Combating climate change: An evaluation of municipal plans in Greece’s most densely populated regional unit

Abstract

Climate change is a major challenge of contemporary societies. High population density and rapid urbanization serve as a significant driver that fuels climate change. This study evaluates the quality of municipal climate change action plans in Greece, a country facing heightened vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Greece is increasingly threatened by its effects, with prolonged floods, devastating wildfires, suffocating air quality, high temperatures and extreme weather events that severely affect the quality of life of the urban setting. Additionally, the Athenian context incorporates the second most densely populated region in Europe. Climate change action plans serve as a substantial initiative for addressing the issue for local governments. However, plan quality evaluation is a relatively new concept for the Greek context, with no prior studies practicing the discipline in the specific field. This paper stands as the first plan quality evaluation for municipal climate change plans in Greece. Utilizing content analysis and a binary scale, the paper adopts certain criteria and identifies the absence and presence of the relevant indicators. Consequently, the strengths and weaknesses of the plans are revealed and a comprehensive comparison through literature review suggest that there are various areas for improvement concerning the Greek climate change action plans, such as a weak factual foundation and an emphasis of mitigation at the expense of adaptation strategies.