Stakeholder consultation on the adaptation strategy for Baden-Württemberg’s economy

Baden-Württemberg is one of the German states most strongly affected by climate change. In particular, the already noticeable increase in weather extremes - heat waves and low water in summers, more frequent heavy floods especially in the winter months and a growing risk of heavy thunderstorms and hail – could create new challenges also for the country's economy. Preparing proactively for these challenges can be rewarding not only from a business perspective, avoiding for instance weather-related interruptions, delivery delays or repairs and taking advantage of potential business opportunities. Effective adaptation is of great importance also for the securing of jobs and the prevention of environmental and health risks.

Against this background the state government of Baden-Württemberg has taken the initiative to develop a state-level strategy for climate change adaptation, with the economy as one field of action. A consultation with companies, associations and experts from Baden-Württemberg should facilitate integrating the experiences, perspectives and needs of the state’s economic stakeholders into the strategy. Through a survey and a one-day stakeholder workshop the state government sought to gather insights into the affectedness of Baden-Württemberg’s companies by the impacts of climate change and learn more about action needs and concrete options for action from the business sector’s viewpoint.

adelphi implemented the stakeholder consultation on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector with technical support by the State Institute for Environment, Measurements and Nature Conservation Baden-Württemberg. The think tank developed the concept for the online survey and the stakeholder workshop, organised and moderated the event and evaluated the results in the framework of a results and recommendations report.