Expert Workshop on Adaptation Financing and Implementation, Putting Priorities into Practice in OECD Countries, Paris, 18-19 June, 2014

1. Für Mensch & Umwelt
Adaptation Strategy in Germany
OECD Expert Workshop
Prioritising adaptation at the national level
Clemens Haße
Federal Environment Agency

2. National Adaptation: Situation in Germany
Adaptation Futures 2014 2
Role of the Environment Agency (UBA)
• Policy advice on the NAS, drafting
• Research (assessments, methods, tools)
• Provision of information on adaptation
• communication
• steering of participation process
Process
• Strategy in 2008
• Action Plan in 2011
• Progress report 2015, incl. second Action Plan
Setup
• Steering group with all relevant Ministries
• Lead-managed by Ministry of Environment

3. Characteristics of National Adaptation
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• Stepwise approach
• Diverse risks, not one single concern
• Divided responsibilities
• Mainstreaming is important
• Framework for national and regional
policies
• No single budget on adaptation
UNEP Provia

4. Priorisation approach so far
Adaptation Strategy (2008)
“The cross-sectoral priorisation of possible adaptation measures is a central
task of the further process of the adaptation strategy.”
Action Plan (2011)
“At present, it is not possible to comply fully with the stipulation formulated in
the NAS that the Action Plan 2011 also sets out principles and criteria for the
identification and prioritisation of specific kinds of action ..”
“This would require a uniform appraisal of the risks across different sectors
and fields of action on the basis of an integrated vulnerability analysis .. At
present, no such analysis has been produced for Germany. ”
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5. Contributions by the Environment Agency (2012-2014)
UBA
Cost-
Benefit
Framework
and Case
Studies (1)
Report on
economic
instruments (2)
and national
policy mix (3)
Method on
vulnerabilit
y
assessment
(4)
Suggestion on
Prioritizing
Adaptation
Measures (5)
(1) www.uba.de/publikationen/kosten-nutzen-von-
anpassungsmassnahmen-an-den
(2) www.uba.de/publikationen/oekonomie-des-
klimawandels-integrierte-oekonomische
(3) In progress
(4) www.uba.de/publikationen/methode-einer-
integrierten-erweiterten
(5) Article in GAIA 22/4 (2013) www.oekom.de/gaia
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Multi Criteria Set, according to (5)
• strategic importance
• urgency
• no-regret
• side-effects
• flexibility
• economic assessment
• acceptance

6. Outlook: Adaptation Progress report 2015
Vulnerability Network
•“adaptation needs”
•network of national
agencies
•Common understanding
•Quantitative assessments
•based on climate and
socio-economic
scenarios
•identify hot spots,
regions&sectors
Policy Mix
•Process measures and
instruments
•Propose set of decision
criteria
•Tool for multi criteria
assessment
•Suggest ambitious
second actions plan
•Foster discussion with
and between ministries
Measure Adaptation
•Draft Indicator report
•Impacts and response
•Agreed by all ministries
•Starting point for regular
monitoring
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UBA has set up three actions to gain a more advanced and
better integrated next step of the NAS in 2015

7. Lessons learned so far
 Theory: 1. asses adaptation needs, 2. choose the appropriate actions,
all based on well established criteria
 But practice not that clear: Long time horizon, several fields of policy,
existing frameworks with different entry points
 Adaptation is not a question of budget allocation alone
 acceptance and mainstreaming is key
 For that we need to communicate and build trusted networks
 Think of learning cycle: define a iterative process and get better stepwise
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