European Development Policy and Climate Change

Developing countries are expected to be most severely affected by the impacts of climate change, in terms of physical impacts such as increased severity of droughts and floods and in terms of potential adverse effects of policy measures taken by developed countries to mitigate climate change, such as renewable energy and carbon trading policies. The task of factoring these implications into development co-operation is proving far from straightforward and it poses new problems for the development co-operation agenda. The EU has started linking these two agendas through initiatives such as the EU Action Plan on Climate Change and Development (2004) and more recently the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA). EDC2020 will support policy makers by analysing the linkages in key policy areas to help inform future policy processes. The objectives include:

  1. To synthesise the evidence base on climate change and EU development policy in key areas of climate change and development programming and to map out possible future influences on these policy areas.
  2. To understand drivers, connections and disconnects between climate change policy and development at EU level, while taking into account international initiatives and initiatives in developing countries.
  3. To use the understanding of drivers, trade-offs and different perspectives to inform future policy processes and priorities for action in the EU.

Leo Peskett (ODI) project associate conducting research on climate change, stressed:

“Climate change is now high on the European policy agenda. Much of the effort is domestically focussed, for example dealing with emissions from European countries through setting greenhouse gas targets and getting the EU emissions trading system to work. But climate change issues are working their way into European development policies...What might climate change mean for current and future  policies in areas such as agriculture, trade, disasters and risk reduction and humanitarian assistance?”

Involved consortium partners

Project partner co-ordinating this research area: Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Leo Peskett
Project partners involved in this research area: ODI, IDS, DIE

Leo Peskett, Research Fellow at the Climate Change, Environment and  Forests Programme at ODI
Neil Bird, Research Fellow at the Climate Change, Environment and  Forests Programme at ODI
Natasha Grist, Research Fellow at the Forests, Environment and Climate Change Programme at ODI
Merylyn Hedger, Research Fellow at the Vulnerability and Poverty Team at IDS
Imme Scholz, Vice Director and Head of Department on Environmental Policy and Management of Natural Resources at DIE
Erik Lundsgaarde, Research Fellow at the Department for Bi- and Multilateral Development Cooperation at DIE

Workshop on Climate Change Challenges for European Development Co-operation

On 22 April 2009 ODI, IDS and DIE jointly organise a one-day workshop in Brussels. The workshop focuses on "European Devleopment Co-operation to 2020: Can Europea meet climate change challenges for development co-operation?"

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Related work at the consortium partners' institutes and other EADI members

Climate Change / Environment, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)

Environmental Policy and Management of Natural Resources, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut fuer Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Climate Change and the Environment, Overseas Development Institute (ODI)

European Programme, Society for International Development (SID)

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EDC 2020 publications on climate change