Climate Change
Credit © European Community, 2007
Jose Manual Barroso, President of the European
Commission (centre) meeting members of the
advisory group on energy and climate change in
the Berlaymont building, Brussels in March 2007.
Jose Manual Barroso, President of the European
Commission (centre) meeting members of the
advisory group on energy and climate change in
the Berlaymont building, Brussels in March 2007.
There has been much talk in recent times of the need for individuals and governments across the globe to take steps to reduce the harmful emissions that contribute to climate change. However, the average temperature in Europe has already increased by almost one degree over pre-industrial levels and evidence suggests this has resulted in rising sea levels, changing rainfall patterns, more extreme weather and changing ecosystems. It is predicted that current levels of greenhouse gas emission could lead to further increases of two to six degrees in the next 100 years.
These temperature changes are likely to result in:
- an increase in the number of floods;
- droughts, heat and cold related mortality rates;
- reduction in crop yields;
- a loss of biodiversity and economic productivity; changing conditions for tourism; and
- the displacement of tens of thousands of Europeans.
Consequently, Europe needs not only to implement climate change mitigation measures (reducing emissions and energy consumption), but also to adapt to the major climatic changes that will affect it. In response to this need, the European Commission launched a Green Paper entitled “Adapting to Climate Change in Europe” on 29 June 2007. This Green Paper outlines the possible options for action and is intended to spark off a Europe-wide debate on how to deal with the problems.
The Green Paper proposes a four pronged approach to include:
- integrating adaptation into current legislation, policies and European funding programmes;
- integrating adaptation into Europe’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and our relations with neighbouring, industrialised and developing countries;
- reducing uncertainty through integrated research into the causes and consequences of climate change;
- preparing adaptation strategies with the involvement of European society, business and public sector stakeholders.
The EU has already begun to act on adaptation in specific ways with the adoption of the floods directive, and more recently the Commission has proposed a directive on water scarcity and droughts. As previously mentioned, both these problems are likely to become more acute over the next few years.
Individuals and organisations with an interest in this topic should visit the climate change adaptation pages of the European Commission’s website (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/adaptation/index_en.htm) where an online consultation will run from mid-July until November 2007. The site also contains some interesting information on the likely effects of climate change in Europe, and links to related sites including that of the wider European Climate Change Programme (ECCP).
