Already today, extreme weather events present a significant risk to ecosystems, societies and their economies. Climate variability and change have the potential to aggravate these risks, becoming one of the most serious threats to the development prospects in many countries around the globe. The approach taken under the “Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA)” framework provides decision makers with information about potential climate-related damage to their environment, economies and societies. It can foster comprehensive adaptation strategies by analysing and proposing a variety of specific adaptation measures in a systematic way. Well targeted, early investments to improve climate resilience are likely to be less cost intensive and more effective than complex post-disaster relief efforts, both locally and on an aggregated global scale.
Climate change creates cascading risks in physical systems, ecosystems, the economy and society. Assessing climate risks across domains, and in a manner meaningful to decision makers, is therefore a major challenge. Promoting resilience through the assessment of weather and climate risks and the integration of appropriate climate change adaptation (CCA) measures are essential steps, and supports governments, businesses and individuals with the following:
Conduct an identification of climate risk in a defined region (e.g. urban area), identify areas and people at risk, spanning all significant climate hazards and the full range of possible impacts for different sectors
Calculate the expected damage across multiple climate and economic scenarios
Determine strategies, including a portfolio of specific measures with detailed cost-benefit assessment
Ensure local involvement in order to create a long-term and transparent adaptation strategy
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Long-term investment planningECA allows extension of investment portfolios, e.g. in a given country or sector. Depending on the volume of the investment, a detailed study for CCA measures might be meaningful.
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NAPs developmentNumerous governments are looking into developing their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). ECA supports countries in formulating detailed NAPs and assists in decision-making processes for further implementation. The level of detail depends on the volume of the project and the prospect of an investment in CCA measures.
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Risk transferIn some cases, governments or businesses might be interested in completing already existing CCA measures and looking into potential for risk transfer for low-frequency hazards.
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Strategic planningECA provides a prospective assessment of measures that are best adapted to certain conditions in a well-determined area. The level of detail can be high locally or moderate when going beyond the country level.
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Pre-feasibilityECA provides a prospective CCA assessment in order to identify efficient measures and areas most at risk. This approach is embedded in an iterative assessment prospect if deemed meaningful.
The ECA methodology is set out to develop a practical framework allowing national and local decision makers to carry out a comprehensive assessment of climate risks facing their economies while minimizing the cost of adaptation through cost efficient strategies. Special emphasis is placed on a robust and integrated approach based on sound scientific facts. The ECA framework comprises 8 phases to facilitate a practical implementation of the methodology.
PHASE 1: Defining your Research Area
PHASE 2: Data Acquisition and Management
PHASE 3: Defining Scenarios
PHASE 4: Modelling Hazards
PHASE 5: Valuating Assets
PHASE 6: Creating Damage Functions and Risk Analysis
PHASE 7: Simulating CCA measures
PHASE 8: Illustrating Results
The ECA Guidebook provides guidance on the application of the full ECA methodology and can be downloaded here.
