Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

storage); adaptation (such as flood management plans); or resource-management such as water (forwhich energy use, carbon reduction, and adaptation are important, for example, along with thecomplex interactions between climate change and its impact on supply/demand for water andecosystem functions and biodiversity). For such PPs, and for PPs with more generic objectives (suchas urban development plans), it is important that their SEAs assess these links.3.1.1 Climate change mitigation — overview of current status, trends and policyresponsesCurrent status, trends and key driversMany studies have been carried out into how to assess the current status, trends and key drivers forGHG emissions, and they provide a useful background. See Mitigating climate change — SOER 2010thematic assessment (EEA, 2010) 9 and other documents listed in the Annex 1 to this guidance for anoverview.Policy responseIn March 2007, 10 the EU Heads of State and Government endorsed an integrated approach toclimate and energy policy that aims to combat climate change and increase the EU’s energy securitywhile strengthening its competitiveness. They set a series of demanding climate and energy targetsto be met by 2020, known as the ‘20-20-20’ targets (see‘20-20-20’ climate and energybox left).targetsWith its Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon• A reduction in EU GHG emissions of economy in 2050, the European Commission has lookedat least 20 % below 1990 levels;beyond these short-term objectives and set out a costeffectivepathway for reducing domestic emissions by 80• 20 % of EU energy consumption tocome from renewable resources;to 95 % by mid-century. The Roadmap identifies• 20 % reduction in primary energy usecompared with projected levels, to milestones and provides guidance on how to move to abe achieved by improving energyclimate-friendly, low carbon economy in the most efficientefficiency.way.Table 3 below summarises the key aspects of international and EU climate change mitigation policy.Table 3: Key aspects of climate change mitigation policyPolicy responseObjectives and targetsUnited Nation FrameworkConvention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC)• UNFCCC seeks to reduce international GHG emissions by setting national level targetsbased on the concept of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’. This means thatnations which have emitted the majority of GHGs up to now should seek to reduce GHGsat a greater rate.UNFCCC’s Kyoto Protocol • Under the UNFCCC’s Kyoto Protocol, 15 Member States of the EU (‘EU-15’) decided on acollective target of reducing GHG emissions by 8 % relative to 1990 levels between 2008and 2012 (Member State emission targets are differentiated under an EU burden-sharingdecision). The other Member States have similar targets, with the exception of Cyprusand Malta.• The EU-15 are well on track to meeting their target. Preliminary EEA estimates indicatethat they reduced their emissions by 14.1 % below base-year levels by 2011. 119 http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/europe/mitigating-climate-change.10 European Council, 8/9 March 2007.11 Approximated EU GHG inventory, http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/approximated-eu-ghg-inventory-201122 <strong>Guidance</strong> on integrating climate change and biodiversity into SEA
EU Climate and EnergyPackageRoadmap for moving to alow-carbon economy in2050• To meet the EU’s obligation under international law and in line with European ambition.Member States are required to:• Collectively reduce their combined GHG emissions in 2020 by at least 20 % compared to1990 levels. Note: the EU has offered to take on a 30 % target for 2020 if other majoremitters contribute adequately to global mitigation efforts.• Produce 20 % of their combined energy from renewable sources.• Improve energy efficiency to reduce primary energy use by 20 % compared with projectedlevels.• The collective EU target of reducing emissions by 20 % by 2020 is to be achieved by:o The EU Emissions Trading System, the backbone of the EU mitigation effort, whichsets a cap on emissions from the most polluting sectors, including over 11000factories, power plants and other installations, including airlines. By 2020, the capshould result in a 21 % reduction relative to 2005 levels. The EU ETS covers about40 % of all EU emissions.o The ‘effort sharing decision’, which operates outside the EU ETS and establishesannual binding GHG emission targets for individual Member States for the 2013-2020 period. These concern emissions from sectors such as waste, agriculture,buildings, etc.• The ‘20-20-20’ targets are supported by the long-term target of 85-90 % reduction in GHGemissions against 1990 levels by 2050.• The Roadmap looks beyond the 2020 targets and sets out a plan to meet the long-termtarget of reducing EU emissions by 80-95 % by 2050. The strategy takes a sectoralperspective, looking at how the heavy-emissions sectors such as power generation,transport, buildings and construction, industry and agriculture can make the transition toa low-carbon economy over the coming decades.Energy Roadmap 2050 • In the Energy Roadmap 2050, the EU explores the challenges posed by delivering the EU’sdecarbonisation objective, while at the same time ensuring security of energy supply andcompetitiveness.Flagship initiative for aresource-efficient Europe• It supports the shift to a resource-efficient, low-carbon economy to achieve sustainablegrowth. It provides a long-term framework for action to factor in resource efficiency in abalanced manner in many policy areas, including climate change, energy, transport,industry, agriculture, biodiversity and regional development.3.1.2 Climate change adaptation — overview of current status, trends and policyresponsesCurrent status, trends and key driversRegardless of the success of mitigation action, some degree of climate change is already ‘locked in’and we are feeling the effects of our changing climate already. Several studies have assessed thecurrent status, trends and key drivers for climate change and provide a useful background. SeeAdapting to climate change — SOER 2010 thematic assessment (EEA, 2010) 12 and the EuropeanClimate Adaptation Platform: CLIMATE-ADAPT, 13 as well as other documents listed in Annex 1 to this<strong>Guidance</strong>.Policy responseAdaptation involves adjusting our behaviour to limit harm and exploiting the beneficial opportunitiesarising from climate change. However, our level of preparedness, resilience and vulnerability are noteasily quantifiable, making it difficult to set hard and fast targets. But climate change mitigationtargets are more tangible. In the EU, the focus is on integrating (‘mainstreaming’) adaptation into allrelevant policies and instruments and facilitating effective, consistent adaptation action at national,regional and local levels. For example, the legislative proposals for the EU regional policy (2014-2020) include ex-ante conditionalities linked with climate change aspects, which need to be met by12 http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/europe/adapting-to-climate-change.13 http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/<strong>Guidance</strong> on integrating climate change and biodiversity into SEA 23
Page 1 and 2: Guidance on Integr
Page 3: ForewordThe need for action on clim
Page 6 and 7: GlossaryTermAdaptation(climate chan
Page 8 and 9: Mitigation (climatechange)Mitigatio
Page 10: HOW TO ADDRESS BOTH CLIMATE CHANGE
Page 13 and 14: guidance.Since it is the first such
Page 15 and 16: 2. Climate change and biodiversity
Page 17 and 18: 2.2.3 Resilience of a PP to a chang
Page 19 and 20: 2.3.2 Complexity of the issues and
Page 21: 3. Understanding climate change and
Page 25 and 26: • Under Article 6(3) of the Habit
Page 27 and 28: Table 5: Key aspects of biodiversit
Page 29 and 30: single biggest cause of biodiversit
Page 31 and 32: Engaging proactively with environme
Page 33 and 34: For climate change, in particular,
Page 35 and 36: 4.3 Identifying the key biodiversit
Page 37 and 38: 5. How to assess effects related to
Page 39 and 40: 5.2 Consider climate change scenari
Page 41 and 42: • Key areas that may be particula
Page 43 and 44: • aim for ‘no-net-loss’ of bi
Page 45 and 46: Flood regimes and extremerainfall e
Page 47 and 48: • Where possible, use causal chai
Page 49 and 50: This guidance document emphasises t
Page 51 and 52: Annex 1: Further readingThe policy
Page 53 and 54: Resource Paper: No Net Loss and Los
Page 55 and 56: Resource Manual to Support Applicat
Page 57 and 58: Annex 2: Sources of information on
Page 59 and 60: EmDATERA-NET ROAD —Coordination a
Page 61 and 62: GeneralData and Maps (EEA)EUROSTATE
Page 63 and 64: factorsEcosystembasedapproachesEcos
Page 65 and 66: to your PP area. Greenhouse Gas Imp
Page 67 and 68: stage, but may be extended intothe
Page 69 and 70: enefits for all; Political: discuss

Guidance on Integrating Climate Change and Biodiversity into ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?