Climate Change & Gibraltar

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Climate Change & Gibraltar

Cities face particular challenges when it comes to climate change - 75% of the population in Europe live in urban areas and this is where the effects of climate change will be most evident in everyday life. Urban settings can exacerbate climate change impacts - artificial surfaces and buildings create unique microclimates; impervious roads and pavements can generate or worsen flooding; high levels of artificial surfaces can store heat and raise temperatures within city centres as compared to surrounding areas.

It is therefore equally important to prepare to adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change as it is to try to mitigate these through emissions reductions.

Although no Gibraltar specific studies have been conducted to date to determine the likely impacts of climate change, data from the IPCC reports suggests that, along with the rest of south west Europe, Gibraltar is likely to suffer from increased risk of flooding due to sea level rise, hotter summers and wetter winters with an increase in the occurrence and severity of extreme weather events.

HM Government of Gibraltar has published a Climate Change Strategy to set out policies and targets in order to combat Climate Change locally.

Gibraltar is, in many respects, already quite resilient to climate change due to the fact that, for historical political reasons it has had to develop a high degree of self-sufficiency. There are also measures which have been undertaken over the years which, although never specifically identified as climate change adaptation, have nonetheless served as such.

Examples of Gibraltar’s adaptive actions include:

our own power generation
water desalination for potable water supply
reinforcement of coastal revetments to withstand a 1 in 200 year storm
development of separate sewer and storm networks for all new developments
creation of green roofs on inner city developments
inclusion of underground rainwater storage tanks for Commonwealth Park

What is Gibraltar Doing To Help Fight Climate Change?

Gibraltar set up an advisory Climate Change Forum in 2008. A Climate Change Task Force was then set up in 2014 to determine and implement specific actions to help fight climate change. As part of this, Gibraltar became a signatory to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy in 2015.

This is a global coalition of city leaders dedicated to reducing their greenhouse gas dGHGe emissions, making their cities more resilient to climate change and regularly reporting their progress publically. It was one of the key initiatives launched at the UN Climate Summit in September of 2014 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and is the largest collective effort to date by cities to tackle climate change, prepare for its impacts and regularly track and report progress.

Climate Change Strategy

Gibraltar is, in many respects, already quite resilient to climate change due to the fact that, for historical political reasons, it has had to develop a high degree of self-sufficiency. Measures undertaken over the years, although never specifically identified as climate change adaptation, have nonetheless served as such. Examples of Gibraltar’s adaptive actions include:our own power generation; water desalination for potable water supply; reinforcement of coastal revetments to withstand a 1 in 200-year storm; development of separate sewer and storm networks for all new developments

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Climate Change