The 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: code red for a healthy future, is an international collaboration that independently monitors the health consequences of a changing climate across five key domains and over 40 indicators.
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The European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service supports the national authorities with complementary flood forecast information. In July 2021, the EFAS forecasts started indicating a high probability of flooding for several river basins in Europe affecting countries like Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Commission and Member States carried out a survey to gather information about the framework that was established for flood risk management under the Floods Directive in the EU. The final report of the study launched in 2019, on ‘Current Practice in Flood Risk Management’ is based on a review of 34 case study examples from 15 Member States. The objective of this work is to strengthen flood risk management in the EU.
In the study “Current and projected regional economic impacts of heatwaves in Europe”, scientists from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and other European research institutions calculate that heatwaves, due to their impact on human productivity, are causing significant damage to Europe’s economy. New estimates show that the negative impact is set to increase sharply in the next decades.
The European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (EFDRR) has established itself as an important vehicle to address the regional disaster risk challenges. It serves as a forum for other stakeholders to take a shared responsibility and make actionable commitments to prevent, reduce and manage disaster risk.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) report ‘Knowledge for Action: Empowering the transition to a sustainable Europe’ considers Europe’s current environment and climate goals, and the knowledge needed to achieve sustainability in line with the European Green Deal. The management of land and its impact on climate change mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity is a key topic for further knowledge developments to enable a more systemic transformation.
This workshop report includes assessments from the region and recommendations for policy-makers and the scientific community. The Mediterranean and Middle East regions are “hotspots” and the effects of climate change are greater here than in other regions. Topics addressed during the workshop included the effects of extreme weather events, water shortage, food security, infectious diseases, air pollution, and health issues of displaced populations, among others.
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has published the special report 20/2021 “EU funding for biodiversity and climate change in EU forests: positive but limited results”. Although forest cover in the EU has grown in the past 30 years, the condition of those forests is deteriorating. Sustainable management practices are key to maintaining biodiversity and addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation in forests, and the ECA has made recommendations to the Commission to use its legal options to improve the forest conditions in the EU.
The goal of this three-day conference, organized by the international NGO AGWA, held immediately prior to the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), is to build capacity around new approaches to assessing and addressing climate risk across sectors, including their vast potential within global climate policy and sustainable development agendas.
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has published special report 20/2021 “Sustainable water use in agriculture: CAP funds more likely to promote greater rather than more efficient water use”. EU policies are unable to ensure farmers use water sustainably. The impact of agriculture on water resources is major and undeniable. But farmers benefit from too many exemptions from EU water policy that hinder efforts to ensure sound water use.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is issuing a call for expressions of interest with the aim of designating the members of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. The Advisory Board will provide independent scientific advice and produce reports on EU measures for climate adaptation and mitigation, climate targets and indicative greenhouse gas budgets and their coherence with the European climate law and the EU's international commitments under the Paris Agreement. Closing Date: 1 November 2021.
The Commission launched five new EU missions, a new and innovative way to work together to tackle big challenges in health, climate and the environment. They include a set of actions, such as research and innovation projects, policy measures and legislative initiatives, as a novelty of Horizon Europe and also an original concept in EU policy, bringing together several Commission services. Among the five missions aiming to deliver solutions to key global challenges by 2030, is the 'Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change and societal transformation', supporting at least 150 European regions and communities to become climate resilient by 2030.
Heat waves and floods are the main climate change impacts on Italian cities. Such impacts are expected to grow, with consequences on people’s health, and episodes of hydro-geological instability. The report “Risk Analysis. Climate change in six Italian cities” concerns an integrated analysis of the current climate risks to future scenarios, and describes the implementation of adaptation and resilience tools to respond effectively to present and future risks.
Together with various real estate parties, the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, and Climate Adaptation Services are working on a standard approach to assess the physical climate risk for real estate portfolios. A standard approach is desirable to create a level playing field in which there is transparency about the method and data used, and the assumptions underlying them.
To prevent floodings, as Slovenia had experienced in the past, a series of measures have been taken along the rivers Meža and Mislinja as part of a project, funded by the EU Regional Policy, carried out by the Slovenian Water Agency. The project will help to ensure a 100-year flood protection in the urban areas and agricultural areas included in the project.
The EU Interreg MONTCLIMA project is organizing a seminar with the aim on sharing knowledge and experiences concerning good practices on drought management and prevention strategies in mountain forests in Southwest Europe, in order to contribute to forest drought management policies.
Farmers and policymakers can reap benefits from taking seasonal weather forecasts into account when making decisions about wheat production. Flowering time can be reliably predicted already at the beginning of the growing season in Central and Eastern Europe. This emerges from a study by Joint Research Centre scientists recently published in 'Nature'.
The 20th meeting of the UNFCCC Adaptation Committee (AC) concluded on 10 September and looking towards the UN Climate Change Conference COP26. Progress was made on the Committee’s work in promoting the implementation of enhanced action on adaptation under the Convention and the Paris Agreement, and supporting countries in their efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change. In particular, it adopted its flexible workplan for the years 2022-2024, and a report on considering methods to review overall progress made in achieving the Global Goal on Adaptation.
A series of three webinars will be organised in line with the Green, Just and Productive city dimensions, as established under the New Leipzig Charter (NLC). The webinars will showcase examples and initiatives from cities on how to develop resilience and further the implementation of these dimensions at the local level, and providing a space for discussing achievements, remaining issues and future opportunities to help cities face their challenges in a strategic way and thus contribute to sustainable urban development.
The recently published report 'Climate change, trade, and global food security - a global assessment of transboundary climate risks in agricultural commodity flows' by the Stockholm Environment Institute, reveals in detail the climate risks to global trade in major agricultural commodities, and concludes that they pose a serious European and global challenge.
The Lancet Countdown in Europe is a research collaboration for monitoring progress on health and climate change in Europe. With the wealth of data and academic expertise available, this collaboration will develop high-resolution, region-specific indicators to identify and address the main challenges and opportunities of Europe’s response to climate change for health. The indicators will provide information to policy decision making and will also contribute to the European Observatory on Climate and Health. Join by registering for the two-hours launch event of this initiative.
To provide a better understanding of the effects of climate change in the Baltic Sea, Baltic Earth and HELCOM have recently published the first Baltic Sea Climate Change Fact Sheet. The publication compiles the latest available science in the region indicating that the water temperature and sea level will rise in the Baltic Sea, and sea ice cover will decrease.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has published a white paper on “Climate change and its impact on lung health: a focus on Europe”. This research summarises the direct and indirect evidence that links climate change to lung health and maps out policy priorities to prevent and curb the effects of climate change on lung health.
The European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) is a unique platform where cities, organisations and stakeholders from local and regional institutions can exchange experiences and discuss strategies for the planning of adaptation to climate change and forging urban resilience for local action. The event is an initiative from ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability and the European Environment Agency (EEA).
The 5th European Climate Change Adaptation Conference ‘Bringing adaptation solutions to life’, was held online. The theme of the conference was inspiring climate adaptation action today for a resilient future. A series of nine webinars was organised from 25 May to 10 June, in the run-up to a high-level event on 22 June.
The Climate-ADAPT country profiles were previously updated in 2019. The information was based on reporting according to the EU ‘Monitoring Mechanism Regulation’. The current country profiles display information on national adaptation actions reported by EU member states under Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action. Now, comprehensive and detailed information on EU Member State’s national climate change adaptation planning and strategies, and implemented and planned actions to facilitate adaptation to climate change is available on the Climate-ADAPT.
The COP26 is a crucial moment for both people and planet. Inclusion of health considerations in climate policy making protects populations and build public support for ambitious climate action. In the months leading up to COP26, the Global Climate & Health Alliance (GCHA) is hosting a series of webinars focused on skills, framings and tools to help ensure that advocacy by the climate and health community is its strongest yet as the negotiations approach.
This international conference will be a gathering at the nexus of cities, climate change science and innovation, and is co-hosted by UN-Habitat and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM). It will bring together over 1,000 city leaders, scientists, researchers, innovators, academics, youth and business people to advance pragmatic and action oriented research and science that will help cities reduce their carbon footprint and increase resilience to climate change.
EUROCONTROL, a civil-military organisation dedicated to supporting European aviation, organises this webinar in order to explore how a more climate-resilient aviation can be build in the face of the increasing risks linked to climate change.
A new project, called 'The Blue Edge' (Den Blå Kant) has started to become Svendborg's new common harbour space between the city and the sea, aiming at flood and cloudburst protection as well as an improved urban environment at the same time. Three sluiceways and a belt of fixed and mobile dikes will protect the area against storm surges of up to three meters above the average sea level. The project will also establish emergency flood channels leading stormwater runoff from the city directly into the harbour basin. The most relevant project information is accessible through the Danish Climate Change Adaptation Portal.
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