A Framework for Nordic Actor-Oriented Climate Adaptation Research

This research paper identifies a gap between climate adaptation research and action, noting that traditional frameworks ignore agency and separate adaptation from mitigation. It introduces an actor-oriented framework by NORD-STAR to address these bottlenecks, focusing on energy transitions, land-use change, and insurance and finance.

• There is a significant gap between climate change adaptation research and its application in policy and practice. This is caused by researchers failing to show the relevance of their findings to policymakers and practitioners, or stakeholders relying on different types of information for their decisions.
• In several sectors—specifically energy supply, water management, urban planning, nature conservation, forestry, and agriculture—adaptation research is typically conducted separately from mitigation research, which contradicts the actual experience of practitioners.
• The paper identifies five bottlenecks hindering the use of adaptation research in policy and practice, noting that traditional adaptation framing ignores the concept of agency, which makes stakeholder interactions ineffective. The NORD-STAR project proposes an actor-oriented approach and framework that treats climate adaptation as a means of addressing both climate change impacts and the consequences of climate policy, applying policy analysis and modelling/visualization to energy transitions, insurance and finance, and land-use change.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2014). A Framework for Nordic Actor-Oriented Climate Adaptation Research. https://www.sei.org/publications/a-framework-for-nordic-actor-oriented-climate-adaptation-research/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. A Framework for Nordic Actor-Oriented Climate Adaptation Research. 2014. https://www.sei.org/publications/a-framework-for-nordic-actor-oriented-climate-adaptation-research/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=A Framework for Nordic Actor-Oriented Climate Adaptation Research |date=14 March 2014 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/a-framework-for-nordic-actor-oriented-climate-adaptation-research/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2014framework, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{A Framework for Nordic Actor-Oriented Climate Adaptation Research}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2014}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/a-framework-for-nordic-actor-oriented-climate-adaptation-research/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }