As outlined in part I, BACC is dealing with an assessment of the knowledge about climate, climate change and climate impact in the Baltic Sea Basin. It determines which knowledge claims are made in the legitimate scientific literature, to what extent the scientific community agrees and to what extent it disagrees. BACC does not draw conclusions about possible societal responses to the findings - it has no democratically legitimate mandate for doing so, and lacks competence, because responding to risks, possibilities and changes needs much more insight than understanding changing geophysical conditions. Responding has much to do with economy, with perceptions and societal values and preferences, cultural conditioning, and competition of utilities.
It was therefore fortunate that in the early phase of BACC, the international HELCOM or "Baltic Marine Environment Commission" showed up and requested an assessment of the type, BACC was about to construct. HELCOM, as a clearly political body established by the states in the Baltic Sea Basin, "is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area" - more usually known as the Helsinki Convention."
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