News Archive

Slush flows are a dangerous but under-researched type of avalanche that can occur in Norway’s Arctic regions - masses of water-saturated snow which can travel long distances at a high speed. Researchers of the EU-funded IMPETUS project are developing a new digital tool for real-time forecasts for slush flows to mitigate the risks, protecting lives and infrastructure.

This report by the European Topic Centre on Climate change adaptatjon and LULUCF (ETC CA) takes stock of the progress made in establishing legal frameworks and policies for climate adaptation across Europe. It also identifies challenges in integrating monitoring and evaluation systems, ensuring that adaptation actions lead to meaningful risk reduction and increased resilience. The findings suggest a need for continued efforts to enhance the coherence and effectiveness of adaptation policies through robust legal mandates and improved governance structures.

The EU-funded CLIMAS project tested in three Climate Citizens’ Assemblies (Catalonia, Edermünde, and Riga), an innovative problem-oriented climate adaptation toolbox. It is based on a values-based approach, design thinking methods and citizen science mechanisms. Citizens called for climate protection in land use planning, sufficient permeable surface and dialogues and participation formats for adaptation and land use activities.

The Strategic Advisory Board will help the European Commission to further design the Destination Earth (DestinE) as one of the EU’s flagship initiatives responding to the twin challenge of green and digital transition. Two high precision digital twins of the Earth are to be developed to monitor and simulate natural and human activity, and to develop and test scenarios that would enable more sustainable development and support European green transformation policies. Adaptation plays a key role in this, as one of the digital twins will address Climate Change Adaptation.

This Technical paper, published by the European Topic Centre on Climate change adaptation and LULUCF (ETC CA), investigates how Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can be applied in forested landscapes to reduce wildfire and pest outbreak risks, but also to improve the resilience of forests and support their recovery after such disturbances.

The new 'Marine and coastal ecosystem restoration for climate change adaptation in the Caribbean ' case study showcases adaptation practice in Guadeloupe, a French Oversea department. It both improves the coverage of case studies for the EU Outermost regions and the Marine and fisheries sector.

A complete and climate-resilient trans-European transport network (TEN-T) is a cornerstone for growth, and socio-economic and territorial cohesion in the EU. According to a recent European Commission study, integrating climate adaptation into TEN-T policies is essential to meet adaptation goals. To strengthen the resilience of the European transport infrastructure, significant public investment is needed.

2024 was confirmed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) to be the warmest year on record globally, and the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above its pre-industrial level. Human-induced climate change remains the primary driver of extreme air and sea surface temperatures; while other factors, such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), also contributed to the unusual temperatures observed during the year.

A methodological guide for the development of joint city-company climate adaptation strategies was elaborated in the framework of the EU-funded LIFE-CLIMCOOP project by the experts of the HungaroMet, National Adaptation Centre. The guide aims at presenting useful planning-methodological tools and practical examples of how to jointly develop a city-company adaptation strategy.

This report published by the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Adaptation and LULUCF provides guidelines for the development of socioeconomic indicators to assess future exposure and vulnerability to future climate hazards and inform science-policy assessments. Current climate risk assessments primarily rely on static indicators or linear extrapolations, which do not fully capture dynamic socio-economic drivers like urbanization, aging, and income distribution with more qualitative variables relating to vulnerability. This report proposes integrating insights from Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) to create scenario-based risk assessments that reflect future societal trends, making climate indicators more relevant for policy and planning.

The latest publication of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) aims to enhance the knowledge of national statistical offices on current and future information demands related to climate action. The publication uses the reporting mechanism under the Paris Agreement to examine how official statistics and data are provided for climate change mitigation, adaptation, just transition, climate-related costs, transfers, and financial flows. For each of these topics, it describes the policy context, showcases what the national statistical offices can offer now, identifies gaps and limitations, and provides recommendations on how to better meet user needs, while informing the public. The publication was prepared by a dedicated UNECE Task Force between and endorsed by the Conference of European Statisticians.

In order to mitigate the current climate impacts and to take precautionary measures to reduce future climate risks, the Federal Government adopted the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change 2024 (DAS 2024) in December 2024. With the new national climate adaptation strategy, the Federal Government is fulfilling a key obligation under the Federal Climate Adaptation Act. The strategy contains 33 measurable targets for adaptation to the impacts of climate changes and specifies over 180 measures for its implementation. The climate adaptation targets are intended to reduce the key climate risks for Germany according to the Climate Impact and Risk Analysis 2021 (KWRA).

The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project REACHOUT produced a practical guide on how to use storytelling as a climate service. The methodology, Climate Stories, provides tools and recommendations for communicating complex models, results and scientific concepts in a way that connects personally and emotionally with target audiences.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) published a seasonal lookback at the summer of 2024. It has been the warmest summer on record for Europe with substantial heatwaves, record high sea surface temperatures and European rivers that were either exceptionally low or high river flows.

The newly launched Sea level projection tool is an interactive web platform designed to visualize and understand future sea level scenarios worldwide. Developed as part of the EU-funded PROTECT project, this tool combines data from the latest IPCC reports and regional models, making it an invaluable resource for researchers, policymakers, and educators.

The Spanish Council of Ministers approved paid leave up to four days for workers in Spain if they are unable to get to their workplace due to extreme weather. It was trialed in areas affected by the DANA weather event at the end of October and will now be rolled out nationwide.

According to the latest Joint Research Centre (JRC) report on Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2023, the 2023 wildfire season ranks among the EU's worst in over two decades, fuelled by climate change. Fires devastated vast areas, threatening ecosystems and lives. As fire risks rise, Europe must prevent and prepare for intensifying wildfire seasons.

The Climate Portal for Türkiye, developed by the Directorate of Climate Change with financial support from the European Union and technical support from UNDP Türkiye, was launched in November. It will support decision-making processes and increase climate change awareness. The Portal includes a national climate change database and GIS infrastructure for spatial data to assist performing climate change vulnerability and risk assessments.

The EU Horizon 2020-funded LOCALISED project has created an Integrated Database through extensive research and the harmonization of existing climate action resources. This database serves as a detailed, comprehensive, and reproducible repository of climate measures and tools. It includes 191 adaptation measures and is designed to be extendable, making it a valuable resource for future climate action efforts. The database is available for download as an Excel file, accompanied by a user-friendly guide from LOCALISED.

This dashboard supports on-going work on measuring progress towards climate resilience at European level by presenting existing knowledge on how to measure various aspects of adaptation at all levels of governance. It also introduces a guiding classification that could be used to group and further develop indicators relevant to the European level.

The Climate-ADAPT country profiles dashboard has been updated with a new and more interactive design. The dashboard makes it possible to compare adaptation policy information, reported in 2023, across multiple countries or explore detailed insights through each country profile.

The Eco-social water tariff of Dunkerque, France is a measure to address the challenge of water scarcity and water accessibility with an approach that ensures access to safe drinking water to low-income groups. The tariff protects them from financial burden resulting from increases in water prices. The measure led to a reduction in the average water consumption per household, tackling the increasing issue of water scarcity.

A revival and strengthening of the Cyprus Initiative on Climate Change, adopted in 2022 by ten countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) at COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, was recently announced by the President of the Republic of Cyprus. The announcement was made during the Climate Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East international conference, organized in Cyprus this past September.

To assess EU citizens’ awareness of and support for the European Union's activities, the Eurobarometer surveys monitor the evolution of public opinion in all 27 EU Member States. A new Eurobarometer survey shows that almost two-thirds of citizens (65%) believe they need more information to prepare for disasters and emergencies. EU citizens express particular concerns about extreme weather events (such as storms, droughts, heat/cold waves) and floods.