Dr. Elisabeth Lipiatou, Head of Unit

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Research on global environmental change
contribution from the EC Framework Programme to
regional challenges and science-policy interface
Dr. Elisabeth Lipiatou, Head of Unit European
Commission, DG Research Directorate I
Environment Climate Change and Environmental
Risks Unit
Planet under pressure global changes, regional
challenges, Royal Swedish Academy of Science, 24
September 2009
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EC Framework Programme research

• Integrated research on the functioning of climate
  and the earth system, including the polar
  regions, to observe and analyse how these systems
  evolve and predict their future evolution.
• Study impacts and provide tools to analyse the
  effectiveness, costs and benefits of different
  policy options for mitigation and adaptation
• Improve existing climate-friendly technologies
  and developing the technologies of the future

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EC Framework Programme and global environmental
change research

• From 2003 to 2006, FP6 funded 280 projects in
  the activity Global Change and Ecosystems with a
  budget of 853 M.
• From 2007 to 2013, FP7 has a budget 1890 M for
  funding research on Environment (including
  Climate change)
• On Climate Research, since 2003, more than 134
  projects representing an overall budget of 543 M
  of EC financial support contributed to
• our knowledge on the climate and earth system
• the understanding of the impacts of climate
  change and
• the identification of options for mitigation and
  adaption including costs
• For information on EC-funded climate change
  research projectshttp//ec.europa.eu/research/en
  vironment/pdf/cop-15.pdf

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Establishing links with science-users
POLICY DEVELOPMENT

RESEARCH, SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS, POLICY INTEGRATION
DESIGN OF POLICY
POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
POLICY REVIEW
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Adaptation/mitigation Strategies Research
outputs
ADAM Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies
Supporting European Climate Policy
Key findings and achievements

• Development of portfolio of long-term policy
  options / scenarios that could contribute to the
  EUs 2C target and targets for adaptation
• 550 ppm means a 15 probability to reach the 2C
  target - with 450 ppm the probability is 50 -
  with 400 ppm 75
• Development of innovative mitigation and
  adaptation strategies
• Significant contribution to climate change policy
  developments through regular policy briefs
  (science-policy)
• Results highlighting that GHG emissions can be
  technically reduced in Europe by up to 80 by
  2050

24 partners from Europe, EC contribution of 12.9
M, end July 2009 International partners
China, India
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) is

• A key global science-policy interface
• It is the leading body for the assessment of
  climate change
• IPCC reports and assessments highly relevant for
  EU policy
• FP contributes to IPCC AR

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Climate research in time for the IPCC 5th AR
EC-funded research projects are managed to
deliver results in time for the IPCC 5th
ARExamples (a) ENSEMBLES Emission scenarios at
450ppm CO2eq (2009) CARBOOCEAN Future
CO2-uptake by oceans under various climate
conditions (2011) CCTAME impacts of
agricultural, climate, energy, forestry and other
associated land-use policies (2011)
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Climate research with global scope
International co-operation in FP7
Contributing states
FP7 is a research programme open to the world,
with a total 39 Countries
1 Albania 2 Austria 3 Belgium 4 Bosnia
Herzegovina 5 Bulgaria 6 Croatia 7 Cyprus 8
Czech Republic 9 Denmark 10 Estonia 11 Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 12 Finland 13
France 14 Germany 15 Greece 16 Hungary 17
Iceland 18 Ireland 19 Israel
20 Italy 21 Latvia 22 Liechtenstein 23
Lithuania 24 Luxembourg 25 Malta 26 Montenegro
27 Netherlands 28 Norway 29 Poland 30
Portugal 31 Romania 32 Serbia 33 Slovakia 34
Slovenia 34 Spain 36 Sweden 37 Switzerland 38
Turkey 39 United Kingdom

• Opening of the FP
• FP7 is open to participation of all countries of
  the world
• Funding of ICPC countries
• Two approaches
• Specific international co-operation actions
  (SICA) dedicated to developing countries and
  emerging economies
• INCO leveraging/supporting instruments
• International agreements
• Association to the FP
• ST cooperation agreements
• International Co-operation Partner Country (ICPC)

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CC impacts on water ressources New research
HIGHNOON Adaptation to changing water resources
availability in Northern India with Himalayan
glacier retreat and changing monsoon

• Assessment of impact of Himalayan glaciers
  retreat and possible changes of the Indian summer
  monsoon on the spatial and temporal distribution
  of water resources
• Recommendations for appropriate and efficient
  response strategies for adaptation
• Improvement of climate forecast skills at
  regional scale
• Integrate of socio-economic drivers in climate
  change studies

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2008
Glacier Shorong, Nepal
10 partners from Europe, EC contribution of 3.3
M, end May 2012 International partners India,
Japan
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Regional CC impacts on La Plata Basin
CLARIS LPB project Hydroclimate and Society in
La Plata Basin

• Contribution to the LPB Regional Hydroclimate
  Project
• Development of regional hydroclimate scenarios
  for climate impact studies, including land-use,
  hydropower, floods, river transportation,
  ecological systems for 2010-2040
• Designs of adaptation strategies for rural
  development in the most vulnerable areas

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CC impacts in the Artic
DAMOCLES Understanding Climate Change in the
Arctic by observing and modelling
First ever coupled downscaling of global
scenarios for the Arctic
Arctic summer sea ice extent in global and
downscaling models. Different regionalization
indicate uncertainty due to Arctic variability
rapid change events occur in the regional model
Tara expedition

• Highlighting continuing negative trend of ice
  cover
• Arctic sea ice is getting thinner as well as
  receding
• Large pool of freshwater pilling up in the Arctic
  ocean with release risks in the Fram strait

44 partners from Europe, EC contribution of 16.1
M, end December 2009 International partners
Russia
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Achievements of EC research

• Activities undertaken at EC level on
• Climate Research, significantly contributed to
• structuring of the European Research Area
• ensuring contributions from European research
  teams to international research programs (i.e.
  WCRP, IGBP) and assessments on climate change
  (IPCC)
• involving non-EC partners, in particular
  researchers from developing countries.
• For a large set of environmental issues,
  research at the EC or international level is seen
  by researchers as most relevant.

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Climate research in time for the IPCC 5th AR
EC-funded research projects are managed to
deliver results in time for the IPCC 5th
ARExamples (a) ENSEMBLES Emission scenarios at
450ppm CO2eq (2009) CARBOOCEAN Future
CO2-uptake by oceans under various climate
conditions (2011) CCTAME impacts of
agricultural, climate, energy, forestry and other
associated land-use policies (2011)
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Conclusions

• EU-funded research establishes close links with
  international policy developments
• At EU level, direct support to policy
  developments and implementation with
  participation of policy-makers and stakeholders
  in research consortia and involvement of
  scientists in policy discussions
• At international level, Europe carry out
  worldwide and multidisciplinary research on
  climate change

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• Need for strengthening the efficient transfer of
  research knowledge to policy-makers
• On the communication of uncertainties to
  policy-makers, the research community could
  contribute by strengthening their activities on
  the description of scientific uncertainties. The
  IPCC did some valuable contribution to this issue
  but more interaction between scientists and
  socio-economists are required for the provision
  of common agreed concepts and metrics on
  uncertainties of relevance to policy-making
• Interactions and transfer of knowledge between
  research teams involved in global modeling,
  regional modeling, impact models, economic models
  and integrated assessment models are particularly
  needed
• Need for continous support of integrated climate
  research

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Thank you very much for your attention More
info on http//ec.europa.eu/research