OECD Green Talks LIVE- Measuring progress on adaptation_September 2024

OECD Green Talks LIVE | Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate
3 September 2024 14:00-15:00 (CEST)

To better address the impacts from climate change, OECD countries are increasingly making climate change adaptation a policy priority. Assessing progress in the implementation of national adaptation policies is a critical step in understanding how adaptation efforts contribute to strengthening climate resilience, and whether they are effective.

How has experience in adaptation policy design and implementation evolved? What are the remaining challenges for countries in measuring progress?

This OECD Green Talks LIVE convened a discussion with OECD and country experts on Measuring Progress in Adapting to a Changing Climate. Building on a cross-country survey and country case studies carried out in Chile, Korea, the Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom, the talk will focus on a new OECD report, which provides insights into current practices in measuring climate adaptation. It proposes a framework that can guide countries on what needs to be measured and how, and also discusses the role that adaptation indicators and a conducive institutional environment can play in strengthening adaptation measurement.

We were joined by OECD policy analyst Mikaela Rambali, as well as climate change adaptation policy expert Gladys Santis from the Ministry of Environment, Chile, the Climate Change Committee adaptation team’s Lead Analyst Miriam Kennedy, and Hoon Chang, Director General at the Korea Environment Institute.

Read the report: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/measuring-progress-in-adapting-to-a-changing-climate_8cfe45af-en.html

Watch the Green Talks LIVE replay: https://youtu.be/mJI1OyuuoqA

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Measuring progress
in adapting to a
changing climate
Report findings
3 September 2024
Mikaela Rambali
Policy analyst, Climate Change Adaptationand
Resilience Team, OECD Environment Directorate

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OVERVIEW OF OECD ADAPTATION POLICIES & MEASUREMENT
Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 2
All OECD countries have a national adaptation policy...
…which includes a
section on how to
track and evaluate
progress
Half of OECD
countries
develop regular
progress or
evaluation
reports

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BUT WHAT DO THEY TELL US….?
Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 3
•Theadaptation gapis growing
•Countries are scaling-up their adaptation engagements
•Climate risk assessments show thatadaptation efforts must
acceleratein light of future climate impacts
•Despite the increasing number of objectives and targets in NAPs,
countries struggle to demonstrate progress towards them:
•Data and information requirements to grasp progress are
significant
•Aggregating information from different data owners and
levels is challenging…
•… as is demonstrating clear links between policy action and
resilience building

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HOW DO COUNTRIES
MEASURE PROGRESS ON
ADAPTATION?

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1. COUNTRIES ARE IMPROVING THEIR BASELINES
Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 5
… WITH MORE REGULAR AND UPDATED CLIMATE RISK ASSESSMENTS
Observed hazards
Gaps in assessing exposureand
vulnerability
Gaps in documenting observed
climate impacts
Survey results
•81% of responding countries
develop national or sectoral
climate risk assessment,
varying in terms coverage and
quality

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2. COUNTRY OBJECTIVES REMAIN DIFFICULT TO MEASURE
Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 6
Survey results
•Objectives are often genericand not specific
enough to be measurable
“Reduce vulnerability and improve the adaptive
capacity of ecologic, social and economic
systems towards the unavoidable impacts of
climate change”
•Only a few countries include a timeframefor all
its objectives
•83% of survey respondents are engaged in
indicatorsdevelopment, but about 30% use
them

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Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 7
Be specific (sector, geographic
area, type of actions)
Reflect key climate risks
Set baseline and timeframe
for achieving the objective
…identified in 2020 by 2030 as far as possible.”
Source: OECD report and Defra (2023) National Adaptation Programme 2023: Annex 1: Climate Risk and Opportunities.
“Minimise fatalities and major disruption from climate change-driven
increases in river, surface water and groundwater flooding…
…in the transport network…
Establish a pyramid showing
how actions aim to contribute
to overall objectives
High-level objectives
Targets
Objectives Halt the decline in species
abundance by 2030 by reducing
risks to species and habitat
Restoring 75% of terrestrial and freshwater sites
to favourable condition by 2042
Become a
climate-resilient
country
2. COUNTRY OBJECTIVES REMAIN DIFFICULT TO MEASURE

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3. COUNTRIES ARE TRACKING POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 8
… WITH MORE INFORMATION COLLECTED ON POLICIES IMPLEMENTED
Resources engaged
“Annual expenditure for flood
defences”
➢Ambition to measure the
resources (e.g. budgets and
staff) engaged for adaptation
actions
➢Difficult due to lack of resources
tagging
Direct results
“Physical measures, regulations or
plans implemented”
➢Common practice to measure
direct results
➢Increasing number of tracking
tools (UK & France track 253 and
240 Nap actions, respectively)

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4. COUNTRIES ARE FINDING WAYS TO FILL GAPS
Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 9
Theory of Change
Expert consultation
Quantitative impact
evaluation
To collect expert’s feedback to establish attribution
effects
Statistically assess the effect of a policy action… But
at the project level
To link and map out how the engaged resources
enable and contribute to the outcomes
… AS THE IMPACT OF POLICYACTION IS RARELY MEASURED

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5. COUNTRIES ARE STRENGTHENING THEIR FRAMEWORK
Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 10
… BUT TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES ARE NOT ALWAYS APPROPRIATE NOR
SUFFICIENT TO MEASURE PROGRESS
Survey results
•An increasing number of countries anchor
adaptation measurement in their climate
laws
•A range of institutions and organisations
are involved in adaptation measurement

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Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 11
•Adaptation measurement results can
reinforce accountabilityand transparency, as
well as increase the efficiencyof resources
deployed for adaptation.
…TO USETHE RESULTS OF ADAPTATION MEASUREMENT TO INFORM POLICY DECISIONS
Survey results
•Although a large share of
respondents say the results
inform policy making (e.g.
through dissemination among
policy-makers), the lessons
learned are not always clear
5. COUNTRIES ARE STRENGTHENING THEIR FRAMEWORK

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THE NEED FOR STRONGER ADAPTATION MEASUREMENT
Measuring progress in adapting to a changing climate © OECD 2024 12
→CONTINUE TO IMPROVE
THE BASELINES
→SET CLEARER OBJECTIVES
→BUILD CONDUCIVE
INSTITUTIONAL
ARRANGEMENTS
With examples from OECD countries and in-depth case studies
from the United Kingdom, Chile, Koreaand the Slovak Republic
→CONTINUE TO TRACK
IMPLEMENTATION
→EXPLORE WAYS TO ASSESS
POLICY IMPACTS
→USE ADAPTATION
MEASUREMENT RESULTS FOR
FUTURE POLICY MAKING

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For more information
www.oecd.org/en/topics/enabling-
climate-adaptation
[email protected]
(Policy Analyst)
[email protected]
(Communications Coordinator)
@OECD_ENV
OECD Environment
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