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

Main research areas

• The degree of vulnerability of different types of European regions to climate change; the impact of variations in different individual climate change parameters on these regions in economic, social, and environmental terms as well as the adaptive capacities of these regions and their further enhancement.
• Territorial potentials for the mitigation of climate change in different types of European regions (in relation to e.g. renewable energy, carbon sinks, energy saving).
• Potentially new types of regions emerging as a consequence of climate change, revealing the same characteristics regarding their adaptation and their mitigation capacities and the interdependencies among different types of European regions.
• The effects of climate change on different sectors of regional and local economies and regional and local infrastructures, the impacts on regional water management.
• Social and cultural implications of the aforementioned possible developments (e.g. regarding employment, standards of living and welfare in different regions), possible effects on migration within and/or from outside Europe both, in the short and long term as well as the likely effects for different types of regions.
• Potential new development opportunities for European regions through adaptation and/or mitigation, their exploitation to achieve more competitiveness on regional and European scale.
• Mitigation and adaptation measures to be applied in the different types of European regions to cope with climate change and the contribution of territorial policies to mitigation (e.g. necessary requirements for more sustainable transport modes).

Main results envisaged

• Data input to the ESPON database as well as indicators on the impact of climate change on different sectors of regional and local economies and infrastructures, new complex indicators of regions’ and cities’ socio-economic situation, the degree of their vulnerability to climate change and their change in competitiveness due to climate change.
• Typologies of European regions classifying the degree of vulnerability to climate change, the adaptation and mitigation capacities, the impact of climate change on regional and local economies and competitiveness, and those benefiting from climate change by gaining new development opportunities.
• Case studies on the development opportunities and threats of the types of regions most vulnerable to climate change.
• European maps on the degree of vulnerability of different types of European regions to climate change, their adaptation and mitigation capacities, the various types of impact of climate change on regional and local economies and infrastructures, the territorial dimension of mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change and development opportunities of cities and regions for competitiveness and cohesion in the wake of climate change.