Since the impacts of climate change are felt most dramatically in Northern latitudes, local policy makers and practitioners in Nordic peripheries should respond quickly to climate change. This report tackles the question pragmatically, by way of loosely related cases that are of vital importance to local communities and livelihoods.
The report focuses on the following cases: the management of transitions to sustainable energy systems in West Norden, the planning of an aluminium smelter in Greenland, climate policy in Swedish municipalities, and the implications of climate policy for reindeer management in Lapland. On the basis of the studies, the report summarizes a set of knowledge-based tools to assist policy makers and practitioners in their planning for sustainable adaptation to changes in energy provision and climate conditions.
Knowledge-based tools are practical indicators or checklists. They provide critical signals of a significant turn of events in the policy process that the policy maker or practitioner in the field ought to be able to distinguish in her daily work. In the report, the indicators and checklists are presented in a generalizable form that practitioners and policy makers in peripheral regions beyond Norden should also find helpful.