Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 09/2009

Adaptation and Mainstreaming of EU Climate Change Policy: An Actor-Based Perspective

Darryn McEvoy, Kate Lonsdale, Piotr Matczak

February 2008

Centre for European Policy Studies

Abstract

This paper is based on ongoing research being carried out in the context of the ADAM project (ADaptation And Mitigation strategies: supporting European climate policy), funded by the European Commission. While initial responses to the challenges of climate change concentrated on mitigation, in particular reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an attempt to curb the growth in global temperatures, there is now increasing recognition of the need for nations, communities and individuals, to adapt to some level of climate change, even with reductions in emissions. Accordingly, one of the primary objectives of the ADAM research programme is to analyse institutional adaptive management and issues of adaptive capacity, particularly the ‘space' that exists between theory and practice.