Evaluation of the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change

The German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (DAS) and the corresponding Adaptation Action Plan are the main pillars of Germany’s climate policy. The Federal Government aims to reduce the vulnerability of the economy, the environment and society to the effects of climate change in the long term. To this end, a number of concrete measures have recently been implemented at various levels. In order to successfully adapt to climate change and to continue to develop the national climate change strategy, it is important to critically reflect on the current process as well as to acknowledge achievements and possible shortcomings. Therefore, an evaluation of Germany’s climate change policy was carried out ten years after adopting the strategy.

The overarching goal of the evaluation commissioned by the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) was to determine whether the national adaptation strategy represents a successful approach for increasing the adaptive capacity and reducing the vulnerability of natural, social and economic systems to the effects of climate change. The evaluation included three central parts: (1) the process of developing and implementing the strategy on the nationl level (2) the implementation status of the adaptation measures at the federal level and (3), an impact assessment of the strategy's effects on the vulnerability and adaptative capacities of natural, social and economic systems.

adelphi implemented the evaluation together with the Center for Evaluation (CEval). To do so, a methodology was used which was developed in a previous project and which has already been adopted politically. With the use of central evaluation questions as well as a policy impact model, data was initially collected using a variety of methods (interviews, document analysis etc.). Using defined evaluation criteria, a comprehensive data analysis and evaluation was carried out. The results and hypotheses were reflected in a Delphi method and then condensed. Near the end of the project, adelphi also supported the dissemination of findings from the evaluation.