Bracing for climate impact: renewables as a climate change adaptation strategy

This paper builds conceptual links between renewable energy and climate change adaptation by illustrating the opportunity renewable energy provides for well-designed, effective, and comprehensive climate adaptation, as well as the benefits of renewables-based adaptation, highlighting some of the contributions of clean energy transitions to climate change adaptation. The nature of renewable energy such as low carbon emissions, distributed energy solutions, and multifunctionality places it in a unique position to address climate change adaptation. This paper explores three main areas including Strategic role of renewable energy in climate change adaptation and mitigation-adaptation synergies. Planning and financing for renewables-based adaptation, and the way forward for renewables-based climate adaptation solutions. The paper also provides specific examples of how renewables can prevent or mitigate negative climate change impacts in the sectors of water; food, agriculture and forestry; natural disaster response; health; as well as oceans, coasts, and small islands.