Step 3. Identifying adaptation options

With your climate risk assessment and adaptation goals defined, you now need to identify a set of adaptation options, which are the possible actions or measures to tackle the climate challenges identified in your climate risk assessment in Step 2. 

The options should address specific components such as vulnerabilities, exposure to climate-related hazards, and the probability of resultant direct and indirect impacts. Therefore, the options may be best identified by those experts and stakeholders that contributed to your climate vulnerability and risk assessment. The options should also not limit other neighbouring regions in their adaptation process.

Adaptation options are diverse. They include actions that can aim to:

• Reduce exposure of vulnerable people, sectors or systems to climate-related hazards (e.g., by building new flood defences).

• Reduce vulnerability of people, sectors or systems exposed to climate-related hazards by either reducing their sensitivity (e.g., by changing species or crop selection or specifications for products and services) or enhancing their adaptive capacity (i.e., organisational capabilities, technical and financial capacities, and the ability of managed and natural ecosystems to adapt)

Adaptation options that are implemented on-the-ground are known as “green or blue” (ecosystem-based), “grey” (infrastructure-based) measures or “soft” (policy, legal, social, financial) measures.

Further sources of information to help you identify appropriate adaptation options:

• We recommend you check with your national authority responsible for adaptation if certain measures or actions are of interest at a national level.

• You can also access the database of adaptation options on Climate-ADAPT to help you identify relevant  climate impacts and opportunities.

• The EEA has also developed a set of Key types of measures to categorise the different types of adaptation options.

• Climate-ADAPT houses a database of  case studies from national, regional, and local  levels across Europe that can serve as inspiration for the planning, implementation and evaluation of adaptation actions. In addition, you may be inspired by the efforts of other regional and local authorities contributing to the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change. Repositories of good practice examples are also maintained by the Covenant of Mayors, Climate Alliance, Council of European Municipalities and Regions, ICLEI, Eurocities and C40.