C 264/18
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
27.7.2023
Figure 2
An example of an adaptation pathway for water resource management
Source: Kingsborough et al., 2016. — Instruments that offer entry points for implementation and mainstreaming, i.e., integration of adaptation into other sectoral policies and instruments.
Adaptation should not be performed in isolation from existing policies.
Therefore, creating links between adaptation and existing instruments should be promoted.
Synergies with existing national policies and tools should be exploited.
Key instruments to serve as entry points for integrating adaptation include: legislation, existing strategies, standards, planning tools, assessment frameworks, research and development programmes, networks and working groups.
However, this mainstreaming of adaptation should not be limited to just setting sector-specific goals, options, and actions in the adaptation strategy.
It is considered good practice to review the consistency of all relevant measures with adaptation targets and objectives as well as the contribution of every policy to adaptation solutions.
A good practice example is discussed in the case example 4 text box.
The macro-fiscal aspect of climate adaptation is an important cross-cutting policy area.
Climate change has macro-fiscal relevance as it impacts both public expenditure and revenue.
However national fiscal frameworks in EU Member States reflect climate change and related fiscal risks only to a limited extent, mostly with budgetary arrangements to cope with the cost of climate-related disasters.
To improve fiscal/financial resilience to climate change, budgetary planning, governance, and institutional arrangements could better take into account climate-related fiscal risks and climaterelated losses.
Policy efforts to reduce the climate protection gap, i.e., the proportion of uninsured losses, would be supportive of this goal too, as they can limit the fiscal cost of climate change and thus preserve resources for investments in adaptation.
Another prominent policy area of significant importance for the implementation and mainstreaming of adaptation is disaster risk management and the role of civil protection.
Not only are civil protection authorities the first respondents to the expected increasingly severe climate related disaster events (floods, storms, wildfires, etc.), but they also have a broader disaster risk landscape within their remit, addressing other natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions) as well as technological and societal risks (e.g., cyber threats, hybrid threats, industrial accidents).
Close synergies in the development of action plans and implementation, including the resource allocation for adaptation and prevention measures and considerations of fiscal resilience are important.
Climate adaptation measures and disaster prevention measures for climate related hazards are expected to largely be the same.
It is however also important to consider other disaster prevention aspects to make sure maximum synergies between measures (e.g., climate change adaptation of buildings, also considering seismic safety where relevant) and that the principles of ‘doing no harm’ and maladaptation is considered in a wider disaster and societal resilience perspective.