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Portfolio screening to support the mainstreaming of adaptation to climate change into development assistance

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Abstract

The need to mainstream adaptation to climate change into development planning and ongoing sectoral decision-making is increasingly recognised, and several bilateral and multilateral development agencies are starting to take an interest. Over the past years at least six development agencies have screened their project portfolios, generally with two goals in mind: (1) to ascertain the extent to which existing development projects already consider climate risks or address vulnerability to climate variability and change, and (2) to identify opportunities for incorporating climate change explicitly into future projects. As each portfolio screening was conducted independently, the broader lessons emerging from the screenings have not been systematically analysed. In this paper we assess the screening activities to date, focusing on both the results and the methods applied. Based on this assessment we identify opportunities for development agencies to expand their current focus on the links between climate and development. Most agencies already consider climate change as a real but uncertain threat to future development, but they have given less thought to how different development patterns might affect vulnerability to climate change. The screenings undertaken have shown the need to take a comprehensive approach to adaptation and its integration into development planning and sectoral decision-making, and a number of policy initiatives have been taken to promote such integration. We provide some initial guidance as to how portfolio screening can be carried out in a way that would allow agencies to assess systematically the relevance of climate change to their ongoing and planned development projects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stockholm Environment Institute, Kräftriket 2B, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Richard J. T. Klein

  2. Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1096, Blindern, Oslo, 0317, Norway

    Siri E. H. Eriksen & Karen L. O’Brien

  3. Center for International Climate and Environment Research Oslo, P.O. Box 1129 Blindern, 0318, Oslo, Norway

    Lars Otto Næss

  4. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Lars Otto Næss

  5. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 9 Chemin de Balexert, 1219, Châtelaine, Geneva, Switzerland

    Anne Hammill

  6. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Thomas M. Tanner

  7. Intercooperation, P.O. Box 6724, 3001, Berne, Switzerland

    Carmenza Robledo

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  1. Richard J. T. Klein
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  2. Siri E. H. Eriksen
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  3. Lars Otto Næss
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  4. Anne Hammill
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  5. Thomas M. Tanner
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  6. Carmenza Robledo
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  7. Karen L. O’Brien
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Correspondence to Richard J. T. Klein.

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Klein, R.J.T., Eriksen, S.E.H., Næss, L.O. et al. Portfolio screening to support the mainstreaming of adaptation to climate change into development assistance. Climatic Change 84, 23–44 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9268-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-007-9268-x

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