Europe Adapts to Climate Change. Comparing National Adaptation Strategies

This report presents a comparative analysis of national adaptation strategies in a sample of European countries. The primary objective of this study was to identify policy-relevant findings and formulate recommendations for further research. Through these objectives, this report aimed at providing both policymakers and research managers with enhanced insights into the variety of approaches taken by countries and knowledge gaps, and thus facilitating the exchange of information on how to tackle adaptation across Europe and develop relevant research agendas. The focus was on national-level strategies, examining top-down approaches to and coordination of adaptation measures in each country.

The report is structured around six key themes that were identified by the research team based on an initial inventory as distinctive elements of all the National Adaptation Strategies (NASs) that have been analysed. The six themes are:

1. Motivating and facilitating factors for strategy development;
2. Science-policy interactions and the place of research;
3. The role of communicating adaptation;
4. Multi-level governance in shaping and delivering National Adaptation Strategies;
5. The integration of adaptation into sectoral policies;
6. The role of policy monitoring, review and enforcement.