To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies

Climate change is a new and important challenge to development strategies. In light of the current literature a framework for assessing responses to this challenge is provided. The presence of climate change makes it necessary to at least review development strategies—even in apparently nonclimate-s...

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Main Authors:	Shalizi, Zmarak, Lecocq, Franck
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	World Bank 2012
Subjects:	allocation climate climate change climate change impacts climate damages climate-change coal damages economic behavior economic costs economic growth emission reduction emissions emissions targets impacts of climate change lower costs monetary fund portfolio power plants uncertainties
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4442

id	okr-10986-4442
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-44422021-04-23T14:02:17Z To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies Shalizi, Zmarak Lecocq, Franck allocation climate climate change climate change impacts climate damages climate-change coal damages economic behavior economic costs economic growth emission reduction emissions emissions targets impacts of climate change lower costs monetary fund portfolio power plants uncertainties Climate change is a new and important challenge to development strategies. In light of the current literature a framework for assessing responses to this challenge is provided. The presence of climate change makes it necessary to at least review development strategies—even in apparently nonclimate-sensitive and nonpolluting sectors. There is a need for an integrated portfolio of actions ranging from avoiding emissions (mitigation) to coping with impacts (adaptation) and to consciously accepting residual damages. Proactive (ex ante) adaptation is critical, but subject to risks of regrets when the magnitude or location of damages is uncertain. Uncertainty on location favors nonsite-specific actions, or reactive (ex post) adaptation. However, some irreversible losses cannot be compensated for. Thus, mitigation might be in many cases the cheapest long-term solution to climate change problems and the most important to avoid thresholds that may trigger truly catastrophic consequences. To limit the risks that budget constraints prevent developing countries from financing reactive adaptation—especially since climate shocks might erode the fiscal base—“rainy-day funds” may have to be developed within countries and at the global level for transfer purposes. Finally, more research is required on the impacts of climate change, on modeling the interrelations between mitigation and adaptation, and on operationalizing the framework. 2012-03-30T07:12:35Z 2012-03-30T07:12:35Z 2010-08-02 Journal Article World Bank Research Observer 1564-6971 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4442 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank Journal Article Latin America & Caribbean South Asia Africa East Asia and Pacific France Brazil India
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	allocation climate climate change climate change impacts climate damages climate-change coal damages economic behavior economic costs economic growth emission reduction emissions emissions targets impacts of climate change lower costs monetary fund portfolio power plants uncertainties
spellingShingle	allocation climate climate change climate change impacts climate damages climate-change coal damages economic behavior economic costs economic growth emission reduction emissions emissions targets impacts of climate change lower costs monetary fund portfolio power plants uncertainties Shalizi, Zmarak Lecocq, Franck To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies
geographic_facet	Latin America & Caribbean South Asia Africa East Asia and Pacific France Brazil India
description	Climate change is a new and important challenge to development strategies. In light of the current literature a framework for assessing responses to this challenge is provided. The presence of climate change makes it necessary to at least review development strategies—even in apparently nonclimate-sensitive and nonpolluting sectors. There is a need for an integrated portfolio of actions ranging from avoiding emissions (mitigation) to coping with impacts (adaptation) and to consciously accepting residual damages. Proactive (ex ante) adaptation is critical, but subject to risks of regrets when the magnitude or location of damages is uncertain. Uncertainty on location favors nonsite-specific actions, or reactive (ex post) adaptation. However, some irreversible losses cannot be compensated for. Thus, mitigation might be in many cases the cheapest long-term solution to climate change problems and the most important to avoid thresholds that may trigger truly catastrophic consequences. To limit the risks that budget constraints prevent developing countries from financing reactive adaptation—especially since climate shocks might erode the fiscal base—“rainy-day funds” may have to be developed within countries and at the global level for transfer purposes. Finally, more research is required on the impacts of climate change, on modeling the interrelations between mitigation and adaptation, and on operationalizing the framework.
format	Journal Article
author	Shalizi, Zmarak Lecocq, Franck
author_facet	Shalizi, Zmarak Lecocq, Franck
author_sort	Shalizi, Zmarak
title	To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies
title_short	To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies
title_full	To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies
title_fullStr	To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies
title_full_unstemmed	To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies
title_sort	to mitigate or to adapt : is that the question? observations on an appropriate response to the climate change challenge to development strategies
publisher	World Bank
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4442
_version_	1764391388608200704

To Mitigate or to Adapt : Is that the Question? Observations on an Appropriate Response to the Climate Change Challenge to Development Strategies

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