29-Mar-2011 Working Group on Environmental Accounts Climate Change: Reflection about the role of Eurostat in EU mitigation and adaptation policies Working Group on Environmental Accounts Working Group on Environmental Expenditure Statistics Luxembourg, March 2011

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies Climate Change and the European Union “…climate change is no longer the reserved province of the environmental community. It is an economic issue. It is a development issue. It is a health issue, a migration issue, an agriculture issue, a fisheries issue, an energy and transport issue. Because climate change is going to affect all these areas of our lives, and we are going to have to adapt.” - Jose Manuel Barroso, * Statistics play an important role in providing information about the various ways in which climate change affects us *SPEECH/09/401

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies Climate Change Mitigation Mitigation in the climate change context is defined as: “implementing policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance sinks” (IPCC Glossary*) The most significant part of the effort is directed towards the abatement (i.e. reduction) of GHG emissions The EU has international commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC to reduce its emissions by about 8% compared to 1990 levels for the period The EU has also set a target of 20% reduction of emissions by 2020, rising to 30% if other industrialised countries also reduce emissions, endorsed in the Europe 2020 Strategy *

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies Monitoring of emissions The methodology for calculating the emissions is devised internationally by the IPCC and set out in EU legislation in the Monitoring Mechanism Decision 280/2004 The emissions are calculated in many cases on the basis of existing official statistics, for example:  energy statistics (combustion of fuels)  waste statistics and water statistics (e.g. solid municipal waste in landfills and wastewater handling)  agriculture statistics (livestock, land use) In addition, to shed light on various driving forces behind emissions, in particular when looking at a sectoral approach, official statistics can be used in other areas:  transport statistics  economic statistics (incl. GDP)  research and development statistics

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies The role of Eurostat for mitigation Supporting policy-makers by providing high-quality underlying data for understanding the developments in GHG emissions and the Reference Approach on emissions from energy Providing additional data on influencing factors, which can be used for analyses (e.g. on intensity, efficiency, dependency, etc.) Providing Air Emissions Accounts (residence vs. territory principle) on a breakdown by economic activity Providing additional input for analyses through the use of environmentally-extended input-output tables for the “consumer perspective”, factoring in “embedded” emissions from trade, thus addressing the issue of “carbon leakage” Providing publications that disseminate the relevant data and raise awareness on the issue

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies Implications for Environmental Accounts Identifying mitigation expenditure on the basis of existing modules (EPE and RUM) and classifications (CEPA):  How much of the environmental protection expenditure is dedicated to climate change mitigation?

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies Climate Change Adaptation Adaptation in the climate change context is defined as “initiatives and measures to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems against actual or expected climate change effects” (IPCC Glossary*) Adaptation is not as easy to pinpoint as mitigation because it concerns potential threats and impacts whose precise occurrence in time as well as degree of severity may not be easy to predict with 100% certainty Adaptation is considered in terms of three elements: impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptation actions/measures The EU has issued a White Paper on Adaptation (COM/2009/147) outlining the main threats, justifying action at EU level and proposing main objectives and actions. *

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies Reporting on Adaptation Under the UNFCCC all Parties must make every effort to adopt national adaptation strategies and to report to the Convention on measures taken DG CLIMA envisages creating new reporting requirements on adaptation under the MM Decision, covering three main aspects: - impacts - vulnerabilities - adaptation measures

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies The role of Eurostat for Adaptation Supporting the development of the knowledge base by participating in the setting up of the Clearinghouse Mechanism (main stakeholders are DG CLIMA, the EEA and the JRC) Providing any background data that could feed into indicators on impacts, vulnerability and measures

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies Implications for Environmental Accounts Identifying adaptation expenditure, developed as part of or separately from the module on Environmental protection expenditure (EPE):  How much of the environmental protection expenditure is dedicated to climate change adaptation?  In which areas/themes?

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies The Members of the Woking Group are invited to: Consider and react to Eurostat’s proposals for: Identifying climate change mitigation expenditure within existing classifications and modules Identifying adaptation expenditure Setting up a task force to look into the two issues further Share their national experiences with climate change related statistics, in particular with regard to policy requests for similar statistics as well as pilot studies conducted

29-Mar-2011The role of Eurostat in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies Thank you! Photo taken from