By Anders Lorenzen

In just over one week, world leaders will once again meet at a UN climate summit to try to work out how we can make progress in tackling the climate crisis. As the world battles an increasing amount of extreme weather events, we can expect the issue of climate adaptation to become even more important at these talks.

Some people may have welcomed the heat and sun we received across Europe this record-breaking warm year, setting tons of unwelcome records. In many parts of the continent, this heat was unprecedented with serious economic and health implications.

As the climate continues to warm, not even Europe is shielded from the impacts, and the feeling that summers are getting warmer and more tropical is no longer just a feeling but an undeniable fact. European cities, particularly the bigger ones like London, have a serious task at hand in adapting to climate change.

Therefore, as the world is gearing up for the crucial climate summit COP 27, starting in Egypt on the 7th of November it is fitting diving into Morgan Phillips’ Great Adaptations – In the Shadow of a Climate Crisis.’

Phillips sets out by making it clear that it is not simply the case that we need to adapt to some level of climate change, but it is how we do it, how well we are able to do it and what it will cost which are the key defining questions.

As important as clean energy

While the issue around adaptation is technical and does not have the same trendy swag as the clean energy transition, it is at least as critical; as no matter how much clean energy we install, we have to adapt to changes already coming our way. Phillips points out that while there are many core social issues to adaptation, such as social justice, it would be wrong to ignore the economic consequences too.

What is recommendable about Phillips’ book is that he has condensed such a complex issue as a adaptation into a short, easily accessible book, perfect for reading on the go.

A golden opportunity

In the fight against climate change, adaptation has not been given the limelight and focus it deserves. If we get adaptation right and choose the right things to innovate, it will create millions of green jobs globally. For instance, take the twinned opportunities to climate-proof our buildings so that they both vastly reduce emissions and become able to withstand temperature increases and protect against a variety of extreme weather events. This is of course just one example of the vast subject matter there is to ponder on this issue, and which this book encourages thought upon.

Great Adaptations – In the Shadow of a Climate Crisis is published by the Arkbound Foundation.