ADaptation And Mitigation Strategies (ADAM): supporting European climate policy

The ADAM project will lead to a better understanding of the synergies and conflicts that exist between adaptation and mitigation policies. Crucially, ADAM will support EU policy development in the next stage of the development of the Kyoto Protocol, in particular negotiations around a post-2012 global climate policy regime, and will inform the emergence of new adaptation strategies for Europe. In research on adaptation policy options, special attention will be paid to the role of extreme weather events both as exposing vulnerability and as a signal for future change. The main impact of the ADAM project will be to improve the quality and relevance of scientific contributions to the development and evaluation of climate change policy options within the European Commission. This will help the Commission to deliver on its current medium-term climate policy objectives and help inform its development of a longer-term climate strategy. The energy economics group participates in Work Package M2: Mitigation at the Global Level, which aims at assessing the mitigation costs of post-2012 EU and global climate policies taking into account recent research findings regarding, first, the impacts of induced technological change and, second, the impact of different types of policy instruments.
Our group also participates in Work Package M1 ( Mitigation at the European Level), which will evaluate net cost and impacts of the four ADAM scenarios at the European level portraying the EU target of 2 °C around 2100 (CEC, 2005) for global temperature change.
The core objectives of ADAM (ADaptation And Mitigation) are:
  • To assess the extent to which existing and evolving EU mitigation and adaptation policies can achieve a tolerable transition (a 'soft landing') to a world with a global climate no warmer than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and to identify their associated costs and effectiveness, including an assessment of the damages avoided compared to a scenario where climate change continues unchecked to 5°C.
  • To develop a portfolio of longer term strategic policy options that could contribute to addressing identified shortfalls both between existing mitigation policies and the achievement of the EU's 2°C target, and between existing adaptation policy development and implied EU goals and targets for adaptation.
  • To develop a novel policy options appraisal framework and apply it both to existing and evolving policies, and to new, long-term strategic policy options, so as to inform European and international climate protection strategy in post-2012 Kyoto negotiations.

This analysis was conducted primarily using the energy-system EuroMM model and the integrated assessment MERGE-ETL model.

Eskeland, G., P. Criqui, E. Jochem, H. Neufeldt, G. Catenazzi, W. Eichhammer, A. Held, M. Jakob, K. Linnerud, T. Mideksa, S. Mima, T. Traber, W. Schade, U. Reiter, N. Rive and H. Turton (2009). Transforming the European energy system In Hulme, M., Neufeldt, H. (eds.), Making Climate Change Work for Us: European Perspectives on Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies, Cambridge University Press

Kypreos, S. (2008). Stabilizing Global Temperature Change Below Thresholds; Monte Carlo Analyses with MERGE, Journal of Computational Management Science (Special Issue on Managing Energy and the Environment), Vol. 5(1-2), pp. 141-170, DOI: 10.1007/s10287-007-0049-9

Reiter, U., A. Held and H. Turton (2009). Climate change adaptation and mitigation options of the European energy conversion sector?, EEM Working Paper, Paul Scherrer Institute

Edenhofer, O., B. Knopf, M. Leimbach, L. Baumstark, N. Bauer, H. Turton, S. Kypreos, B. Magné, T. Barker, S. Scrieciu, S. Kitous, E. Bellevrat, P. Criqui, B. Château, D. van Vuuren and M. Isaac (2009). Second assessment of the costs of EU and global mitigation policies with a special focus on low stabilization targets and their impact on economic growth and the competitiveness of the EU: The Economics of Low Stabilisation, Deliverable D-M2.3rev of ADAM (Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies: Supporting European Climate Policy), Project co-funded by European Commission 6th RTD Programme

Jochem, E., W. Schade, T. Barker, S. Scrieciu, N. Helfrich, J. Köhler, S. Mima, P. Criqui, J. Morel, B. Chateau, A. Kitous, G-J. Nabuurs, M-J. Schelhaas, T. Groen, L. Quandt, F. Reitze, G. Catenazzi, M. Jakob, W. Eichhammer, A. Held, M. Ragwitz, U. Reiter and H. Turton (2009). Report of the Reference and 2°C Scenario for Europe, Deliverable D-M1.2 of ADAM (Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies: Supporting European Climate Policy), Project co-funded by European Commission 6th RTD Programme

Schade, W., E. Jochem, T. Barker, G. Catenazzi, W. Eichhammer, T. Fleiter, A. Held, N. Helfrich, M. Jakob, P. Criqui, S. Mima, L. Quandt, A. Peters, M. Ragwitz, U. Reiter, F. Reitze, M. Schelhaas, S. Scrieciu and H. Turton, H. (2009). ADAM 2-degree scenario for Europe – policies and impacts. Deliverable D-M1.3 of ADAM (Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies: Supporting European Climate Policy), Project co-funded by European Commission 6th RTD Programme

Kypreos, S. and B. Magne (2009). Monte-Carlo Analysis: Is the European Climate Policy Target of 2°C Temperature Change Feasible and Justified?, Deliverable D-M2.5 of ADAM (Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies: Supporting European Climate Policy), Project co-funded by European Commission 6th RTD Programme

Reiter, U. (2010). Assessment of the European Energy Conversion Sector under Climate Change Scenarios, Ph.D. Thesis, Nr. 18840, ETH Zürich, Download (2.1MB)
Reiter, U. and H. Turton (2008). Impacts of Climate Change on Electricity Production in Europe - Adaptation Options for Power Producers, International Energy Workshop, Paris, France

Magné, B., S. Kypreos and L. Barreto (2007). Endogenous learning and competition among energy technologies: An assessment of climate stabilization costs with the MERGE-ETL model, Proceedings of 9th International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) European Energy Conference, Energy Markets and sustainability in a larger Europe, June 10-12, Florence, Italy