Development of a service to support the adaptation to climate change (KlimAdapt) by extending the knowledge base, specification and implementation support

The German Federal Government declared in its progress report on the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change to establish an overall offer for the provision of climate and climate adaptation services. This initiative is also expressed in the Adaptation Action Plan II (APA II) of the Federal Government. The new offer will comprise regularly updated and publicly available data, information, consulting services and instruments on climate change adaptation. For this purpose, a web platform, communication strategy and complementary services will be developed.

The IÖW supports in cooperation with ecolo and Torsten Grothmann the Competence Centre on Climate Impacts and Adaptation (KomPass) in the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in setting up this offer. Hereby the focus lays only on climate adaption services. As a first step, the project team will review existing climate adaptation services through an assessment focusing on previously defined quality criteria. At the same time, the project team will identify major target groups as well as key users and multiplier organizations. Also it will survey present and future needs of (potential) users. Within the project, a network of providers and users of climate adaptation services will be established, too. This shall promote the exchange among the network partners in order to further develop the offer of the Federal Government. For that, several network events and two conferences will take place within the project duration. Other project components comprise – beside the set-up of the web platform and the support of communication activities – the evaluation and further development of ongoing project activities as well as the development of a knowledge management system. Essential basis for a large share of this work are already gained findings and experiences of previous project activities within the project ‘Participation Process DAS’.

The overall coordination of the provided offer will be given to the Competence Centre on Climate Impacts and Adaptation within the Federal Environment Agency, under the leadership of the Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). This means the continuous and routinely provision of information and tools, which shall facilitate planning and investment decisions with regard to the consequences of climate change. The same refers to the implementation of appropriate adaptation measures by federal states, municipalities, associations, companies as well as citizens.

Furthermore, the linkage with the future development of the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change will take place via the ‘Interministerial Working Group on Adaptation Strategy’ (IMAA).