Growing and supporting a network to assess Germany’s vulnerability to climate change

The "German strategy for adaptation to climate change" (DAS) aims at reducing Germany’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Following the strategy’s publication in 2008, and the release of an accompanying action plan in 2011, 2016 sees the release of the first Progress Report on the German Adaptation Strategy (in German). This required as it’s foundation a current, cross-sector analysis on the vulnerability of Germany to climate change.

As the leading partner of a scientific consortium, adelphi brought together a network of 16 higher federal authorities and institutions from nine departments to determine Germany’s climate change vulnerability. Together, the consortium members developed a methodology for the vulnerability analysis that could be applied in all the German adaptation strategy’s areas of activity. The specialised authorities connected via the network contributed their expertise, data, and models to the analysis. The adelphi-led consortium’s task was to develop methods and indicators, conduct the analysis, and to prepare the coordination with the network. In this way, 72 selected climate impacts were investigated for their spatial manifestations in the present and future using impact models, proxy indicators, and expert interviews, and their importance for Germany was assessed. Regional and thematic focal points of climate change in Germany were able to be identified.

The project represents a central component of the further development of the German Adaptation Strategy and of federal climate adaptation policy. In November 2015, the comprehensive Final Report of the Vulnerability Network was introduced in a joint press conference with the German Federal Environmental Ministry, the German Federal Environmental Agency, and the German Meteorological Service. It depicts the evaluation within and across sectors and explains the methodology used in detail.