Lead Convener: V. Pircher (Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Department for Research, La D�fense cedex - France)

Copernicus is a large European program on Earth monitoring, coordinated and managed by the European Commission. Copernicus is developping services related to environmental and security issues. The services address six thematic areas: land, marine, atmosphere, climate change, emergency management and security. After an introduction by the European Commission "Europe's Eyes on Climate Change", the oral presentations of the parallel session will focus on the Copernicus Climate Change Service European initiative, through a pannel discussion. Some posters on the thematic "Forecasting and adaptation" will also be presented.

Lead Conveners: S. Agrawala (OECD, Paris - France); F. Bosello (University of Milan, FEEM, and CMCC, Dep. of economics, Milan - Italy)

This parallel session will focus on the costs of inaction of climate change as well as policy options to address the climate problem, considering both mitigation and adaptation policies.

Lead Convener: E. Kriegler E. [email protected] (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam - Germany)

The session will review key non-carbon technologies with a focus on the full portfolio of renewable energy technologies and nuclear energy and illustrate their possible integration into low-carbon pathways at national, regional or worldwide level through scenario studies based on technical and economic analyses. Introductory presentations on key technologies, their role for mitigating climate change, their current status and their future prospects will be followed by a panel that will discuss how historical, geopolitical, economic and other considerations impact national/regional low-carbon strategies today.

Lead Convener: J. Hardy (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, Sustainable energy policy, London - UK)

Energy is the central to economic development, but is also the dominant sector for many countries� mitigation strategies. The IPCC�s fifth assessment reports (AR5), in setting out carbon budgets associated with differing probabilities of meeting the 2�C temperature goal reiterated at the Lima UNFCCC conference, has established a clear and quantifiable framework against which to assess policies for delivering corresponding rates and timeframes of mitigation.

Much research has focused on government policies such as carbon pricing and feed-in tariffs for renewables, but it is increasingly clear that regulation of the energy sector also plays a crucial role. Moreover, since energy infrastructure is exceptionally long-lived, planning must also accommodate climate impacts, from rising sea levels to more extreme weather events.

This session will explore how energy sector regulation affects action on, and can respond to the risk of climate change, along with other strategic and sustainability concerns. It will combine analysis with summary of developments in key regions with presentations relating to UK, Germany, US, and some major emerging economies.

Lead Conveners: L. Michael (Stockholm Environment Institute, Seattle - USA); N. Bauer (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Sustainable Solutions, Potsdam - Germany)

Climate protection requires deep and timely transitions away from fossil fuels. Despite growing recognition that addressing climate will require reducing fossil fuel extraction, climate policies have focused largely on curtailing demand through low-carbon technologies rather than transitioning from supplying fossil fuels. Investment in fossil fuel supply infrastructure continues to increase, creating economic, financial, and socio-political lock-ins, hindering our ability to reach climate objectives. This session will discuss highlights from recent research on economic and political challenges and opportunities for keeping fossil fuel production and use within climate protection bounds. It integrates two policy paradigms. The �top-down� paradigm defines long-term climate protection targets and derives constraints on global fossil fuels emissions; emissions limits create energy transformation, reducing demand for fossil fuels and limiting supplies. The �bottom-up� paradigm considers how disincentives or restrictions on fossil fuel supplies energy infrastructure can avoid the lock-in of more carbon-intensive pathways. The session will bring research communities together and explore the possible synergies. The conveners invite policy makers and researchers to join the session and contribute to the discussion.

Lead Convener: T. Sterner, Univ. of Gothenburg, Dept of economics, Gothenburg - Sweden

The session covers various aspects of fiscal reform, from the large global perspective to national, provincial and household perspectives. The first talk will be on the challenges of linking �bottom-up� climate policies on a global scale. While the approach is appealing, four obstacles are identified: different levels of ambition; competing domestic policy objectives; objections to financial transfers; and the difficulty of close regulatory coordination. Continuing the discussion of top-down vs. bottom up policies, the next presentation has a focus on China and how the provinces implement climate policies. One of the main concerns raised are the policy implications related to the need for more coordination between bottom-up and top-down policies. As China is one of the main actors in climate negotiations it is of vital interest how the country internally approaches climate change, especially since it has previously been recognized that the country�s climate governance can be improved regarding the coordination of national and provincial levels.

Lead Conveners: TE. Downing (Global Climate Adaptation Partnership, Oxford - UK; A. Atteridge (Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm - Sweden)

Climate finance is essential to reducing climate risks, and is at the heart of the UNFCCC�s climate regime. While the question of how to mobilise funds is crucial, the equally important question of how to ensure their effective use has been given far less attention.

Engagement with the private sector goes beyond the expectation of finance for public funds or protection against expected losses and damages. Transformation of climate resilience requires leadership in a range of private sector forms of investment and sustainability.

Emerging examples of how research has informed improved access to climate finance address fundamental questions. How can research inform private sector investments in adaptation? What are the barriers limiting the scaling up of successful pilot interventions? How can adaptation plans of implementing entities be informed by research? What is the business proposition for private sector investment?

The session brings together leading experts with an interactive panel to identify progress in developing at-scale and effective finance.

Lead Conveners: D. Sietz (Wageningen University, Wageningen - Netherlands); E. Adere (International Development Research Centre, Nairobi - Kenya)

Successful decision-making around how best to adapt socio-ecological systems to withstand climate variability and change requires relevant frameworks and robust methods. These are needed for assessing complex phenomena, such as risk and vulnerability, and for evaluating the effectiveness of adaptive strategies. Understanding the successes and failures around the planning and implementation of these adaptation strategies is increasingly important, both in research and practice, and for developing and developed countries alike. Are we as local communities, nations, humankind on the right road towards effective adaptation? Whereas the concepts of risk and vulnerability have progressed significantly in recent years, there is an urgent need to develop coherent frameworks, indicators and methodologies for identifying and testing appropriate adaptation strategies. Furthermore, there is still much to be learned in terms of how to best implement such strategies, and how to measure their impact thereafter. Findings will help to inform international climate negotiations with insights into how common adaptation objectives across countries can be used to inform a �Global Adaptation Goal� and into how local to national experience could help identify generic indicators to assess adaptation progress.

Co-convener: S. Pahl (Plymouth University, Psychology, Plymouth, Devon - UK); A.Pegels (German Development Institute, Sustainable economic and social development, Bonn - Germany); Y. Mulugetta (University College London, Science, Technology, Engineering&Pulbic; Policy, London - UK)


Human choices and behaviour play a crucial role in climate change. �Human beings are the cause of the transformation, and only action by human beings can save the world from its worst impacts� (US Secretary of State John Kerry, Sept 27, 2013).
This session explores how research on choices and behaviour can facilitate interdisciplinary, integrative responses to climate change. Talks will draw on social science theories and present novel data that contribute to three types of solutions: Better engagement with the public, interventions that change behaviour, and policy responses.
The explicit aim of our session is to go beyond technological and market solutions and focus on behaviour change solutions. A considerable though not exclusive focus of this session will be on energy efficiency and savings, offering solutions for the double challenge of climate change mitigation and development. The IEA estimates that 18 per cent of the global population lack access to electricity. At the same time, the energy sector accounted for over 70 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2011. Greenhouse gas emissions overall have grown more
between 2000 and 2010 than in the previous three decades. Addressing carbon emissions and reforming the energy system will be vital for limiting global warming but poses different challenges for industrialised and developing countries. While technological innovation and carbon prize mechanisms will play a major role in transitioning towards a low emissions economy, it is questionable whether this technological and market frame is sufficient to realise this transition. Human decisions, behaviours and broader lifestyles are key to achieving a meaningful, acceptable and inclusive transition. Only taking a �people-focused� perspective will provide a buffer against market failures such as risk, imperfect information, hidden costs, access to capital, and split incentives. Contributions will discuss the key factors that contribute to behaviour change by presenting the results of empirical studies (e.g., interventions) and whether specific behaviours can �spill� over to other domains. We will also consider whether a behaviour change approach is too narrow in the face of broader patterns of habits and �locked-in� lifestyles.
This session will bring together social scientists including economists and psychologists, scientists, engineers and policy makers to explore the potential of behavioural, choice and lifestyle solutions to addressing climate change. The session finishes with our team working with three specialists in global environmental change. Michael Depledge (Professor of Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter, UK) will lead this discussion, drawing on his experience as advisor to the United Nations and the European Commission.
Together we will sketch a map illustrating how social science theories and data might be used to enhance our responses to climate change and foster sustainable lifestyles. Six speakers are planned with 10 minutes for each presentation, plus a poster session and a panel discussion at the end.

Lead Convener: M. Pascal (Institut de Veille Sanitaire, Environmental Health Department, Saint Maurice - France)

Until now, air pollution and climate change have been treated largely separately, producing inconsistent, sometimes conflicting public policies. Bridging the scientific, technologic and political gaps between air pollution and climate mitigation would improve health, biodiversity and food security. Solutions are both technological and behavioral. They encompass major sectors of activities from urban planning to agriculture or transports, and cover the entire range from international regulation to initiatives at the city level, both from developed and developing countries. The session will address interdisciplinary, bottom-up, as well as local-scale to internationally coordinated efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants simultaneously while improving the quality of life.

Lead Convener: D. Campbell-Lendrum (World Health Organization, Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, Geneva - Switzerland)

This session will cover the latest evidence on the magnitude and distribution of health risks from global climate change, from direct impacts of heat and extreme weather, to changes in ecological systems affecting infectious disease, to those mediated by socioeconomic conditions, such as malnutrition, population displacement and conflict. It will present recent progress in adaptation to climate change, including evidence-based guidance, capacity development, decision-support tools and resource mobilization. The limits to health adaptation, particularly under high end climate scenarios, include human physiological limits, physical limits imposed by risks such as sea-level rise, to socioeconomic constraints on health adaptation, and including weaknesses in health systems. In addition, well-designed mitigation policies have the potential to bring very large health benefits, including through reductions in the over 7 million annual deaths from household and outdoor air pollution. The emerging evidence on the potential for health gains in countries at different levels of development, from improvements in the main carbon emitting sectors will be discussed.

Lead Convener: E. Boyd (University of Reading / Stockholm Resilience Centre, Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Reading - UK)

Global climate change and fast developments of the global social-economic systems are driving an increasing trend of extreme events that undermines the very fabric of global sustainability and poses a threat to the resilience of local communities. There remain major challenges in connecting the global nature of these problems at multiple levels of decision making to the realities of everyday life. In this session, by comparing various paradigms of risk governance around the world, lessons and experience will be discussed on progresses in disaster risk reduction and the role of government in the midst of rapid economic development and social transition including changes in national laws and regulations, institutional structures and operational mechanisms in disaster risk management. These paradigms will also be contrasted with the perceived impacts of global climate change and peoples� everyday weather world and the ways that global disasters brings about new and contested understanding of disaster risk governance across scales, and in ways that government and local stakeholders envisage long-term development solutions for and resilience of affected communities.

Lead Convener: J. Guiot (CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence - France)

The Mediterranean Basin will be confronted with a wide range of challenges induced by climatic change: extreme events, sea-level change, ocean acidification, and significant risks for food production, water availability, biodiversity and other sectors. This session aims to induce new interactions between disciplines in both the terrestrial and marine domain. It presents contributions on (1) detection and attribution of climate change impacts that have recently occurred in the region, (2) climatic changes projected for the next decades, (3) adaptation processes related to more sustainable agriculture, water use, land management, better use of terrestrial and marine resources, technological, and institutional innovations, (4) the role of stakeholders and community-based approaches in adaptation and mitigation processes, (5) impacts of warming and acidification of the Mediterranean Sea.

Lead Conveners: S. Janicot (IRD, Paris - France); A. Amani (UNESCO, Hydrololgic international programme, Nairobi - Kenya)

Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most significant climate hotspot of our planet, both in terms of observations throughout the end of the XXth century and in terms of projections for the XXIst century. Global warming and expected climate variability enhancement are likely to worsen the prevailing water scarcity in this region, affecting significantly food security, biodiversity, human health and livelihood. Climate change could be the additional stress that pushes systems over the edge in a region where living conditions and environment are already strongly affected by land-use changes and demographic pressure. Effective adaptation to climate change will be fundamental in limiting the risks for human activities and livelihood and in achieving development goals. The aim of this session is to review the state of knowledge on observed changes and foreseen perspectives, related to climate, environment and socio-economy, in this highly vulnerable region. It will cover (i) observed climate changes and related impacts, (ii) future climate change and (iii) impacts scenarios and adaptation options in a warmer climate.

Lead Conveners: S. Geall (University of Sussex, Science Policy Research Unit, Brighton - UK); F. Jotzo (Australian National University, Crawford School of Public Policy, Canberra - Australia)

China has pledged to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and has a target for emissions intensity in place for 2020. Ambitious policies to constrain emissions growth are in place and more are in the pipeline, including a national emissions trading scheme, and significant changes in energy policies may be on the cards. Furthermore, the country has thrown state support behind low-carbon technologies including electric vehicles, solar energy and next-generation agricultural technologies as components of a transition, while President Xi Jinping has said that, 'the direction of China's science and technology development is �innovation, innovation and innovation�'.This session will delve into regional, national and international perspectives on China�s climate change, energy and innovation policies and their effects. How are the seven emissions trading pilot schemes performing? What is the outlook and likely design of a national Chinese emissions trading scheme? How do China�s innovation policies support or constrain low-carbon development? What about �under-the-radar� innovations and does innovation relate with political and sociological questions around a low-carbon transition?

Lead Convener: A. Tilche (European Commission, Brussels - Belgium)

The European Union (EU) has an ambitious green house gas emission reduction policy in vigour up until 2030 and it has drawn up a vision for a largely decarbonised future by 2050. This session addresses the role of science and innovation in supporting the design of cost-effective deep decarbonisation pathways in Europe and beyond.

Lead Convener: R. Swart (Alterra, ESS-CALM, Wageningen - Netherlands)

Climate knowledge is expanding but many gaps exist in the underlying science and tailoring the available information and knowledge to end-users beyond the policy domain and the public sector. Public investment in research and innovation is needed to step from the knowledge base to solutions that derive societal benefits. In that respect, the objective of the session is to discuss key European climate change research and innovation initiatives that are supporting this transformation, notably (a) the European Research and Innovation Roadmap for Climate Services; (b) the European Joint Programming Initiative Climate (JPI Climate); and (c) the Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (Climate KIC). The session will combine three keynote presentations with a panel discussion that will focus on a) the role of users and providers in climate services, b) the possible role of future European research in supporting UNFCCC adaptation challenges, including an interactive discussion with the audience on how European research and innovation results can be better applied and how research programmes can be further strengthened to maximize its utility to the international climate negotiations.

Lead Convener: A. Robock (Rutgers University, Department of Environmental Sciences, New Brunswick - USA)

One of the great potential dangers of climate change is the possibility to produce conflict. Displacement of people from regions experiencing drought or flooding from sea level rise, for example, will put pressure on the regions to which they move. At the same time nuclear conflict has the potential to produce large climate change. Even if a nuclear war used much less than 1% of the current global nuclear arsenal, the smoke from fires started by attacks on cities and industrial areas would block out the Sun, making it cold, dark, and dry at Earth�s surface for decades, and also destroy stratospheric ozone, enhancing ultraviolet radiation at the surface. Studies looking at impacts of these climate changes on agriculture in China and the United States show reduced grain productivity by 20-40% for more than a decade. This session will address new results on these topics.

Lead Convener: A. Stevenson (Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), APN Secretariat, Kobe, Japan)

The session addresses capacity building, identifies common gaps and formulates future pathways for effective capacity development to respond to climate change. As a network of 22 countries supporting regional research and capacity development, the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) under its capacity building arm, CAPaBLE, has conducted 128 projects since 2003. CAPaBLE develops scientific capacity in Asia-Pacific to improve decision-making from grassroots to regional levels. The session will share outcomes of climate-related capacity building activities and initiatives to address capacity development, particularly scientific gaps and needs. APN places high emphasis on capacity development to scientifically capacitate early-career scientists, civil society, and decision-making and local communities. Specific emphasis in the session is placed on climate adaptation and low carbon initiatives. The session will have six speakers; five of whom will highlight specific activities at the project-based level. All speakers and participants will engage through active discussion and, time permitted, gaming sessions that will address capacity development gaps in the region under climate change.

Lead Conveners: E. Kriegler (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam - Germany); G. Luderer (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam - Germany)

This session reviews the most recent work on global mitigation pathways that limit warming to 2�C. It discusses the emission, energy transformation, and investment requirements of these low carbon pathways, and explores the implications for short term action. The session is accompanied by a companion session on national pledges and decarbonization pathways, and solutions to bridge the gap to 2�C mitigation pathways.

Lead Conveners: S. Wolf (Global Climate Forum, Berlin - Germany); I. Alloisio I(ICCG FEEM, Venice - Italy)

So far, climate policy is mostly seen as causing a reduction in consumption and growth. However, it is possible to design mitigation and adaptation policy in a way that benefits macroeconomic conditions such as GDP growth, employment, public budgets balance, etc. This session explores how one can make climate policy an opportunity. It aims at answering the following questions: how can climate policy stimulate the necessary investments for a low carbon transformation of the economy (renewable energy supply, efficiency in buildings, transport & industry, IT, education, etc)? How can it anticipate future adaptation needs? How can one achieve a low carbon economy and at the same time ensure social and economic goals like employment and growth? And what are the instruments needed for analysing these questions?

Lead Conveners: S. Karsson-Vinkhuyzen (Wageningen University, Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen - Netherlands) ; MA. Baudoin (Climate and Development initiative, geology, cape Town - South Africa)

Adaptation governance is being initiated at all governance levels, from local to global often with considerable linkages between them. This session explores the challenges of addressing such multilevel linkages in a way that supports a system of both effective and legitimate multilevel adaptation governance. Keynote speakers will address both the role of UNFCCC principles in integration of multilevel adaptation governance as well as explore pathways to integrate locally-developed adaptation initiatives with national and regional development plans and adaptation policies. Paper and poster presentations will include both themes on: 1) global/national adaptation governance; 2) bottom-up (local) approaches for adaptation and 3) the interplay between adaptation governance at different levels within developed and developing regions. Through the keynote speakers, the paper and poster presentations and a concluding panel discussion we will explore pathways to for effective and legitimate multilevel adaptation governance.

Lead Convener: A. Jordan (Tyndall Centre, ENV, Norwich, UK)

When set against the latest scientific predictions, the current policy responses to climate change are perceived to be painfully inadequate, especially those centred on the international regime. In anticipation of the Paris conference in 2015, hopes are building that �new� forms of governance will offer a transformative solution to the governance gaps in the regime. These new forms include national policies adopted by states, as well as transnational experiments that involve domestic actors in a large number of countries, and operate across public and private divides.

This session will showcase and critically evaluate the latest findings from several international projects that are actively examining examples of the �new� climate governance - many so recent that they were not included in AR5. The first part examines the main contours and architectures of �new� governance; the second identifies and explores likely new priorities for science and for policy after Paris 2015.

Lead Convener: S. Aykut (LISIS, Universit� paris-est, Marne-la-Vall�e - France)

This parallel session focuses on the role of the concept of the green economy in global environmental governance, in order to gain a better understanding of its trajectory and its capacity � as well as of the policies it refers to �, to contribute to tackling anthropogenic climate change. More generally, the session aims at increasing reflexivity through a better understanding of the role of norms and frames in Earth System Governance. We welcome contributions on the origins of the concept and its specificity, the way the concept has been mobilized in climate governance and how it relates to the alleged recent paradigm shift in the climate negotiations, as well as case studies of national or subnational policies referring to the Green economy.

Lead Convener: S. Nishioka (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Senior Research Advisor, Hayama, Kanagawa - Japan)

In the pathway towards the big transition to low carbon societies, many agendas rise up to solve friction to move out of the highly locked-in present social system, which require deep and serious dialogues among stakeholders. There are three different aspects: (i) grassroots social learning and knowledge co-production, particularly in a Southern developmental context, (ii) innovative science- and technology-based solutions for decarbonization; and (iii) establishment of a worldwide systematic multi-layered, science-policy dialogue to realise low-carbon societies. These different mechanisms encompass both policy and practice-oriented solutions, which operate in different scales and may be implemented in divergent ways according to socio-economic development contexts of different regions, in the transition to climate-resilient development. This session, based on past successful dialogues under these aspects, proposes to the UN to launch a campaign on �Decade for Accelerating Climate Dialogue for Action (DacDac)� to promote such dialogues.

Lead Conveners: A. Coudrain (Institut de recherche pour le d�veloppement (IRD), Research unit espace-dev, Montpellier - France); S. Serrao-Neumann (Urban Research Program, Griffith University, Cooperative research centre for water sensitive cities, Brisbane - Australia)


Information for decision making - Improve availability, access and use of information

Understanding and responding to global climate change requires the integration of a plethora of information over many disciplinary fields, with the added urgency of needing rapid and transformative individual and institutionally-based responses. This session brings together outcomes that support such transformative change at multiple scales.

Worldwide contributions are on the following topics: production and synthesis of multi-disciplinary climate-related information that enables transformative pathways; tools such as integrated spatial information systems that support individual, collective and organisational decision-making and proactive action; enablers for building the adaptive capacity of communities of practice and community-based organisations. Examples are related to a breadth of fields, including natural resources management, environmental health, marine and freshwater systems, agriculture, biodiversity conservation, risk management, island environments, human settlements, and climate justice.

The global scope and increasing immediacy of climate change impacts makes this session particularly relevant in guiding local and international decisions and support proactive adaptation strategies.

Lead Conveners: A. Creti (Universit� Paris Dauphine and Ecole Polytechnique, LeDa CGMP, Paris - France; M. Grubb (University College London, Institute of Sustainable Resources, London - United Kingdom)

This session will discuss the role of carbon pricing in the post Paris world, by focusing on the EU ETS, and comparing to it other carbon markets such as California. Market design issues, such as the mechanism of stability reserve, will be discussed. The question we will debate are as follows:

• What is the role of global / national process for implementation of carbon prices?



• Will emission trading mechanisms reflect longer-term targets in today�s carbon prices?



• How the social cost of carbon will affect low-carbon investment?