Increased effort to cope with the rapidly emerging impacts of climate change is urgently needed. Whether adaptation bears the risk of inducing a negative feedback loop through its energy requirements has not been investigated. Here we examine the Nationally Determined Contributions submitted by world governments under the Paris Agreement with the aim of identifying the adaptation options associated with energy use and of defining energy use for adaptation. By linking the resulting options to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, through the related targets and indicators, we evaluate the extent to which energy use for adaptation facilitate progress towards sustainability. Drawing from the relevant literature on vulnerability and energy, we provide new evidence on the role that energy plays in the context of adaptation, proposing a framework that connects adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development through the lens of the energy requirements of adaptation strategies. Results highlight priority policy actions to promote climate-development synergies and indicate where quantitative system models could focus in order to integrate adaptation energy needs in future energy scenarios.

Whereas the linkage between technology and climate policy has been extensively analysed, the interaction between climate policies and human capital formation has received considerably less attention. Human capital is a determinant of economic growth and, at the same time, it affects the efficiency of responses to climate change. Based on recent empirical evidence, this paper includes human capital and knowledge in a state-of-the art integrated assessment model. Introducing human capital makes it possible to assess the interplay between innovation, human capital, limate change, and education policies. Results indicate that climate policy stimulates a dedicated form of energy-knowledge without reducing generic R&D investments. Since advancements in labour productivity have a negative impact on the environment because labour is assumed to be complement to energy, climate policy reduces education investments, on which human capital is built. However, inspection of a policy mix combining climate and education targets shows that education and climate goals can be coupled incurring in small additional economic penalties. We thus provide evidence that apparently opposing policy goals can and should be pursued together. We also provide a preliminary investigation of knowledge stimulating education.

Future energy demand will be affected by changes in prices and income, but also by other factors, like temperature levels. This paper draws upon an econometric study, disentangling the contribution of temperature in the determination of the annual regional demand for energy goods. Combining estimates of temperature elasticities with scenarios of future climate change, it is possible to assess variations in energy demand induced (directly) by the global warming. We use this information to simulate a change in the demand structure of households in a CGE model of the world economy, in a set of assessment exercises. The changing demand structure triggers a structural adjustment process, influencing trade flows, regional competitiveness of industries and regions, and welfare. We also consider the possible existence of imperfect competition in the energy markets, analyzing the impact of changes in energy demand with an alternative model version, in which energy industries are modeled as Cournot oligopolies.