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There is a growing interest in climate change action in the higher education sector. Higher education institutions (HEIs) play an important role as property owners, employers, education and research hubs as well as leaders of societal transformations. The purpose of this paper was therefore to benchmark how universities globally are addressing climate risks.

An international survey was conducted to benchmark the sector’s organisational planning for climate change and to better understand how the higher education sector contributes to local-level climate adaptation planning processes. The international survey focused especially on the assessment of climate change impacts and adaptation plans.

Based on the responses of 45 HEIs located in six different countries on three continents, the study found that there are still very few tertiary institutions that plan for climate-related risks in a systematic way.

The paper sheds light on the barriers HEIs face in engaging in climate adaptation planning and action. Some of the actions to overcome such hindering factors include integrating climate adaptation in existing risk management and sustainability planning processes, using the internal academic expertise and curriculum to assist the mapping of climate change impacts and collaborating with external actors to guarantee the necessary resources. The higher education sector can act as a leader in building institutional resilience at the local scale.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a unique six‐step process for the inclusion of climate change adaption goals and strategies in a University Climate Change Plan.

A mixed‐method approach was used to gather data on campus climate change vulnerabilities and adaption strategies. A literature review highlighted common themes in adaption research. Meetings, surveys, and a specialized workshop with climate scenarios were created to elicit campus and community input.

The majority of the peer‐reviewed and grey literature surrounding climate change adaptation planning is aimed at larger levels of organization than a University campus (e.g. nations, populations, regions, and cities). An original planning process was created to identify vulnerabilities, risks and strategies. Key vulnerabilities fell into three main areas of concern: energy, transportation, and built environment. Adaptation goals, objectives and strategies were outlined for the Dalhousie University Climate Change Plan, based on risk levels associated with vulnerabilities.

The adaption survey and workshop was created for this research. Small improvements were suggested for future use. The six weather scenarios presented at the workshop emphasized extreme events. Some participants felt that scenarios should be developed that feature smaller climate changes over a longer period of time. The prioritization activity used to establish risk needed to clarify the definition of risk being used. Future scenarios could include more consideration of socio‐economic factors.

Specific planning frameworks to create campus‐level climate adaptation strategies are sparse. A unique planning framework and workshop was developed to identify key climate change adaption strategies for universities.

‘Planned relocation’ has emerged in the international climate policy arena as an ‘adaptation’ solution with the potential to enhance resilience, address underdevelopment and debunk age-old narratives around migration as a risk to peace and security. In 2018, Fiji became one of the first countries to develop Planned Relocation Guidelines, with upwards of 80 villages thought to require relocation over the coming years due to the impact of climate change. Through interviews carried out with representatives from organisations involved in planning for community relocations in Fiji, this chapter explores the creation of planned relocation as a form of climate change adaptation and development. Looking specifically at the value-based challenges of implementation in Fiji, this research provides insight into what happens when dominant international policy narratives play out in practice. Through the presentation of culturally nuanced ways of understanding the problem of climate-induced migration, this chapter invites policymakers to seek out these voices when devising displacement solutions.

Ireland's Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 established the requirement for a National Adaptation Framework (NAF) composed of nine sectoral plans, of which Built and Archaeological Heritage is one. All the plans were written according to the six-step process outlined in Sectoral Planning Guidelines for Climate Change Adaptation produced by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE, 2018) which is also the government department charged with coordinating the NAF. This article will summarise the application of the methodology to heritage resources in Ireland, the issues encountered and the results achieved.

The plan was informed by existing research and incorporated expert, stakeholder and public consultation throughout the process. It also closely considered published plans from other sectors in order to aid consistency within the NAF and to ensure cross-cutting issues were highlighted.

Of the many potential impacts of climate change, those identified as priorities for adaptation planning in Ireland were flooding (inland and coastal), storm damage, coastal erosion, soil movement (landslip or erosion), changing burial preservation conditions, pests and mould, wildfires and maladaptation. Goals, objectives and an action plan were developed commensurate with the five-year term of the plan, but also initiating a long-term strategic vision. A monitoring strategy was developed to monitor progress, identify problems and inform improvements to the adaptation plan as part of an iterative process.

Much work is being done on the topic of climate change and cultural heritage, yet at the time of writing Ireland is believed to be the only country to have adopted a national adaptation plan for cultural heritage.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a strategy to integrate climate change adaptation (CCA) in public asset management (PAM) in Indonesia. This paper focusses on public buildings as part of a public asset.

As an archipelagic country, Indonesia is very vulnerable to sea-level rise as a result of climate change. The outcomes of a qualitative analysis of interviews with relevant stakeholders were used for the development of the CCA framework in an Indonesian context.

The study identified that the integration of CCA in PAM in Indonesia requires the incorporation of nine key elements. These are as follows: recognition of climate change; risk management and insurance schemes for assets; integrated asset management and planning; asset use and knowledge; reliable, accessible and understandable data set on climate change; leadership, government commitment and incentives; involvement of research and private entities; community engagement; and coordination of relevant agencies.

This paper informed only the key elements required on the development of framework which integrate CCA in PAM.

The integration of CCA to a PAM framework will support the development of policies and procedures for better-informed decisions.

The framework increases opportunities for stakeholders and community engagement in policy development and decision making in relation to CCA for public assets.

This paper synthesises CCA and PAM using knowledge from the three levels of governments in Australia and Indonesia. CCA and PAM groups work separately in Indonesia and integration will reduce climate change risks and improve decision making in PAM.

Policy framework has significant roles in minimizing the impact of climate change in agrarian societies like Ethiopia. The purpose of this paper is to assess the integration of issues related to climate change adaptation into the national development planning of Ethiopia.

A qualitative research design, which depended on secondary and primary data sources, was used in this study. Data were collected from relevant documents. These were substantiated with field data gathered through key informant interviews and focus group discussions from participants identified using purposive sampling. Thematic analysis of the collected data was done by first considering the relevant documents and then comparing with the field data. During the analysis and interpretation, the results were combined to explain, confirm, refute and/or enrich the data obtained through document reviews and interviews.

The result of the study revealed that the general issues of environmental management have been included in the relevant documents (national plans). However, the documents do not explicitly identify climate change adaptation strategies and options that can alleviate the current impacts and the projected negative impacts associated with climate change. In fact, some documents were found to be characterized by numerous gaps. For example, the environmental policy of Ethiopia does not address climate trading, climate resilient green economy and recent development. The result from interviews shows that the constitution of the country lacks sufficiently addressing climate change adaptation. The result obtained from focus group discussion with informants indicated that the environmental policy of the country is shallow and suffers from showing clear direction regarding integration. The informants indicate that though there is an office that works on climate change at zonal level, there is no well-defined structure for climate change at zonal, district and Kebele levels and there appears to be weak integration among the different institutions working on climate change.

This study would speed up the revision of environmental policy of Ethiopia and the development of a separate policy document that focuses on adaptation to climate change.

In the past 10 years, most countries and cities have published a national adaptation strategy that outlines the strategic approach to reduce the vulnerability to climate change and to adapt to the impacts of it. The existence of an adaptation strategy does not, however, equal implementation of adaptation and the fact that adaptation is taking place across multiple levels also poses new challenges to its efficient implementation. The literature on barriers of adaptation has been increasing rapidly, questioning whether there is a misconception that barriers to implementation can be solved at the local level.

This paper analyses the implementation of adaptation strategies across multiple levels of governance by focusing on the land use planning in Finland. The case study examines the implementation of adaptation in the metropolitan region of Helsinki through a policy document analysis.

The conclusions highlight that there are barriers at the local level that emerge from the existing governance structures and cannot be solved by the local level alone. There needs to be a further recognition that coordination across levels of governance is a factor in overcoming barriers.

So far, there are very few studies that have analysed barriers in relation to the implementation of adaptation in a multi-level setting, and none in the land use sector, which is inherently hierarchical in nature.

The purpose of this paper is to present results of an action research addressing climate change adaptation of selected social housing stock in the UK. Climate change continues to pose major challenges to those responsible for the management of built assets. The adaptation required to address long-term building performance affected by climate change rarely get prioritised above more immediate, short-term needs (general built asset management needs).

The study adopts an in-depth participatory action research with a London-based social landlord and integrates climate change adaptation framework and performance-based model established through author’s previous research projects.

A staged process for including adaptation measures in built asset management strategy is developed along with metrics to analyse the performance of the housing stock against climate change impact of flooding. The prioritisation of adaptation measure implementation into long-term built asset management plans was examined through cost-based appraisal.

The research was carried out with a singular organisation, already acquainted with potential climate change impact, vulnerability and adaptive capacity assessment. The process adopted will differ for similar organisation in the sector with different settings and limited working knowledge of climate change impact assessment.

The paper concludes with a ten-step process developed as an aide memoir to guide social landlords through the climate change adaptation planning process.

In addition to the practical results from the study, the paper outlines a novel process that integrates resilience concepts, risk framing (to climate change impact) and performance management into built asset management (maintenance and refurbishment) planning.

Purpose – Adapting local areas to climate change is a wicked challenge for local administrations. A participatory research is applied to explore how local experience shared by local experts can inform decision and adaptation planning by taking into account local area characteristics and their interrelationships.

Methodology/approach – We turned to local actors, who live or work in the city and who can be seen as urban experts. Their experiential knowledge has given us a better understanding of the characteristics of their communities. These experts are likely to possess a representation that reflects the local territorial sensitivities, which can help us determine how these characteristics might be impacted by climate change.

Findings – A participatory approach bears many benefits such as mobilizing local stakeholders to find collective solutions. It also allows us to focus on common practices in the urban context, which are likely to be altered by changes in mean temperatures, precipitations, etc. It offers the additional benefit of putting into perspective the relations between a variety of urban issues.

Research limitations – A participatory approach means relying on subjective assessments of the possible effects of climate change, which could challenge the relevance of perceived risks and the scope and types of actions taken.

Originality/value of paper – The number of the available adaptation planning processes involving community stakeholders and assessments of these processes is very limited. A participatory process such as the cross-sectoral initiative organized in Québec City can have significant repercussions on local engagement in climate change adaptation. This provides evidence of the potential of deliberation or interaction of territorial actors to improve their understanding of the issues and their adaptive capacity. On a methodological level, the participatory process in itself and the steps to organize it offered a planning frame that can be reproduced.

Assessment of climate change risks and vulnerability is essential in order to inform and implement appropriate adaptation strategies. Disastrous effects of extreme weather events such as the heat waves across Europe in 2003 highlight the adaptation imperative. Regional spatial planning and urban design can help to reduce the vulnerability of communities to these risks. The purpose of this paper is to report on the development of an assessment tool, which highlights climate change risks and vulnerabilities in urban areas, and the results of pilot and user testing with the Green and Blue Space Adaptation for Urban Areas and Eco Towns (GRaBS) project partners.

The tool follows the principles of an online public participation GIS, and is built using the Google Maps Interface. The approach is based on a risk framework, focusing on the three elements; hazard, vulnerability and exposure. Thus, the assessment tool assesses vulnerability of population and infrastructure in urban areas to climate change impacts (in particular flooding and heat stress). It also enables spatially relating patterns of vulnerability with risk where data are available.

A key finding of the project has been the need to break down silos between departments in order to build an evidence base for decision makers for adaptation plans and strategies. The tool is considered to be an excellent means of raising awareness, and the results of the pilot study confirm the assessment tool is seen as innovative, cost effective, intuitive and simple to use and navigate. Furthermore, by helping to visualise vulnerability of urban areas it may be useful in supporting planning of both emergency responses and long‐term land use changes.

The tool is limited by the availability of geospatial data and information, which has implications for the types of outputs the tool can produce.

The tool has been implemented in all of the case study partner areas, which will be affected to a greater or lesser extent by a range of climate change impacts requiring responses, depending on the severity and likelihood of the hazard, vulnerability, and exposure. The methodological approach adopted in the project has to take account of this important issue.

The tool brings together diverse data and information from a large number of European partners, and provides users with an understanding of climate change issues, many of whom may not have been familiar with the topic at the outset. The tool delivers GIS data and analysis functions on the web through the internet, widening the possibilities for participation in climate change adaptation planning.