Climate Impact Assessment for Sustainable Structural Change in the Rhenish Lignite Mining Region

Abstract

The Rhenish lignite mining region is facing enormous structural changes due to the withdrawal from opencast mining. The current planning of the regional transformation process, however, has so far only insufficiently considered the local impacts of climate change and thus also existing needs for action as well as opportunities in the context of sustainable regional development. However, the integrated consideration of these challenges is probably one of the biggest strategic challenges for this region. The aim of our study was therefore to apply a method for the integrated analysis of structural and climatic changes in the context of a climate impact assessment. We follow a parallel spatial modelling approach and use scenario corridors to describe the bandwidth of potential future conditions. The results clearly show the influence of other drivers such as changes in population and land use, and thus the adaptation options within the context of a sustainable transformation process. Structural changes should be considered in the context of climate impact analyses, as well as climate changes in the management of structural change.