Climate information plays a key role in adaptation to climate change, but providing and using it in effective ways is a challenge. Climate information often remains underutilized and even when used, its influence on policy making is far from clear. In the Netherlands, climate stress tests were introduced to inform and stimulate climate adaptation policy on a municipal level. In the stress tests, risks and vulnerabilities were estimated for scenarios of extreme precipitation, heat stress, drought, and flooding. This article examines whether and how this new tool has effectuated mainstreaming of climate adaptation information into municipal policy. Based on interviews with municipal officials and document analysis we show that the stress tests did so along two general pathways. In the ‘applied’ pathway, the stress tests were used in an instrumental way to influence policy goals and measures. In the ‘configuring’ pathway, stress tests were primarily used for learning and persuasion, and mostly influenced problem perceptions and actor involvement. In the ‘applied’ pathway, the accuracy and resolution of the information were key factors; in the ‘configuring’ pathway, its influence depended on the accessibility of information and the kind of interaction during policy formulation. Which of the pathways predominated depended on how an adaptation problem fitted with existing policy arrangements. The findings show that stress tests are a promising tool for policy mainstreaming and for promoting local climate adaptation. They also highlight the importance of identifying the pathways of information use, in order to increase the impact of climate information.

气候信息在适应气候变化中起着关键作用，但是以有效方式提供和使用它是一个挑战。气候信息通常仍未得到充分利用，即使使用，其对政策制定的影响也远未弄清。在荷兰，引入了气候压力测试，以告知和刺激市政一级的气候适应政策。在压力测试中，估计了极端降雨，高温，干旱和洪水的风险和脆弱性。本文研究了这种新工具是否以及如何将气候适应信息主流化到市政政策中。根据对市政官员的采访和文件分析，我们显示压力测试是通过两种通用途径进行的。在“应用”途径中，压力测试以一种工具性的方式用来影响政策目标和措施。在“配置”途径中，压力测试主要用于学习和说服，并且主要影响问题的感知和参与者的参与。在“应用”途径中，信息的准确性和分辨率是关键因素。在“配置”路径中，其影响取决于信息的可访问性以及政策制定过程中的交互类型。哪种途径占主导地位取决于适应问题如何适应现有的政策安排。研究结果表明，压力测试是将政策纳入主流并促进当地气候适应的有前途的工具。它们还强调了确定信息使用途径的重要性，