Deep Emissions Reductions and Mainstreaming of Mitigation and Adaptation: Key Findings

Climate policy "mainstreaming", "proofing" and "integration" are concepts that are increasingly appearing in a range of EU policy discussions, including those concerning the 2014-2020 Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF). They reflect the view that all policy sectors need to play a part in both reducing emissions and increasing resilience to unavoidable climate impacts. Broadly defined, mainstreaming involves including climate considerations in policy processes, improving the consistency among policy objectives, and where necessary, giving priority to climate-related goals above others. Although often couched in technical language, profound political challenges, at multiple levels of governance, lie at the heart of the mainstreaming agenda. The RESPONSES project analysed how far adaptation and mitigation was being mainstreamed in EU policies, and assessed the potential opportunities and limits for the future