Article Index
Adaptation to climate change: a powerful tool to reducing the overall cost of mitigation
Adaptation defined
Forms of adaptation
The EU's adaptation plan
All Pages

The EU’s adaptation plan
The European Commission presented a white paper in April 2009 that articulated the framework for adaptation measures and policies to reduce the European Union's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. This paper acknowledged the fact that decisions on how best to adapt to climate change must be based on solid scientific and economic analysis. It is therefore important to increase the understanding of climate change and the impacts it will have. The white paper outlines the need to create a clearing house mechanism by 2011 where information on climate change risks, impacts and best practices would be exchanged between governments, agencies, and organisations working on adaptation policies.

The paper presented the EU’s Adaptation Framework and the objective was to improve the EU’s resilience to the impact of climate change. The EU’s framework adopts a phased approach. The intention is that phase 1 (2009-2012) will lay the groundwork for preparing a comprehensive EU adaptation strategy to be implemented during phase 2, commencing in 2013.

Phase 1 will focus on four pillars of action:
1. Building a solid knowledge base on the impact and consequences of climate change for the EU;
2. Integrating adaptation into EU key policy areas:
•    Increasing the resilience of health and social policies;
•    Increasing the resilience of agriculture and forests;
•    Increasing the resilience of biodiversity, ecosystems and water;
•    Increasing the resilience of coastal and marine areas; and
•    Increasing the resilience of production systems and physical infrastructure.
3. Employing a combination of policy instruments (market-based instruments, guidelines, public-private partnerships) to ensure effective delivery of adaptation; and
4. Stepping up international cooperation on adaptation. For phase 1 to be a success, the EU, national, regional and local authorities must cooperate closely.

The proposals set out in this paper cover actions to be taken in the first phase and are without prejudice to the future structure of the EU budget and to the current and future multi-annual financial framework.

The best way to minimize damages associated with climate change is to adapt carefully the management of resources, and the procedures and processes of producing goods and services. As a business or municipal leader, it’s worth considering how you could adapt the European approach to this issue to your own organization’s practices. Adaptation is a critical part of becoming a sustainable business in the long term. Consider it carefully.

Dr. Mir F. Ali is a Sustainability Analyst with Turner Lane Development Corporation, a real estate development company with the commitment to build sustainable communities in British Columbia (mir@turnerlane.com).

< Prev		Next >