Two new European climate studies launched in Brussels

RedOrbit: Two new reports examining climate change adaptation and policy making across Europe will be launched today in Brussels in the presence of Peter Gammeltoft, Head of Unit 'Protection of Water & Marine Environment' at the European Commission. The preliminary conclusions of the research were used in the European Commission's White Paper on climate change, published in April 2009.

The reports are published by the Partnership for European Environmental Research (PEER), a grouping of seven of the biggest European environmental research institutes. PEER is chaired by Professor Pat Nuttall, Director of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.

…Peter Gammeltoft said, "I greatly welcome the publication of these two new reports from the Partnership for European Environmental Research. It is this sort of dialogue between the research institutes across Europe and national and European policymakers that is essential if we are to successfully deal with the many threats that climate change poses."

The first new report from PEER, 'Europe Adapts to Climate Change: Comparing National Adaptation Strategies', critically analyzes the current status of national adaptation strategies in EU member states, and identifies a variety of opportunities to strengthen their further development and implementation, including timely and targeted scientific research.

The second report, 'Climate Policy Integration, Coherence and Governance', concludes that specific measures to tackle climate change, such as emissions trading, will only be successful if they are coherently supported by other government policies addressing economic and social issues….