APAT – Climate change impacts in Italy and adaptation policies

The research project aims to assess the socio-economic impacts of climate change and analyse the costs/benefits of adaptation strategies in specific areas at risk in Italy

Duration
6 months from 01/06/2007 to 01/11/2007
Funded by
  • ISPRA - Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale

CMCC Scientific Leader
CMCC Project manager
CMCC Institutes

CMCC Divisions

General aims

The research project aim was to assess the socio-economic impacts of climate change and analyse the costs / benefits of adaptation strategies in specific areas at risk in Italy, particularly in areas at (i) deglaciation risk , (ii) hydrogeological risk, ( iii) desertification risk and (iv) in the areas at risk of coastal erosion / flooding, placing particular emphasis on the methodologies to be used for a proper economic evaluation.

Thanks to this information, the project has drafted an assessment of the overall national macroeconomic impacts, with a particular focus on changes in international trade flows brought by climate change.


CMCC Role

Drafting of eight scientific reports on socio-economic impacts of climate change and on related adaptation strategies, in collaboration with APAT (Agenzia per la Protezione dell’Ambiente e per i Servizi Tecnici – now ISPRA), within the framework of the National Conference on Climate Change (NCCC), sponsored by the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and organized by APAT on 12-13 September 2007.


Expected results

The results of the study have been collected in different scientific reports on the evaluation of the impacts of climate change and were presented in both the preparatory workshops to the National Conference and in the second day of the plenary of the NCCC:

      • Le Zone Alpine Italiane: Implicazioni economiche del cambiamento climatico e strategie di adattamento. Saint-Vincent, 2-3 July 2007
      • La dimensione socio-economica, i costi dell’inazione e le strategie di adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici sul sistema italiano idrogeologico. Napoli, 9-10 July 2007
      • La desertificazione, i costi dell’inazione e la valutazione delle opzioni di adattamento al cambiamento climatico. Alghero, 21-22 June 2007
      • Impatti del cambiamento climatico sulle zone costiere: Quantificazione economica di impatti e di misure di adattamento – sintesi di risultati e indicazioni metodologiche per la ricerca futura, con una appendice su “Valutazione degli impatti del cambiamento climatico in aree costiere italiane: tre casi studio a confronto”. Palermo, 27-28 June 2007
      • Gli impatti degli eventi estremi idrogeologici sulla vita umana: aspetti metodologici per la valutazione dei costi e delle politiche di intervento. Rome, 25 June 2007
      • Gli impatti macroeconomici del cambiamento climatico sui vari settori economici e sul commercio internazionale con un modello di equilibrio generale. Rome, 13 September 2007, Rome, CNCC plenary

The results of this project have lastly been published by Il Mulino in December 2008 in the book (eds. Carlo Carraro): Cambiamenti climatici e strategie di adattamento in Italia. Una valutazione economica. Collana “Ambiente e Sviluppo”.


Activity
  • Contextualisation and application to the Italian territory of the IPCC scenarios with regard to socio-economic vulnerability of areas at deglaciation risk, hydrogeological risk, desertification risk and coastal erosion risk;
  • Quantitative evaluation of the costs of inaction in areas at risk due to the impacts of climate change on water resources, biodiversity, agriculture, productive activities and health;
  • Quantitative evaluation of the costs of adaptation to climate change with a dynamic analysis of adaptive capacity of different socio-economic systems, disaggregated by sector and areas at risk on a national scale;
  • Economic assessment of impacts in terms of general economic equilibrium (ie, taking into account the effects of structural changes induced by climate change and adaptation measures);
  • Definition of an approach for cost benefit analysis of the interventions needed to implement adapatation policies.

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