AUTHORS: Joana Chiavari

EU Policy Briefing – 6 July 2007

By adopting a Green Paper on adaptation to climate change on 29 June 2007, the European Commission recognises that adaptation has become an unavoidable and indispensable complement to mitigation actions. According to the document, climate change will heavily affect Europe’s natural environment and nearly all sections of society and the economy. However, there will be quite large differences in the severity of regional impacts within Europe. Therefore, the Green Paper calls for multilevel governance, in order to achieve efficient coordination between measures in Member States, regions and communities. In this context, the role of the EU would be to support adaptation efforts by adjusting relevant policies, filling knowledge gaps and coordinating strategies.