Inter-Ministerial Coordination: A Working Group in Climate Policy.

The following case study introduces coordination in climate adaptation policy, which is often regarded as a ‘wicked issue’ (Head, 2008) and thus characterized by strong complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. In general, the field of climate policy is split between mitigation policy, that is targeting the causes of climate change mainly through emission reduction, and adaptation policy that seeks to establish measures to prepare for the adverse effects of climate change that are assumed to be inevitable, for example, in the area of coastal protection due to expected sea-level rise. Whereas German climate policy has traditionally been focusing on mitigation policy, adaptation policy assumes a latecomer position on the agenda of the federal government. In 2008, the German federal government established a distinct inter-ministerial working group (IMA Anpassungsstrategie, IMA) to cope with the complexity of the issue and to coordinate climate adaptation policy. Its main initial task was to develop an implementation plan of the National Adaptation Strategy approved in 2008. This chapter focuses on how IMA prepared the implementation plan from 2008 until 2011. Empirical data on inter-ministerial working groups in German federal government is generally rare. Inter-ministerial working groups are often established on an ad hoc basis (even though some seem to be permanent) to either jointly prepare drafts, or to solve inter-ministerial conflicts