News Archive
New climate change country profiles show key health risks and priority areas for action in European Region
17 Aug 2022The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have launched the Health and Climate Change Country Profiles to give an overview of critical areas for action to combat these threats, and to provide links to available resources. Developed in collaboration with national health services, they summarize evidence of the climate hazards and health risks facing countries.
WMO State of the Global Climate in 2021 report: four key climate change indicators break records
16 Aug 2022Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), this is another clear sign that human activities are causing planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere, with harmful and long-lasting ramifications for sustainable development and ecosystems. Western Europe experienced some of its most severe flooding on record in mid-July associated with large economic losses in Germany.
Publication on transformational approach for climate adaptation
16 Aug 2022A publication from the Climate Adaptation Services (CAS) Foundation and Wageningen Environmental Research, published in the Journal Frontiers in Climate, informs about options to extend climate services to support policy makers in developing transformational adaptation strategies. Transformational adaptation strategies aim to address the underlying causes of climate risks through broader development pathways.
Bonn Climate Change Conference 2022 negotiation outcomes on climate action
16 Aug 2022During the 56th session of the subsidiary bodies Bonn Climate Change Conference held in June 2022, all Parties to the UNFCCC came together to make progress on technical issues regarding both mitigation and adaptation, and prepared decisions for adoption at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) taking place in November 2022.
Heat in the inner city: a plea in Germany for more trees and shade
15 Aug 2022Climate change is resulting in an increasing number of hot summer days in Germany. A recent study by the German Environment Agency (UBA) has systematically investigated how cooler temperatures can be realised in inner-city neighbourhoods. Much more green, in particular new trees, more shading as well as roof and façade greening can keep temperatures down in the buildings.
European Handbook for Sustainable Development Goals Voluntary Local Review
15 Aug 2022The 2022 edition of this handbook provides policy makers and urban practitioners a consolidated method and examples of indicators that local and regional governments can use to monitor the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Voluntary Local Reviews are processes that encompass both the monitoring and the analysis of the achievements with respect to the SDGs at a local level. The Handbook includes detailed and updated information on 72 indicators and related data sources, which can enable cities to measure their progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New information related to adaptation to climate change is provided under SDG 13 (Climate action).
New policy page on Climate-ADAPT: Just resilience
01 Aug 2022The most vulnerable people and systems are most at risk from climate change impacts, have the least capacity to adapt, and are the least likely to benefit from adaptation actions. A new page on Climate-ADAPT informs about key actions on ‘leaving no-one behind’ in recent and forthcoming EU policies related to climate adaptation, including the European Green Deal policy package and the EU Mission on adaptation to climate change.
A policy content analysis for evaluating urban adaptation justice in İstanbul (Turkey)
01 Aug 2022There is a distinct lack of targets for realizing urban adaptation justice in policy documents. Researchers conclude that the underlying vulnerability of marginalized communities to climate change impacts is not being addressed, and identify urban adaptation justice in authoritarian governance contexts as a critical research gap.
New Health and Climate Change Country Profiles
01 Aug 2022Over 80 countries have participated in the Health and Climate Change Country Profile initiative since it began in 2015. The profiles summarize evidence of the climate hazards and health risks facing countries. The current 2021-2022 global series includes European countries.
G7 Health Ministers agree on climate roadmap
01 Aug 2022In a joint statement, the health leaders from the Group of 7 recognized an essential role for national public health institutes in climate action. They committed to enhanced collaboration on climate and environmental health impacts, and backed a roadmap of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) for action on health and climate change.