of the Strategy specifically with regard to the impact of climate change
outside the EU on food production and supply within the EU.
The Strategy states that it takes account of global climate change impacts, including
disruptions to supply chains and reduced access to food supplies, and spillover effects on
the EU.
420
However, the Strategy focuses on EU level and Member State actions and
does not explicitly address international climate change adaptation. Under Action 2 of the
Strategy, the LIFE programme does give priority to adaptation flagship projects that
address key cross-sectoral, trans-regional and/or cross-border issues. Guidance on the
development of NASs also refers to transboundary issues. In addition, the Global
Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign
and Security Policy identifies external climate
risks and resilience challenges for the EU and addresses the potential impacts from a
development policy perspective.
421
In 2012, DG CLIMA commissioned a study to investigate spillover effects in the EU of
climate change impacts occurring outside the EU. The research focused particularly on
European neighbourhood countries.
422
It identified that at that time, policy responses
generally at the EU, national and regional level did not address spillover effects of global
climate change on the EU. The report went on to conclude that no matter how robust
adaptation planning is within the EU, it will remain vulnerable to the impacts of climate
change outside the EU, in particular, from neighbouring countries. Food production and
supply has been recognised as a vulnerable priority sector to such spillover effects,
especially in relation to crops grown elsewhere on which the EU is reliant.
423
The EEA’s latest report on climate impacts in Europe, in 2016,
424
highlighted how
climate change impacts (e.g. heatwaves, prolonged drought and water scarcity) have
already affected agricultural production outside the EU and had spillover effects on
Europe through regional or global markets and supply chains. For example, the 2010
wheat
crisis in Russia, caused by severe heatwaves, destroyed 30% of Russia’s grain
420
421
See footnote 1
Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe: A Global Strategy for the European Union's
Foreign and Security Policy, European Commission, 2016.
422
AMEC, Assessing the spillover effects in the EU of the adverse effects of climate change in the rest of
the world, in particular the EU's Neighbourhood countries, Study for the European Commission, 2013
423
Stockholm Environment Institute, Introducing the transnational climate impacts index: indicators of
country-level exposure
–
methodology report, 2016
424
'Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016,
Report No 1/2017',
European Environment
Agency, 2017: Chapter 6.4
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harvest, resulting in an export ban on wheat that contributed to a 60% to 80% increase in
global wheat prices.
425
Based on an assessment of current evidence (as summarised above), the EEA
426
identified a number of priority vulnerabilities for Europe from climate change impacts
outside the EU that are of relevance to food production and supply:
Economic effects through climate-induced price volatilities.
Disruption to transport networks and possible new shipping routes (e.g. melting
of polar ice).
Feedback from Member States
Representatives of three Member State authorities were consulted with regard to this case
study. It appears from these consultations that the issue of spillover effects, at least in
relation to food production and supply, has not yet been addressed by some, and perhaps
all, NASs or plans. One Member State confirmed that it was unaware of this issue at the
time of preparing its first national adaptation plan and that, as it had not been raised as a
concern, it was not factored in to its future adaptation planning priorities. Another
Member State noted that while its current national adaptation plan did not address the
issue of spillover effects, future iterations of the plan would consider such impacts. A
third Member State reflected that there is a need for clarity as to what is meant by
spillover effects, for example, in relation to their link with climate change as compared
with other drivers and policies. It noted also that there is very little literature and
guidance available on this issue and that a subsequent EU-level review of relevant
existing studies at the sector level would be helpful, for example, in relation to impacts
on food production and supply within the EU. In addition, it questioned if the EU
Adaptation Strategy is the best place to address spillover effects or whether they should
be addressed by other policies.
Considerations for the future
Reflecting on the EU response to date and feedback from Member States, there appears
to be a need for the EU to review existing evidence and invest, where necessary, in
further research in order to identify Europe’s vulnerabilities to climate change impacts
elsewhere, particularly in neighbouring countries. This would then enable the EU to
consider the extent of likely impacts from spillover effects on Member States and
commensurate actions required within and beyond Europe to increase the EU’s resilience
to climate change. Guidance could subsequently be provided to Member States on the
potential urgency of preparing for these impacts, for example, through/during review and
further development of NASs.
References
Benzie, M., T. Carter, F. Groundstroem H. Carlsen, G. Savvidou, N. Pirttioja, R. Taylor
& A. Dzebo (2017).
Implications for the EU of cross-border climate change impacts,
EU
FP7 IMPRESSIONS Project Deliverable D3A.2.
425
426
Foresight, 2011, The future of food and farming. Final project report, the Government office for
Science; and Coghlan et al., 2014, A sign of things to come? Examining four major climate-related
disasters, 2010-2013.
'Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016,
Report No 1/2017',
European Environment
Agency, 2017: Chapter 6.4
215
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Ercin A.E, Chico D., and Chapagain A. K. (2016)
Dependencies of Europe’s economy on
other parts of the world in terms of water resources,
Horizon2020 - IMPREX project,
Technical Report D12.1, Water Footprint Network.
AMEC Environment & infrastructure UK Limited, Bio Intelligence Service, Cambridge
Econometrics and Millieu (2012) Assessing the spillover effects in the EU of the adverse
effects of climate change in the rest of the world, in particular the EU's Neighbourhood
countries', European Commission
–
DG CLIMA
European Commission (2013)
An EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change,
COM
216
European Commission (2016)
Shared vision, common action: a stronger Europe. A
Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy.
European Environment Agency (2017)
Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in
Europe 2016: An indicator-based report,
EEA Report, No 1/2017
216
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Case Study 3
The Danube macro-regional strategy and its contribution to
action at Member State level
Context and the EU response
The Danube macro-regional strategy was presented by the Commission in 2010
427
,
following a request from the European Council in June 2009
428
; and was then endorsed
by Council and European Council
429
. It was developed in consultation with Member
States in the region and other stakeholders. The strategy proposed a focus on three issues:
improved connections within the Danube region; better protection of the environment;
and shared action to increase prosperity. The climate adaptation aspects of the macro-
regional strategy are addressed under the environmental heading (Priority Action 5), with
a reference to the need for: “Preventive and disaster management
measures implemented
jointly, for example as required by the Floods, Seveso, Mining Waste or Environmental
Liability Directives. Work undertaken in isolation simply displaces the problem and puts
neighbouring regions in difficulty. Increasing frequency of droughts is also an issue, as is
adaptation to climate change.” The macro-regional
strategy goes on to note that:
“Regional cooperation must facilitate Green Infrastructure, application of long-term,
ecosystem-based solutions, and learning from previous
events.”
While the macro-regional strategy was neither directly focused on climate adaptation nor
directly addressed the importance of Member States adopting adaptation strategies, it,
nevertheless, had the potential to encourage and facilitate both the development of
national strategies and, as importantly, a better focus on transboundary issues. The EU
Adaptation Strategy itself notes the relevance of macro-regional strategies including the
EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), as a framework for transboundary
projects under cohesion policy.
Feedback from stakeholders
The main focus of the case study has been on the experience of national focal points, who
are important elements in the governance arrangements for the macro-regional
strategy
430
. Different countries coordinate the individual priority actions of the macro-
regional strategy; Hungary, for example, coordinates the priority actions on
environmental protection (Priority Action 5) and water quality (Priority Action 4). For
each priority action, coordination points are established in each of the 14 participating
countries
431
. Participants felt that this was a highly important element in progress made
under the macro-regional strategy; if an issue needed to be addressed, it was possible to
identify relatively quickly, using the contact points, relevant interlocutors, either in a
national administration, or in academia in a neighbouring country.
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: European Union Strategy for Danube
Region, COM (2010) 0715 final
428
Presidency conclusions of the 18/19 June 2009. Council of the European Union, 2009.
429
Council conclusions on the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region 13 April 2011. Council of
the European Union, 2011; and Conclusions of the European Council 23/24 June 2011, European
Council, 2011.
430
For a fuller account of governance arrangements for the strategies, see; Council conclusions of the
governance of macro-regional strategies 21 October 2014, General Affairs Council, 2014
431
EU Member States: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia. Non Member States: Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro
217
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Adoption of the macro-regional strategy built on the views of stakeholders, as well as
experience working in the more formal structures of the International Convention on the
Protection of the Danube River; although the subjects covered by the EUSDR were
broader, going beyond those connected to the river itself. Interviewees noted that the
EUSDR structures were less formal and, therefore, more flexible, but also less capable of
securing commitments backed by the full authority of a participating country.
The EUSDR does not have its own funding sources (the so-called
“three no’s” –
no new
funding; no new legislation; and no new institutions
–
were important principles in the
development of EU policy on macro-regional strategies)
432
. However, participating
countries can commit funding jointly or individually; and the EUSDR has a close
relationship with the managing authority for the Danube Transnational Programme under
European Territorial Cooperation (ETC). This managing authority has funding of EUR
274 million available over the current 2014-2020 programming period and can issue
letters of recommendation for projects, which are closely aligned to EUSDR priorities.
The letters of recommendation are regarded as an effective means of influencing funding
decisions.
Under the EUSDR, action plans are established for three-year periods. The focus on
adaptation has strengthened following the adoption by the International Commission for
the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) of the “ICPDR Strategy on Adaptation to
Climate Change”. The current plan under Priority Action 5 covers the 2017-2019
period.
It focuses particularly on improved knowledge and understanding of climate-related
risks, including stakeholder and practitioner seminars and guidance documents on issues
such as flood protection education and flood risk assessment in the Danube. Other areas
include drought management, sectoral impacts (including forestry and agriculture) on
water management, and improving forecasting models. Examples of action under the
macro-regional strategy include the development
–
in partnership with the EU-funded
SEERISK research project
– of a “Guideline on Climate Change Adaptation and Risk
Assessment in the Danube Macro-region”
433
, published in 2014, which provides
guidance on a common approach to identification and management of risk. The
transboundary nature of the issue means that
“collaboration between neighbouring
countries and harmonization of the existing practices and methods are essential”. More
recent work has included the WaterAtRisk project, which is providing improved
monitoring and shared risk management systems for watercourses vulnerable to flooding
events on the Hungary/Serbia border
434
; and workshops on improving flood protection
education.
The climate adaptation priorities, or water management priorities, of the countries
involved in the EUSDR differ, based particularly on geography. For example, upstream
countries tend to be less concerned about ice flow management in winter, while this is an
issue for downstream countries such as Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria. Similarly, in terms
of modelling, upstream countries place a higher priority on the accuracy of short-term
meteorological forecasting, given their exposure to rapidly-developing flood risks; while
downstream countries have a much greater interest in hydrological forecasting, including
long-term projections for the types of flood risk that they may face (and may need to
432
See, for instance, the emphasis on these principles in the Council conclusions on governance mentioned
in footnote 430.
433
SEERISK 2014. Guideline on climate change adaptation and risk assessment in the Danube macro-
region
434
See information on the EUSDR website at
https://www.danubeenvironmentalrisks.eu/wateratrisk-1
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prepare for)
435
. The benefit of the EUSDR is in providing a framework for discussion,
which ensure that the needs of downstream countries are take into account by upstream
countries (e.g. through enhanced provision of data for modelling purposes). It was
stressed by interviewees that full alignment of priorities was not necessary for improved
cooperation.
Interviewees were clear that the EUSDR had helped participating countries identify and
respond to transboundary adaptation challenges, particularly through improved dialogue
and exchange of information. The EUSDR is referred to directly in NASs adopted since
it was put in place (e.g. in the Hungarian revised NAS, adopted in 2017). It is also
notable that
three of the four countries identified in the Commission’s assessment of
Member State adaptation activity are participants in the EUSDR (criterion 3d, “Climate
risks/ vulnerability assessments take transboundary risks into account, when relevant”,
assessed as met by Czech Republic, Germany, and Romania). The EUSDR has also
proved to be a valuable structure for enabling cooperation on river basin management
plans and flood risk management plans required under EU legislation, and for developing
projects which can then apply for funding from other sources, particularly cross-border
and pre-accession programmes under the European Regional Development Fund. As
such, the macro-regional strategy maximises the coherence in practice of EU instruments,
including through effective cross-border implementation of legislation and investment
programmes.
In line with the principle that new institutions should not be established by the macro-
regional strategies, the EUSDR has been able to make use of structures and cooperation
already in place under the auspices of the ICPDR. A joint paper on cooperation and
synergy
436
sets out steps to further strengthen that cooperation and to improve
information flows. Participants explain that while the ICPDR provides a formal
mechanism through which the participating countries can make commitments which have
the full backing of their governments, EUSDR mechanisms provide a more informal but
flexible approach to cooperation.
Considerations for the future
A number of suggestions were identified by interviewees for future work, either under
the Danube Strategy or as lessons which could be considered by other macro-regional
cooperative approaches to tackling climate adaptation.
Future work under the Danube Strategy could particularly focus on improving shared
models for climate and hydrology, as well as on improving the understanding and use of
the outputs of those models. A clear strength of the EUSDR approach was that it enabled
an exchange of views and experience at the level of technical practitioners.
Another potentially fruitful area would be cooperation at the local level, including
through Covenant of Mayors participants. Cooperation to date has been mainly at the
level of national authorities, although the benefits of sharing experience and best practice
are clearly relevant at city level.
435
An issue also of particular relevance to the insurance sector: see for example the “Short response to the
EU Adaptation Strategy Consultation
– March 2018”, a consultation response submitted by the Oasis
consortium
436
See ICPDR and EUSDR: “ICPDR –
EUSDR PA4 & PA5 Coordination: Joint Paper on Cooperation and
Synergy for the EUSDR Implementation.”
219
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In terms of lessons for other macro-regions, it is important to identify areas of broad
general interest for activity. Where issues appear of less relevance to a Member State, it
is less likely that its experts will attend meetings; which could weaken the relevance and
completeness of the understanding emerging from discussions.
The approach of providing letters of recommendation in support of projects, which are
aligned with, or necessary for implementing, the goals of the macro-regional strategy has
been a valuable mechanism to enable relevant projects to demonstrate their importance to
potential funders.
Where regional cooperation also depends on non-EU Member States participation,
particular attention needs to be paid to the means of maximising cooperation. It is notable
that in the EUSDR cooperation with some non-EU partners is effectively confined to the
border zone itself, rather than to broader integrated water management within the
relevant country. One simple approach, which has been useful, is to provide travel
funding for expert participation from those countries.
The existence of the ICPDR and its established structures for formal cooperation has
facilitated work under relevant EUSDR priority areas. The relatively less formal
structures of the EUSDR are seen by participants as providing a more flexible means for
taking forward cooperation (as the Commission’s 2016 report on implementation of the
macro-regional
strategies notes, “the EUSDR has
very clearly contributed to an improved
culture of cooperation”). In contrast, the formal endorsement of policies and agreements
under the ICPDR provides greater certainty that governments are fully committed. Both
approaches have been part of an improved culture of cooperation, however, careful
attention to ensuring that relationships between the bodies maximise the synergies and
effectiveness of cooperation is recommended.
Summary and conclusions
Experience in the EUSDR suggests that transboundary cooperation mechanisms can
significantly facilitate and enhance cooperation on climate adaptation issues, including
those where the degree of political priority for action was greater in some countries than
in others. The process is, however, a gradual one; networks of contacts develop over
time, as does a shared willingness to address challenges. The Danube’s geography
provides a clear geographical rationale for cooperation, and helps to ensure that all
relevant countries participate. Similar geographical structures and shared biophysical
climate risks (based on shared river basins, or seas) are, therefore, likely to be the most
effective basis for similar strategies in future. However, more ad hoc structures could
also be of value, including the enhanced sharing of experience and best practice through
mechanisms such as the Covenant of Mayors.
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Case Study 4
Context
Adaptation of infrastructure in the energy sector
Energy infrastructures are critical. Due to the long economic life-spans of energy
infrastructure, it is important to understand the hazards to which they are exposed at an
early stage in order to carry out actions to protect them. The vulnerability of energy
transmission system operators and distribution system operators have been well
documented,
437
with a projected increase in frequency and intensity of storms, snowfall
and flooding events causing damages and disruptions throughout Europe. Specific
examples are falling trees from strong winds breaking transmission cables, flooding
leading to the short-circuiting of networks and heavy snow or ice loads causing failures
of overhead cables.
438
Physical
Level
of
Key impacts
components
impact
Wind and storm Overhead lines and Moderate
to
pylons
high
Wind speed and damage
storms
Increased
heat
Up
to
20%
Overhead lines
convection
capacity
Cable
resistance
Decreased
Overhead
and
increases
conductivity
underground cables
~0.4% per 1°C
Increasing
rise
temperatures
4.5cm per 1°C
Sag
Overhead cable
rise
Substations
and Potential loss of
Thawing permafrost
pylons
supply
Buckling
of
Potential loss of
Extreme heat
Pylons
structures
supply
Alteration of soil Underground
Reduces cable
moisture
cables
capacity
Increasing drought
Underground
Shifting soil
Repair costs
cables
Potential loss of
Flood
Substations
supply
Flooding
Underground
Potential loss of
Cable breakage
cables
supply
Climate variable
437
438
Bartos et al., 2016, Impacts of rising air temperatures on electric transmission ampacity and peak
electricity load in the United States.
Environmental Research Letters, 11(11);
and Asian Development
Bank, 2012, Climate risk and adaptation in the electric power sector; and WBCSD, 2014, Building a
resilient power sector, World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Panteli and Mancarella, 2015, Influence of extreme weather and climate change on the resilience of
power systems: Impacts and possible mitigation strategies, Electric Power Systems Research, 127, 259-
270.
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Security of energy supply is crucial for business continuity and the well-being of citizens.
The impacts of energy transmission disruptions can vary spatially and temporally, based
upon the relative magnitude of the climate event and the resilience of the energy
infrastructure. Prolonged or frequent disruptions can cause reputational damage to
service operators, with customers seeking more reliable alternate providers as a result.
This is in addition to the short-term repair costs and the longer-term costs from
potentially higher insurance premiums and costs associated with necessary
reconfigurations to networks. Finally, financial implications can arise via reduction of
subsidies or financial penalties by governments for failure to supply electricity. By
contrast, preventing climate disturbances transmission can benefit the security of supply.
In order to alleviate the impacts of climate change on transmission and distribution
services, actors are taking innovative steps to protect their infrastructure. One such
method, which is being employed throughout Europe, is the deployment of underground
cabling. Such adaptation measure is versatile due to its ability to combat multiple
climate-related risks, including flooding. Due to its resilience against such events, the
undergrounding of cables has been included as a potential adaptation measure in the
Scottish and Southern Climate Change Adaptation Report and has been implemented
throughout the entire transmission grid by Radius in Denmark. A few more detailed
specific examples are presented below:
Finland:
In areas of Europe which suffer from heavy snow such as Finland, energy DSO
Elenia are currently installing underground cabling networks due to their perceived
climate-proofing benefits. Jorma Myllymäki, Chief Operating Officer of Elenia, stated
that “due to the aging infrastructure, the increased frequency of storms and heavy snow
loads, Elenia began to think about the most cost-effective ways to adapt back in 2004-
2006. We then decided that after 2009 we would
place no new overhead cables.” This
has resulted in plans for 2017-2018 to include a further EUR 120 million investment to
replace 3 000 km of overhead lines with underground equivalents, with an overarching
goal to have 70% of over ground cabling underground by 2028. The costs of the action
were not aided by EU funding, but will be carried by customers in the long term, in
addition to leveraging costs from other financial mechanisms, such as bond
programmes
439
.
Such adaptation measures are stimulated by Finnish legislation stipulating that energy
networks must be designed so that storms or snow load does not cause more than 6h
breakdowns in town areas or more than 36h breakdowns in other areas
440
. In addition, the
legislation requires distribution networks to comply with such rules by 2028, which
coincides with Elenia’s planned goal of 70% of cabling placed underground. Jorma
added that ‘to achieve the targets of having less than 6 hours of blackouts would be
difficult to achieve with the previous overhead infrastructure’
whilst other companies are
continuing to use conventional strategies such as tree clearing to prevent outages
441
. This
represents the potential to gain an upper hand in the market for such firms, by avoiding
reputational damage in addition to potential regulatory fines for not fulfilling their legal
requirements.
Germany:
The German government has opted to install 600 miles of underground cables
to transmit energy throughout the country. Germany’s position with regard to uptake of
439
Communication with Jorma Myllymäki, February 12
th
2018
440
The Electricity Market Act was revised broadly in September of 2013
441
Communication with Jorma Myllymäki, February 12
th
2018
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wind power and step away from nuclear has resulted in the requirement for new power-
link constructions to transport renewable energy from the windy north to consumers in
the south. Underground construction of such transmissions has been partly implemented
due to projected increased frequency of extreme weather events causing disruption to
transmission and distribution networks. Another major determinant of these
infrastructural measures was lack of community acceptance of traditional above-ground
power lines. The additional construction costs of installing underground cables is
estimated to cost between EUR 3-8
billion, which will likely to be added to consumers’
electricity bills
442
.
Considerations for the future
The examples show that energy companies are starting to take action to adapt to climate
risks, prompted by governments and the financial implications of climate change. Yet
these examples tend to be the exception rather than the rule. It is apparent that the focus
will be on the private stakeholders in the energy system to invest in adaptation
themselves. However, there can also be a role for the EU and national governments in
creating the right market framework, funding research and sharing knowledge and good
practice, such as we have seen in the case of Finland. Within the EU Adaptation Strategy
the guidelines for project developers (Action 7
–
ensuring more resilient infrastructure),
standards for infrastructure development (Action 7), promotion of climate resilient
investments (Action 8 - insurance) and infrastructure and knowledge development can all
play a role in this, as would improving the requirements for these as a condition for
structural funding (Action 6 - climate proofing EU policies). Doing so can result in
benefits to Member States, such as contributing to the stability and security of energy
supply.
442
Reuters staff, 2015.
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