Climate change impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016

Strengthening the knowledge base
The aim is to support adaptation and mitigation
policies in Europe in a number of sectors, including
water management, agriculture, forestry, tourism,
insurance, transport, energy, human health,
infrastructure, disaster risk reduction and coastal
areas. By providing datasets, tools and best practices
in a free and open way, 'downstream services' are
expected to be developed in various thematic areas.
The service will be delivered through a climate data
store, a sectoral information system, an evaluation
and quality control function, and an outreach and
dissemination platform.
The climate data store will contain a series of
geophysical climate variables and specific indicators
related to climate change (observed, reanalysed
and simulated), needed to monitor both drivers and
impacts of climate change. Essential climate variables
and climate data records will be part of the store, as
well as the derived climate change indicators. The
sectoral information system will contain information
tailored to fit the needs of end users and customers of
the service for various EU sector-specific policies (see
Chapter 2). The evaluation and quality control function
will assess the technical and scientific quality of the
service, including the value to users. It will ensure
that information is fully traceable and adequately
documented, and that sufficient attention has been
given to the assessment of uncertainties. The sectoral
information system is expected to help improve the
quality and availability of indicators on climate change
and impacts at the European scale, specifically for
the sectors to be covered in the various phases of the
service.
C3S is expected to become an important information
source for several of the indicators that are included in
this report. It will also be linked to the Climate‐ADAPT
platform. The EEA and ECMWF are discussing how
best to establish collaboration in future.
7.1.3 Climate change adaptation services
Climate change adaptation services have so far been
developed and implemented differently from climate
change services. Climate change services have thus
far focused primarily on providing climate information
(and to some extent have included impacts), while
adaptation services (such as Climate-ADAPT at the
EU level) so far have provided broader information
including vulnerability and risk assessments,
adaptation strategies and options, case studies and
policy frameworks. Thus, these types of services can
be regarded as complementary.
The recent (2015) 'European research and innovation
roadmap for climate services' uses a broader definition
and scope (Street et al., 2015). Climate change services
and adaptation services are expected to become
increasingly integrated in the future, thereby delivering
the services needed by the intended users (see also
Section 7.6).
An increasing number of adaptation platforms (or
services) have emerged over the past years, which
are described and analysed in an EEA technical
report (EEA, 2015b). In 2015, there were adaptation
platforms in place at the national level in 14 EEA
member countries, as well as platforms at the
transnational level for the Alpine region and the
Pyrenees, and at EU level (Climate-ADAPT). The scope
of the platforms varies, and many are linked directly
to the implementation of national strategies and/or
action plans. The type of information that appears
most often includes policy action at transnational,
national and sub-national levels, scientific research
output, guidance, decision-support tools, and
experiences from practice and implemented
adaptation measures. The implementation and
evaluation of national adaptation strategies and also
the EU Strategy will probably enlarge the scope of
the platforms. The need for relevant information
and knowledge at the city level will increase. A lot
of new information will become available from
national- and EU-funded research (Horizon 2020). It
will be a challenge to update platforms accordingly,
while maintaining appropriate quality control, and
selecting the information that is most relevant for
users. Experiences from practice and implemented
adaptation measures are expected to receive
increasing attention. Enhancing user engagement is
key, as the relevance and usability of the platform
are strongly linked to the successful uptake of the
information that it provides.
7.2 Climate change impacts
The availability of data on the monitoring of the impacts
of climate change on environmental systems, society
and economy is presented in Chapters 4 and 5 of this
report. Here, an overview and analysis is provided.
7.2.1 National assessments
The knowledge base on climate change impacts and
vulnerability across Europe has increased over the past
years owing to enhanced and/or continued monitoring
and EU and national research projects. A range of
countries have developed national impact, vulnerability
316 Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016 | An indicator-based report