Cooperative audit “Adaptation to climate change – are governments prepared?”

Objective: Are governments prepared for climate change? Due to its anticipated severe consequences on the environment, economy and society, climate change is one of the major environmental challenges in Europe today. Climate change is expected to have severe impacts on sectors like energy, agriculture and forestry, and major impact on infrastructure such as transport and water supply. The aim of this cooperative audit has been to assess how adaptation policies and actions are implemented on national levels across Europe, identify governments’ challenges related to climate change adaptation and provide common conclusions and recommendations. Moreover, the aim of the cooperative audit is to inspire and pass knowledge to other SAIs.

It is recommended that

• countries use adequate risk and vulnerability assessments for policy-making and consider the impacts of likely climate change scenarios with higher expected temperature increases than the 2-degrees scenario

• adaptation strategies and action plans should be developed and implemented at the government level

• the strategies should clearly specify the time-frame for implementation and the roles and responsibilities of all the parties involved

• governments should ensure coordinated adaptation policy and its implementation

• governments should provide knowledge, to the extent possible and meaningful, of the costs and benefits of climate change impacts and adaptation measures to ensure cost-effective implementation.

Joint report