ESPON CLIMATE - Climate Change and Territorial Effects on Regions and Local Economies in Europe

Theme
Climate change and territorial effects on regions and local economies.

Thematic scope
Reports such as the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been pivotal in raising awareness about the cost of inaction and the human interference with the Earth’s climate system. One of the IPCC’s conclusions is that studies disaggregated to the regional and even local scale are urgently required. 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 – options for EU action” 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 envisaged.

Lead Partner
TU Dortmund University, Germany.
Detailed information on the contracted project team can be found under Transnational Project Group.

Sounding Board
Eduarda Marques da Costa, Portugal
Pekka Erik Kangas, Finland

Budget: € 999.418,60

Project’s lifetime: March 2009 – April 2011

Delivery of Reports
Inception Report: 23 June 2009
Interim Report: 23 December 2009
Draft Final Report: 23 December 2010
Final Report: 23 April 2011

More information
Please contact the Project Expert at the ESPON Coordination Unit:
Michaela GENSHEIMER, e-mail: michaela.gensheimer@espon.eu