Climate change mitigation: what's the cost for Europe?
As the first signs of global warming become apparent, public discussion is evolving from whether or not climate change exists through to how to cope with it. Despite this transition, computer models remain an important tool in guiding decision-making. In fact, scientists are now combining climate models with economic land-use models and biophysical models to assess mitigation and adaptation strategies. This research is being funded by the EU in the framework of the 'Climate change – terrestrial adaptation and mitigation in Europe' (CCTAME ) project. Work has been carried out to link the different models together in a cluster with the aim of addressing previous weaknesses concerning land use and policymaking. Several scenarios have also been designed to examine the impact of a variety of climate change, energy, agricultural and forestry policies. Examples include initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, particularly from agriculture, and the promotion of biofuels as a replacement for fossil fuels. The next step in CCTAME involves reviewing the regional simulation results together with Member States. Emphasis has been placed on assessing the cost of mitigating climate change in the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector. This work may also help refine Europe's position in climate talks in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
