Latest news and events on Climate-ADAPT

The Swedish National Knowledge Centre for Climate Change Adaptation produced an animated film that explains the basics of climate change adaptation in Sweden. It can serve as inspiration and introduction for further discussions. The animated film is two minutes long, in Swedish but with English subtitles.

The main aim of the conference is to bring together scientists, policy makers, as well as all organizations and citizens engaged with climate change impacts and adaptation at the urban environment.

The goal of this conference is to inspire adaptation action by showcasing solutions, exchanging knowledge, creating connections, and encouraging dialogue on how to act more and faster at every level. A webinar series on pressing climate change adaptation challenges from 25 May to 10 June will be followed by the high-level conference on 22 June.

Working with nature and enhancing the role of ecosystems can societies help to adapt on climate change, reduce its impacts, and increase climate change resilience. Such an approach can deliver multiple benefits, including lowering pressures on biodiversity, improving human health and well-being, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building a sustainable economy, according to a new European Environment Agency report.

In three virtual sessions of two hours on 4, 18 and 25 May, learning and capacity development activities will be organised to support countries in designing and applying integrated approaches in their adaptation, mitigation, and development agendas.

This conference aims to link space and climate ecosystems, and to contribute to the European Green Deal and to a transition towards greener and climate resilient society and economy.

This digital launch event will consist of high level, insightful, global discussions about the contributions of cities, towns and regions towards a sustainable future, followed by a year-long experience to bring together local and regional governments of the ICLEI Network in spite of the pandemic. Climate adaptation will be mainly discussed on the last day of this launch event.

The third edition of this competition was launched in the frame of the 5th Anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement. It is aimed at public stakeholders, members of the private sector and NGOs which are taking action and developing solutions to adapt the Mediterranean regions to the changing climate. Applications closing date: 15 April 2021.

Slovakian and Hungarian school children discovered the effects of climate change along their shared border, the River Danube, thanks to a project funded by EU Regional and Urban Development.

This United Nations Economic Commission for Europe workshop will take a holistic perspective on the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on water resource management, both at national and transboundary level, and on water supply and sanitation systems and ultimately people's health.

The 14th edition of the longest running summit on sustainable cities invites experts, innovators, researchers, engineers, designers, policy makers, environmentalists, teachers and students to explore urban transformations for nature-based solutions to adapt on climate change.

Leading researchers from the social and natural sciences, engineering and economics are brought together with policymakers, civil society actors and business leaders to discuss the potential of Nature-based Solutions to meet societal goals in a warming world.

The consequences of climate change pose economic risks for companies. A study by the German Environment Agency (UBA) shows that only about half of the companies, noted on the German stock market, report publicly on these risks. None of the 100 largest companies studied provides information on whether the corporate strategy is resilient to stronger climate change.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, drought periods in Europe are shorter but more intense. Moreover, high temperatures, often accompanying these droughts, cause greater water loss from the soil. This has a significant negative effect on agriculture and vegetation in general, according to an international team of scientists.

Plant responses to climate drivers such as temperature and precipitation may become visible only years after the actual climate event. Since plant-climate interactions are more complex than foreseen, researchers want to prioritize the development of robust scenarios for the plant species that are critical to human well-being.

The future development of Finland's agricultural and food economy depends significantly on changes happening in other countries, including climate change related developments, and how Finland reacts to those changes. In the next few decades, societies will change in a way that is difficult to predict. Researchers have constructed four alternative scenarios of how the Finnish agri-food sector could change under different global circumstances.

The European Climate and Health Observatory is a partnership of the European Commission, the EEA and several other European and international organizations. This Observatory provides access to a wide range of resources on climate change and health, and aims to strengthen the health component in adaptation strategies and activities as well as the climate adaptation component in health policies. The Observatory was launched on 4 March 2021 in a virtual launch event together with its partner organisations and users. In connection with the launch of the Observatory, the Lancet Countdown and the EEA publish a joint briefing ’Responding to the health risks of climate change in Europe’. This Briefing highlights key health impacts from climate change as well as opportunities to reduce climate-related health risks through adaptation policies aligned with mitigation actions.

Well over half of Europe's forests are potentially at risk from windthrow, forest fire and insect attacks, according to a study by an international team of scientists from Italy, Spain, Finland and Germany. Important ecosystem services could be impaired by the loss of especially large and old trees.

More than 300 experts in disaster risk management from different disciplines produced the report: 'Science for Disaster Risk Management 2020: acting today, protecting tomorrow', with accurate and updated information on the consequences that disasters have on key assets of society and how these can be managed. The launch event will entail the rationale and highlights of the report, followed by a panel discussion.

The Publications Office of the European Union has published several reports of the European Commission's study on climate adaptation modelling, accompanying the launch of the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change. It addresses the European Commissions' requirements to support decision making on climate adaptation at multiple governance levels. The study provides a comprehensive overview of technical and economic models and tools for hazards, risks, impacts, vulnerability and adaptation climate assessments and of research gaps.

The Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform is organising a webinar to showcase the central role of the water management sector in the shift to a circular economy and the achievement of EU environmental objectives. It offers local and regional policy makers as well as water service operators insights into the EU latest policy developments on water at the crossroads between circular economy, climate adaptation and nature protection.

Based on an initiative of Germany and South Korea, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published a new standard for climate change risk assessment in the ISO climate adaptation series. This standard, ISO 14091, Adaptation to climate change – Guidelines on vulnerability, impacts and risk assessment, 2021-02, describes how to understand an organization’s vulnerability and how to develop and implement a sound risk assessment in the context of climate change, now and in the future. The document was developed in parallel as European standard and will soon be published as EN ISO 14091.

With different sessions, this workshop will cover the main Copernicus contribution areas to the Common Agriculture Policy, including climate change.

The European Commission set out the pathway to prepare for the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Building on the 2013 Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, the new proposal is to shift the focus from understanding the problem to developing solutions, and to move from planning to implementation.

The European Commission and the European Environment Agency, in cooperation with the European Policy Centre, are delighted to invite you to the official launch of the new European Climate and Health Observatory.

This virtual event accompanies the adoption of the new EU Climate Adaptation Strategy on 24 February 2021, and is composed by climate community workshops (three parallel streams 14.00-16.00 CET on both days), and high-level policy panels (16.15-18.00 CET on both days).

The aim is to support and showcase Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement which are ambitious, based on the principles of justice and equity, and promote and protect health. It will also mobilize the rapidly growing movement of health professionals around the world who are now driving ambitious climate action.

This conference will share the results and tools of the Cultural Adaptations project - which focused on four countries in northern Europe exploring how culture can adapt to the impacts of climate change -, and explore wider knowledge and international experiences of how creativity can help them to adapt.

This open and free Masterclass, consisting of three parts stretched across three days, will include a review of what’s known about urban heat islands, and provides insights into considerations for choosing interventions to manage them. Target groups are urban planners, designers, architects, resilience officers, city government officials, urban climate scientists amongst others.