The European Union and future climate policy: Is mainstreaming adaptation a distraction or part of the solution?

This article reviews the European Union’s stance and policies on climate change adaptation and argues that developing a coherent long-term European strategy on climate change post-2012 will require the European Union to focus more strongly on adaptation issues than has hitherto been the case. It suggests that the EU should examine the dissonance between its prescriptions for integrating adaptation within the EU with its prescriptions to developing countries to mainstream adaptation. The EU should avoid a carrot-and-stick approach to adaptation funding and should focus on identifying common institutional and learning challenges with developing countries.