Climate change requires adaptation measures in multiple areas, including, among others, the energy sector. At a stakeholder workshop, Max Grünig, Fellow at Ecologic Institute Berlin, presented a methodology for assessing costs and benefits of such measures.
The German federal government is currently developing an “adaptation action plan”. As a result, the various departments of the federal government are approaching the challenges of climate change and attempting to assess the costs and benefits of potential adaptation measures.
The Ecologic Institute is developing a methodology for the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) which specifically takes into consideration environmental costs and benefits. Max Grünig presented this approach [pdf, 458 kB, German] during a stakeholder workshop of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) on 23 September 2010 in Berlin.
The methodology proposed by the Ecologic Institute is based on two stages:
- Primary estimation of costs and benefits based on literature research and expert interviews
- Detailed cost-benefit-assessment for measures which are particularly suited or urgent, or where sufficient information is lacking
The workshop was part of the project "climate change adaptation measures of the German economy", commissioned by the BMWi and is being implemented by the Wuppertal Institute and Prognos AG.
Further Links:
- Ecologic Institute Project: Economics of climate change: costs and benefits of adaptation measures for climate change
- Ecologic Institute Project: Climate change — water scenarios, impacts & adaptation measures
- Ecologic Institute Project: Costs, benefts and limitations of adaptation measures in Germany