ESPON CLIMATE – Climate Change and Territorial Effects on Regions and Local Economies in Europe
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been pivotal in raising awareness on the costs of human inaction and interference with the climate system. The IPCC also indicated the urgency for studies disaggregated to the regional and even local scale. Furthermore, the IPCC identified a strong need for scenarios at regional and local scales to enable appropriate impact assessments. In its Green Paper “Adapting to climate change in Europe”, the European Commission also indicates that more research is needed to address the gaps in understanding global warming and its potential impacts on the environment. Against this backdrop, this project shall analyse how and to which degree climate change will impact on the competitiveness and cohesion of European regions and Europe as a whole. In addition, it shall investigate in which way policy can contribute to mitigate climate change, and to adapt to and manage those results of climate change that cannot be avoided, while making sure that synergies of mitigation and adaptation policies are being exploited.
Please read more about the main research areas and main results.