Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation (MRE)

Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation (MRE) is the last step of the adaptation policy cycle as visualised in the Adaptation Support Tool and a key aspect of an iterative adaptation process. It can help understand progress and performance, learn and communicate lessons and inform future policy and practice. It therefore plays a critical role enabling adaptation to evolve and improve over time.

Despite the important progress made in recent years, experience in MRE is still limited. This observation is also mentioned several times in the IPCC AR6 WG II report Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Only a few countries have started already implementing their MRE systems, focusing primarily on monitoring, and less have looked at the aspect of the evaluation. Furthermore, considering the multiple reporting commitments resulting from EU and international agreements, countries are interested in identifying synergies that may emerge in the different MRE processes.

In attempt to foster learning and support European countries in the design and implementation of MRE systems, the European Environment Agency (EEA), with the support of the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Adaptation and LULUCF (ETC CA - former ETC/CCA), has investigated different aspects of the MRE processes and communicated early insights from this evolving practice in a number of reports:

• National adaptation policy processes in European countries (2014): This EEA report presents a comprehensive overview of national adaptation policy processes in Europe, based on a unique collection of findings from an extensive self-assessment questionnaire. Monitoring, reporting and evaluation was one of the key topics explored in this report.
• National monitoring, reporting and evaluation of climate change adaptation in Europe (2015): This report provides insights into adaptation monitoring, reporting and evaluation systems at the national level in Europe. It offers reliable and targeted information to support the effective and efficient implementation of climate adaptation policies and actions. Among others, the report demonstrates the importance and interest of countries in sharing experiences, especially with regard to the methods that can be used to monitor and evaluate adaptation policies.
• Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016. An indicator-based report: This fourth edition of the ‘Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe’ report aims to support the implementation and evaluation process of the 2013 EU Adaptation Strategy, and the development and implementation of national and transnational adaptation strategies and plans. It looks at past and projected climate change and its impacts on ecosystems and society, vulnerability to these impacts, the development of adaptation policies and the underlying knowledge base.
• Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation of national level adaptation in Europe: Lessons and experiences from other policy domains (2017): This ETC/CCA working paper highlights transferable lessons learned from evaluation communities working in the policy fields of biodiversity, adaptation and international development, and sustainability that may inform MRE systems for climate change adaptation. It reveals insightful, inspirational and relevant perspectives for those working on MRE systems for adaptation in Europe, in particular at national level.
• National climate change vulnerability and risk assessments in Europe, 2018: This EEA report presents lessons learned from national climate change impact, vulnerability and risks assessments and their contribution to the development of national adaptation policies. It facilitates mutual learning and sharing experiences between countries on the approaches and practical solutions they have used to produce and present their assessments.
• Indicators for adaptation to climate change at national level - Lessons from emerging practice in Europe, 2018: This ETC/CCA working paper offers an overview on the main reporting processes included in EU and global level frameworks. At the global level, the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement have been identified as relevant for MRE of climate change adaptation and are presented in this report. Specifically this working paper investigates how indicators developed in the context of the aforementioned frameworks can be implemented in European countries and if any synergies related to the reporting processes of these international policy frameworks exist. Also the paper provides an overview of recent progress made in the development and implementation of indicators used for monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation at national level, looking at four European countries that had such adaptation indicators in place by mid-2017: Austria, Finland, Germany and the United Kingdom. Information presented in this working paper is complemented by a database, presenting metadata of national level adaptation indicators from the four aforementioned countries.
• Monitoring and evaluation of national adaptation policies throughout the policy cycle (2020): This report provides an overview of country developments in terms of strategies and plans for climate change adaptation (CCA) and their implementation in a context of global and European policy frameworks. The report brings together lessons learned — at the national level — on adaptation monitoring, reporting and evaluation (MRE), future directions and opportunities for mutual learning on evaluating CCA strategies and plans at national and European levels and the implications of emerging reporting requirements from relevant EU policies to improve evaluation at the EU level.