Reports such as the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been pivotal in raising
awareness about the cost of inaction and the human interference
with the Earth’s climate system. One of the IPCC’s conclusions is
that studies disaggregated to the regional and even local scale are
urgently required. Furthermore, the IPCC identified a strong need for
scenarios at regional and local scales to enable appropriate impact assessments. In its Green Paper “Adapting to climate change in Europe – options for EU action” the European Commission also indicates that more research is needed to address the gaps in understanding global warming and its potential impacts on the environment.
Against this backdrop, the project ”Climate Change and Territorial Effects on Regions and Local Economies in Europe” (ESPON Climate) will analyse how and to which degree climate change will impact on the competitiveness and cohesion of European regions and Europe as a whole. In addition, it shall investigate in which way policy can contribute to mitigate climate change, and to adapt to and manage those results of climate change that cannot be avoided, while making sure that synergies of mitigation and adaptation policies are being exploited.
The task of FFRC within this project is to develop an indicator which describes climate change mitigation capacity at territorial level. In ESPON Climate, FFRC is a subcontractor to Aalto University. Subcontracted activities will be carried out during the period 1.11.2009-31.12.2010.
ESPON Climate partners include
- Institute of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund University (coordinator)
- Geological Survey of Finland
- Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research
- Newcastle University, the U.K
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
- Aalto University, Finland
- Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Department of Environmental Economics, Hungary
- Hungarian Public Nonprofit Company for Regional Development and Town Planning, VÁTI
- National Institute for Territorial and Urban Research, Urbanproject (Romania)
- Agency for the Support of Regional Development Koišce, n.o. (Slovakia)
- Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
- The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
- Swiss Federal Research Institute, WSL
Further information:
Regional Manager Jarmo Vehmas
University of Turku, Finland Futures Research Centre
jarmo.vehmas[at]utu.fi, tel. +358 3 223 8367
Research Manager Lasse Peltonen
Aalto University, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies
lasse.peltonen[at]tkk.fi