Assessing the Implications of Climate Change Adaptation on Employment in the EU

Description

Adaptation jobs are all jobs created, sustained or redefined in the process towards building resilience to the existing and projected impacts of climate change.

The overall purpose of this study is to understand and fill in knowledge gaps with respect to the implications of climate change adaptation on EU employment and skills. As part of the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation in EU policies, the results of this study also identify EU employment and social policies, which could promote the transition to a climate resilient EU economy, including the provision of adequate skills.

For the purpose of quantifying the impacts of climate change adaptation on employment, two baseline scenarios (4 degrees and 2 degrees temperature change by 2100 relative to pre-industrial levels) were developed as well as a reference and an ambitious scenario.

At the EU level, the results of modelling climate change impacts on employment show that climate change damages (or benefits) will have an effect on the productivity of various economic sectors and their production and employment. This will result in loss (or gain) in employment. At Member states level this shows that climate change will affect labour markets in the European regions differently depending on their core economic sectors and climatic conditions.

To quantitatively assess the impacts of adaptation action on employment in the EU, a reference and an ambitious scenario estimated the relative changes in employment due to climate change adaptation expenditures compared to the baseline.

Besides providing estimates on the number of jobs created and lost due to climate adaptation, the study also mapped the necessary skills for undertaking adaptation activities and assessed the skills gaps and shortages. As a result of this analysis policy recommendations for building a more resilient Europe are being presented.

Reference information