A Summary of Sector and Region Specific Economic Impact and Vulnerability Assessments by Case Study in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary

Abstract

This paper summarises the main economic findings of an interdisciplinary EU project (FP6) which studied the impacts of climate change in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. Economic impact assessments were carried out at region and sector specific case study levels. Results suggest positive economic impacts related to climate change on agriculture in the Bulgarian case study region, whereas no clear message about impact direction could be derived for the Romanian region under investigation. The studied climate change impacts on tourism are tendentially negative in the regions considered within the single tourism case studies. The conducted energy case studies also suggest (small and sometimes insignificant) negative economic impacts of climate change within specific configurations assumed. Vulnerability of the public sector has been assessed by analysing the countries’ risk transfer mechanisms with respect to damages from extreme weather events.