Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe ... - MemoFin.fr

Indicator and data needs6 Indicator and data needsKey messages• For many indicators of past climate change and climate change impacts in Europe improvements in dataare needed (e.g. to extend the length of time series and the geographical coverage).• Enhanced monitoring is needed of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) relevant for adaptation, both fromin situ stations and using satellites and there is also a need for further reanalysis of European climatedata.• Enhanced monitoring is also needed of climate change impacts in Europe on environmental systems,socio‐economic systems and health, and of costs of damages of extreme weather events.• Climate change impacts indicators are only to a very limited extent included within existing andemerging European thematic and sectoral indicator sets, but this should be considered in futureimprovements of these indicator sets.• Currently, indicators in this report are based on EU-wide research and/or global databases. For manyindicators this could continue in the future while some selected indicators may in the future be based ondirect data collected from member countries, for example through the Climate-ADAPT platform and/orthrough reporting of indicators by Member States to the European Commission and the EEA.• Improved comparability of climate change impact indicators may be achieved if consistent andcomparable methods and data would be implemented across EEA member countries.• Future EU research on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation is expected to increase,which can help improve the coverage and quality of European-wide indicators.IntroductionThis chapter covers the existing indicatorframeworks at EU level and thematic and sectoralindicator sets and shows that these have includedclimate change and climate change impacts only to avery limited extent.The chapter also summarises the existing andplanned improvements of observation systemsfor ECVs and the role of Global Monitoring forEnvironment and Security (GMES). It shows thatenhanced monitoring of ECVs, both from in situstations and using satellites, is needed.Finally, the chapter provides a short overviewof climate change impacts, vulnerability andadaptation research activities in Europe. Althoughmuch research has been done, further research willbe needed, through Horizon 2020, the EU financialinstrument on future research and innovation. Itis expected that around 35 % of the Horizon 2020budget will be climate-related expenditure, which isfor mitigation and adaptation together.6.1 Policy needs for indicators6.1.1 Indicator frameworks at EU levelIn the EU a number of indicator sets exist or arebeing developed for various policy purposes. Theseinitiatives do not yet explicitly take climate changeimpact, vulnerability and adaptation (CC IVA)aspects into account, although the indicator globaltemperature increase is included in a few sets (eitheras contextual or as key indicator). Here some of themain policy and related indicator developments arepresented that are expected to have an influence onthe future development of more specific indicatorson CC IVA.The focus of this chapter is on data and indicatorson past and present climate change and its impacts.Vulnerability, usually focusing on future projectionsand scenarios, was addressed in Chapter 5, whilethe introduction mentioned the importance ofsocio‐economic scenarios within vulnerabilityassessments.Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012237