Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies – Supporting European Climate Policy (“ADAM”)
Project duration: 3/2006 - 2/2009
Funded by EC/FP6
The main aim of the ADAM research project is to obtain and promote a better understanding of the existing trade-offs and conflicts between climate change adaptation and mitigation policies. The project is supposed to support EU policy development in the post-Kyoto process, and will inform about the emergence of new adaptation strategies for Europe.
The particular aims of the ADAM project are threefold:
(1) To assess the extent to which existing and evolving EU (and world) mitigation and adaptation policies can achieve a tolerable transition (“soft landing”) in a world with increasing global atmospheric temperatures of no greater than 2˚C above pre-industrial levels; also, to identify their associated costs and effectiveness, including an assessment of the damages avoided compared to a scenario where increments in global temperatures continue unchecked up to 5 ˚C.
(2) To develop and appraise a portfolio of longer term strategic policy options that could contribute to addressing identified shortfalls both between existing mitigation policies and the achievement of the EU’s 2 ˚C target, and between existing adaptation policy development and implied EU goals and targets for adaptation.
(3) To develop a novel Policy-options Appraisal Framework (PAF) and apply it both to existing and evolving policies, and to new, long-term strategic policy option this helps to inform: European and international climate protection strategy in post-2012 Kyoto negotiations, a restructuring of International Development Assistance, the EU electricity sector, as well as regional spatial planning.
The ADAM project supports a better understanding of the synergies, trade-offs and conflicts that exist between adaptation and mitigation policies at multiple scales. Crucially, ADAM will support EU policy development in the next stage of the development of the Kyoto Protocol and, in particular, negotiations around a post-2012 global climate policy regime.
The main impact of the ADAM project will be to improve the quality and relevance of scientific and stakeholder contributions to the development and evaluation of climate change policy options within the European Commission. This will help the Commission to realize its current medium-term climate policy objectives and to help inform about its development of a longer-term climate strategy.
FCN contributed to the project via a (non-representative) Web-based survey among top-level executives of companies and organizations belonging to four main target groups: (1) electric utilities; (2) energy-intensive industries; (3) consumer associations/NGOs; and (4) public administrations dealing with electricity and climate policy issues in Europe. The survey was conducted in Austria, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland. For the case of Norway, only addresses of chief executive officers (CEOs) from electric utilities were available. The aim of this survey-based study was to provide input for improving the Policy Appraisal Framework (PAF), applied to the European electricity sector. Specifically, the main goals of the study were to better understand the following: (1) the impact of adaptation and mitigation policy measures and policy mixes on the demand for electricity services in Europe; (2) the impact of market regulation on the behavior of firms in the electricity sector; and (3) the long-term implications and investment decisions within the European electricity sector. The results of the web-based questionnaire study shed some light on the beliefs and expectations of chief executives of electricity companies and other decision-makers and opinion leaders in selected European countries concerning climate change mitigation and adaptation policies related to the electricity sector and energy-intensive industries in Europe.
Project publications
Artho J., Madlener R. (2009). Climate Policies and the Electricity Sector in Europe: Insights from a Web-based Survey Conducted Among Stakeholders in Selected European Countries, Report by FCN / Social Research Unit, University of Zurich, for the EU/FP6 Project „ADAM -- Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies: Supporting European Climate Policy“, Work Package P3c, June.