Legacy
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The team of around 50 scientists, researchers and policy experts from across Europe that have participated in the CASCADES project since it kicked off in September 2019 can point to remarkable achievements across the domains of science, business and policy.
CASCADES research has featured in top scientific journals, including Science, Nature Food, Nature Climate Change and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. CASCADES work was highly cited in the IPCC 6th Assessment Report, in the Working Group II report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, and in the Working Group III report on mitigation. Two frameworks were introduced under CASCADES – the conceptual framework and the response framework – which taken together, can enhance understanding of cascading climate risks, inform adaptation planning, and improve governance.
CASCADES researchers also worked with a wide range of stakeholders from the private sector, including banks, insurance companies, and agribusinesses. Engagement with the financial sector increased awareness and understanding of climate physical risk and its cascading impacts, with the development and application of innovation assessment methodologies. Much-needed discussions on climate adaptation were held between public and private actors.
Throughout the project, CASCADES researchers worked closely with policy practitioners across the institutions of the EU, who have regularly participated in developing research and recommendations, received targeted briefings, and contributed to workshops and events. CASCADES has been involved in developing the forthcoming European Climate Risk Assessment, and influenced the Joint Communication on the Climate-Security Nexus published in June 2023. There has also been ongoing engagement with officials from national governments, where CASCADES researchers have been involved in developing national adaptation plans (UK) and conflict/crisis early warning systems (Germany).
That transboundary cascading climate risks as a concept is increasingly normalised and embedded across the EU policy architecture is to a significant extent due to the effort of CASCADES researchers and those from sister projects such as RECEIPT and Adaptation Without Borders. This recognition extends to the international level, as evidenced by the decision text that emerged following the global COP28 climate summit in December 2023:
(…) recognizes that climate change impacts are often transboundary in nature and may involve complex, cascading risks that require knowledge-sharing and international cooperation for addressing them.
Contacts
Although the CASCADES project has officially ended, our research and engagement on transboundary cascading climate risks will of course continue.
Contact details for those leading different workstreams can be found below.
Coordination
- Hetty Saes-Heibel, saesheib@pik-potsdam.de
Risk assessment
- Christopher Reyer, reyer@pik-potsdam.de
- Tim Carter, tim.carter@syke.fi
Trade
- Francesco Bosello, francesco.bosello@cmcc.it
- Chris West, chris.west@york.ac.uk
Foreign policy, security and development
- Adrien Detges, detges@adelphi.de
- Hanne Knaepen, hk@ecdpm.org
Finance
- Irene Monasterolo, i.monasterolo1@uu.nl
- San Bilal, sb@ecdpm.org
European resilience
- Katy Harris, katy.harris@sei.org
- Magnus Benzie, magnus.benzie@sei.org
- Ruth Townend, rtownend@chathamhouse.org
Policy simulations
- Piotr Magnuszewski, piotr.magnuszewski@crs.org.pl
