Adaptation is a key societal response to reduce the impacts of climate change, yet it is poorly represented in current modelling frameworks. We identify key research gaps and suggest entry points for adaptation in quantitative assessments of climate change to enhance policy guidance.
Impacts and Vulnerability
Regional impacts and vulnerabilities are strongly dependent on the specific setting of physical exposure, the socio-economic development and livelihoods. Our work in this area focuses on assessing the full pathway from regional biophysical impacts to risks and damages, in order to identify adaptation priorities and to better understand the implications of different global goals of limiting climate change.
Publications
Last year at COP27, the international community came together to agree on the creation of a new fund that would specifically address loss and damage. Our experts Olivia Serdeczny and Tabea Lissner step through how the scientific community can contribute and inform the evidence base for policy choices in nature climate change.
This paper provides an assessment on regional perceptions of adaptation constraints and avenues to overcome them based on a mixed-method approach, combining an online survey and semi-structured interviews with adaptation experts from Caribbean SIDS. It finds that finance is the largest constraint being faced.
This report, produced in collaboration with Solutions for Our Climate, calculates a 1.5°C-aligned phase out date for fossil gas in the South Korean power sector. We find that South Korea should aim to phase out fossil gas from the power sector before 2035.
This briefing summarises the latest science on 1.5°C including from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Energy Agency and other key reports.
Sub-Saharan Africa is at a pivotal crossroads in its development. Its choice of energy for the future will be decisive in achieving its sustainable development ambitions, including clean and affordable electricity access for all. This report provides an overview of the state of the energy transition in sub-Saharan Africa.
This fourth and final ZERO IN report looks at how cutting emissions this decade can limit temperature rise and other climate impacts in the near-term. It looks back to what was set out by governments in the Glasgow Climate Pact and unpacks what “enhanced mitigation ambition …. in this critical decade” must look like, based on the latest IPCC science.
Projects
The Assessing Climate Change Risk in Europe (ACCREU) project aims to advance science on economic impacts from climate change, adaptation actions, and enhancing macroeconomic frameworks for use in policy-making.
The Climate Action Tracker is an independent science-based assessment, which tracks the emission commitments and actions of countries.
Climate Analytics is contributing to the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System by providing estimates of risk from climate change impacts using future climate projections and makes them publicly available through the Climate Impact Explorer online tool.
This project looks at future risks from water scarcity and food insecurity in vulnerable countries in the Horn of Africa Drylands and supports community-centered climate adaptation and resilience.
The EmBARK-project investigates time scales and possible trajectories of socio-economic transformation processes and analyse their relevance as potential barriers to adaptation to climate change. An improved understanding of the temporal dynamics of such barriers is key in developing a more realistic understanding of future climate impacts and for scientifically robust assessment of future climate related loss and damage.
Northern hemispheric boreal and temperate forests are important ecosystems and carbon sinks for the planet, but like many land sinks, are being negatively impacted by climate change. This project will analyse and communicate the latest scientific evidence on how climate change is impacting these critical ecosystems and their ability to store carbon.