Energy
Climate change will have direct impacts on both the supply and demand of energy, which require specific responses. Energy infrastructure must also be resilient to climate change.
Discussions on climate change and energy usually centre on mitigation efforts because current energy generation methods are major contributors to climate change.
Developing alternative low-carbon sources of energy and using energy more efficiently are important steps in limiting the degree of future climate change. The European Commission outlined a wide-ranging series of actions in its Climate and Energy package (2009) to address these issues.
However, climate change will also have serious impacts on the energy sector which requires targeted adaptation action.
Supply and demand
The impacts of climate change on both energy supply and demand require a more strategic and long-term approach to energy policy and planning. They also underline the need to diversify energy sources, increase energy efficiency and to find new sustainable sources of energy supply.
The projected impacts on precipitation and glacier retreat indicate that hydropower production could increase by 5% or more in northern Europe and decrease by 25% or more in southern Europe(1). These changes in energy supply will affect large areas of Europe that rely on this energy source.
Extreme climate events can result in huge economic and social impacts on infrastructure. This is especially the case for energy because centralised power plants tend to serve large areas the population and are sensitive to climatic changes.
For example, with many power plants located near the coast, additional measures will be needed in vulnerable areas to protect them from sea level rise and the increased threat of flooding.
Also, the lower levels of precipitation and heatwaves in some areas will have a negative influence on the cooling processes of many thermal and nuclear power plants. Power stations that rely on river waters for cooling may have to shut down if water levels get too low.
On the demand side, many regions will experience warmer temperatures which will increase the use for technologies such as domestic air-conditioners and farm irrigation. In turn, this will have knock-on effects on energy consumption, for example through rises in summer peaks for cooling. The impacts of extreme weather events will place further pressure on the electricity distribution networks.
EU actions
The EU’s White Paper on adaptation to climate change 
emphasises the importance of adaptation action in the energy sector. Coordinated action at the EU level is important due to the closely integrated nature of energy networks, markets and policies.
The White Paper underlines that adaptation should be a priority in the Strategic Energy Review, the ongoing process that looks into what policies are needed to secure the EU’s future energy needs.
The White paper also recommends that energy infrastructure projects which receive EU funding should ensure that they take climate change impacts into account and that improving resilience becomes part of EU standards and guidelines for Cohesion Policy and Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E).
The European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP) , adopted in response to the economic crisis which hit in 2008, contains a number of proposals to fund the climate proofing of infrastructure.
The European Commission’s Impact and Adaptation Steering Group (IASG) will bring together experts from the energy sector from EU Member States to discuss adaptation issues for this sector.
(1) EU Commission White Paper: Adapting to climate change: towards a European framework for action, p4