All the Cluster projects are developing strategies and tools for assessing the spatial impacts of climate change on four main sectors which are relevant to communities across North West Europe and the wider European Union:

• Built environment (urban and regional)
• Water environment (rivers, urban water management, coastal / marine)
• Natural environment (forest / nature / agriculture)
• Social environment (society / behaviour change)

The Cluster projects' approaches for strategies and tools will be reviewed (i.e. analysed and compared) with respect to their scope (which spatial categories are addressed, which steps for adaptation are included, e.g. assessing vulnerability, assessing impacts, assessing adaptation measures, determining risks and chances etc.).

In addition, synergy effects between the individual projects' assessment tools will be enhanced by:

• determining where the tools complement one another in order to provide for improved linkages and broader scope for application,
• demonstrating the links between the tools to improve their level of application,
• determining the transferability of the tools for application throughout the different spatial sectors encountered in NWE and
• reviewing the project approaches adopted and eliminating possible duplication of effort
• Identifying were there are key gaps and formulating potential methods to address these gaps.

A first milestone was the delivery of the analysis of "Tools and Measures" (Action 1 and 2) which was discussed during the 1st Cluster Expert Board meeting, 20.-21.06.2011, Holzwickede / Dortmund, DE.