Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DISTENDER (DevelopIng STratEgies by integrating mitigatioN, aDaptation and participation to climate changE Risks)
Période du rapport: 2022-06-01 au 2023-05-31
Actions related with climate change (CC) emphasize the urgent need to develop policies that prioritize both climate mitigation and adaptation efforts to effectively address the negative impacts of CC. One significant challenge to achieving effective integration of both lies in the differences in policy objectives across multiple scales, which lead to a dichotomy between the two approaches. DISTENDER, as a solution-oriented project, aims to build a methodological framework combining top-down and bottom-up approaches that guides the integration. A holistic approach is crucial and must be tailored to the context-specific situation. This requires a flexible and participatory planning process that considers socio-economic conditions and anticipated future climate conditions. To ensure the effectiveness of climate action plans, they must be based on scientific evidence, one of the main goals of DISTENDER is to respond specifically to the impacts and risks of CC at local levels, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand interactions, synergies, and trade-offs.
To facilitate the replication process, DISTENDER will develop a generalized and adaptable Decision Support System (DSS). This DSS will offer a transferable set of information sources that support the integration of adaptation and mitigation actions into practice. It will assist decision-makers in organizing and visualizing information, analyzing potential trade-offs and synergies, and ultimately selecting optimal strategies and ranking options. The DISTENDER DSS will be a common platform to stakeholders to develop EU data driven strategies using participatory processes.
Social Science and Humanities (SSH) play a crucial role in the DISTENDER project, bringing a deep understanding of the social dimension of climate scenarios and strategies. They are actively involved from the initial phase of the project, improving stakeholder engagement and developing scenarios. SSH researchers examine how climate policies and measures influence society, and the project will implement social evaluation to measure the impact of climate strategies on citizens, stakeholders, and policymakers.
The outcomes of DISTENDER will be valuable for policymakers and decision-makers in implementing more effective climate change (CC) policies. They will gain a better understanding of the costs, benefits, risks, and uncertainties associated with both adaptation and mitigation strategies, enabling them to select the best pathways to address CC impacts. DISTENDER will enable any city or region in Europe to plan integrated strategies through a common process. These strategies, co-created and aligned with climate policies, will have a positive impact on citizens' behavior, health, and well-being while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
To facilitate the replication process, DISTENDER will develop a generalized and adaptable Decision Support System (DSS). This DSS will offer a transferable set of information sources that support the integration of adaptation and mitigation actions into practice. It will assist decision-makers in organizing and visualizing information, analyzing potential trade-offs and synergies, and ultimately selecting optimal strategies and ranking options. The DISTENDER DSS will be a common platform to stakeholders to develop EU data driven strategies using participatory processes.
Social Science and Humanities (SSH) play a crucial role in the DISTENDER project, bringing a deep understanding of the social dimension of climate scenarios and strategies. They are actively involved from the initial phase of the project, improving stakeholder engagement and developing scenarios. SSH researchers examine how climate policies and measures influence society, and the project will implement social evaluation to measure the impact of climate strategies on citizens, stakeholders, and policymakers.
The outcomes of DISTENDER will be valuable for policymakers and decision-makers in implementing more effective climate change (CC) policies. They will gain a better understanding of the costs, benefits, risks, and uncertainties associated with both adaptation and mitigation strategies, enabling them to select the best pathways to address CC impacts. DISTENDER will enable any city or region in Europe to plan integrated strategies through a common process. These strategies, co-created and aligned with climate policies, will have a positive impact on citizens' behavior, health, and well-being while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The main achievements during the first twelve months of the project are:
Setup case studies: each of the five Core Case Studies (CCSs) has already been defined and the preferences of the six CS followers as to which CCSs they will primarily focus on have been determined. Also, CCSs have provided the data needed for the DISTENDER tools and models that will be applied over the CCS.
Stakeholder engagement: Aa crucial step has been taken by selecting the first set of stakeholders for each CCS. This selection process involves identifying key individuals, organizations, and groups who have a direct interest or influence in the project and its outcomes. By involving them from the early stages, the project ensures that the outcomes reflect the diverse needs, priorities, and aspirations of the relevant actors. DISTENDER framework for stakeholder involvement is setup.
Develop local climate scenarios with statistical downscaling techniques: The climate scenarios for each CCS have already been produced. The data generated through this method will serve as input data for the sectoral models which will calculate the impacts of the CC.
Setup case studies: each of the five Core Case Studies (CCSs) has already been defined and the preferences of the six CS followers as to which CCSs they will primarily focus on have been determined. Also, CCSs have provided the data needed for the DISTENDER tools and models that will be applied over the CCS.
Stakeholder engagement: Aa crucial step has been taken by selecting the first set of stakeholders for each CCS. This selection process involves identifying key individuals, organizations, and groups who have a direct interest or influence in the project and its outcomes. By involving them from the early stages, the project ensures that the outcomes reflect the diverse needs, priorities, and aspirations of the relevant actors. DISTENDER framework for stakeholder involvement is setup.
Develop local climate scenarios with statistical downscaling techniques: The climate scenarios for each CCS have already been produced. The data generated through this method will serve as input data for the sectoral models which will calculate the impacts of the CC.
Among the activities carried out in this first reporting period, we would highlight the following results as being beyond the state of the art:
The production for the first time of 3D local climate data with high and multiple spatial (100m, 500m, 1km, 3km and 9km)) and temporal resolution (hourly and daily) using statistical downscaling techniques, including parametric quantile mapping to upper-level atmospheric variables. High volume of information about local climate projection have been produced: 111,606 hourly-resolution files + 52,866 daily-resolution files (more than 16Tb). Specifically, four global climate scenarios have been downscaled: SSP585, SSP370, SSP245 and SSP126 for the five CCS produced by 3 representatives from 10 CMIP6 models:
- Canadian Earth System Model 5 (canESM5), highest sensitive climate model.
- Max Plank Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM), lowest sensitive climate model.
- EC-EARTH3, medium sensitive climate model.
The detailed information about the climate projections will be used as inputs by the climate change impact assessment models. These are key elements together with the participatory processes in the project in order to be able to evaluate possible adaptation and mitigation strategies in an integrated way and to know the positive and negative interactions between the strategies. The climate scenarios will be combined with local socio-economic scenarios that will be obtained through participatory methods.
The production for the first time of 3D local climate data with high and multiple spatial (100m, 500m, 1km, 3km and 9km)) and temporal resolution (hourly and daily) using statistical downscaling techniques, including parametric quantile mapping to upper-level atmospheric variables. High volume of information about local climate projection have been produced: 111,606 hourly-resolution files + 52,866 daily-resolution files (more than 16Tb). Specifically, four global climate scenarios have been downscaled: SSP585, SSP370, SSP245 and SSP126 for the five CCS produced by 3 representatives from 10 CMIP6 models:
- Canadian Earth System Model 5 (canESM5), highest sensitive climate model.
- Max Plank Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM), lowest sensitive climate model.
- EC-EARTH3, medium sensitive climate model.
The detailed information about the climate projections will be used as inputs by the climate change impact assessment models. These are key elements together with the participatory processes in the project in order to be able to evaluate possible adaptation and mitigation strategies in an integrated way and to know the positive and negative interactions between the strategies. The climate scenarios will be combined with local socio-economic scenarios that will be obtained through participatory methods.