Latest news and events on Climate-ADAPT

In following up on the recent EU Missions information days held in January 2022, that launched the mission implementation phase, the European Joint Programming Initiative on Climate (JPI), supported by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, is organising a European networking event for the actors interested in the Horizon Europe 2021 calls of the Climate Change Adaptation Mission.

The project launch webinar on “EU- level technical guidance for adapting buildings to climate change” will take place on the 16th of February 2022, from 14:00 to 15:30 CET. The European Commission is committed to supporting the integration of climate-resilience considerations into the construction and renovation of buildings. A key part of this is equipping industry actors with the technical climate adaptation guidance they need to support this objective.

The Interreg funded TEACHER-CE project (joinT Efforts to increase water management Adaptation to climate CHanges in central EuRope) has launched the CC-ARP-CE tool as the project’s main output. This online platform aims to support stakeholders of water management in integrated strategies and actions to adapt to climate change and to prevent and reduce the associated risks for the Central part of Europe.

This paper looks in retrospect at ECCA 2021, organised in May and June 2021, and discusses the key messages of this conference. It also explores how Europe can support adaptation around the world, which was the topic of discussion during a COP26 side-event that was co-hosted by ECCA 2021.

The 17th edition of the Global Risks Report of the World Economic Forum identifies tensions that will result from diverging trajectories and approaches within and between countries and then examines the risks, such as climate action failures leading to extreme weather events (described in Chapter 2), that could arise from such tensions. This year’s report highlights the implications of these risks for governments, businesses and individuals.

The Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) increases the risk of heat-related human illnesses and mortality. Previous global studies analysed this phenomenon aggregated at city scale or over seasonal and annual time periods, while human impacts strongly depend on shorter term heat stress experienced locally. Results published in the journal; Global Environmental Change, show that across urban areas worldwide over the period 2003–2020, 3-day SUHI extremes are on average more than twice as high as the warm-season median SUHI.

In October 2021, the EU LIFE Programme held a special online platform meeting to encourage the European Climate Pact’s implementation. LIFE climate action projects, also covering adaptation to climate change, have a lot in common with the European Climate Pact’s objectives. LIFE projects, NGOs, and other stakeholders from across Europe united to discuss how best to support the European Climate Pact.

High-quality green and blue spaces in cities, like parks, riverbanks and coastlines, are crucial for health and well-being, in particular for the elderly, children and people on low incomes. A European Environment Agency briefing shows that access is not equal, and that cities in the north and west of Europe tend to have more green space than cities in southern and eastern Europe.

Extreme weather events like storms, heatwaves and flooding accounted for economic losses of around half a trillion euros over the past 40 years and led to between 85,000 and 145,000 human fatalities across Europe. Less than one-third of these losses were insured, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) analysis of economic losses and fatalities from weather and climate-related events.

Climate change consequences are already visible in central Europe, and call for better risk management coordination. TEACHER-CE addresses this need by integrating and harmonizing results of previously funded INTERREG, Horizon2020, and Life projects into the TEACHER-CE Toolbox. This tool will focus on climate-proof management of water related issues such as floods, heavy rain and drought risk prevention, small water retention measures and protection of water resources through sustainable land-use management. The direct local and regional implementation will help municipalities and regions in adapting their processes to the changing climate conditions.

Nine out of 10 young Europeans agree that tackling climate change can help improve their own health and well-being, while 84% of those aged 55 or over agree. Almost every second European (49%) sees climate change as the main global challenge for the future of the EU, according to a special Eurobarometer on the Future of Europe.

The Coastal Communities Adapting Together project (CCAT) will hold its closure event to showcase the tools (such as geodesign workshops, educational resources, and participatory mapping projects) that were developed during the project to support coastal communities in Ireland and Wales understand climate change and how to adapt. The project developed a range of tools for engaging with local authorities, educators, young people, communities groups, policymakers and academics. The project partners will explore the challenges and opportunities of these tools as well as the impact of COVID-19 and the next steps.

A survey aims to identify the pressing stakeholder needs related to sea level rise to inform several basin-specific expert workshops and a large-scale European conference in 2022. The joint JPI Climate & JPI Oceans Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise invites stakeholders from all sectors and domains to share their perspectives, wishes and ideas. The survey will be open until 21 February 2022.

The Ecocity World Summit Series aims to promote the rethinking and rebuilding of our human civilization around the globe to exist in balance with living systems. The 14th edition focuses on themes related to healthy and sustainable urban areas and is inviting innovators, engineers and planners, policy makers and other professionals, with climate adaptation and climate resilience among the topics.

The European Commission launched a prize to reward the best Earth observation-based prototype to forecast and monitor vector-borne diseases. The winner of the €5 million European Innovation Council (EIC) Horizon Prize on Early Warning for Epidemics is Greece-based project EarlY WArning System for Mosquito-borne Diseases (EYWA). The EYWA project transforms scientific knowledge into a decision-making tool, contributing significantly to combatting and controlling the threat of mosquito-borne diseases.

This international networking event organized by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) in cooperation with Sabancı University and Marmara Municipalities Union under the 'Turkey in Horizon 2020 Phase II' Technical Assistance Project, aims at bringing together participants from Europe and beyond coming from research, industry and local authorities working in the field of climate change and urban adaptation.

This CEN-CENELEC conference will bring together stakeholders involved in standards for the infrastructure sector (Construction, Energy, Transport, ICT) and other standard developers interested in incorporating adaptation to climate change, with experts on climate change adaptation, climate change scientists and experts for management of climate risks.

Climate change is disrupting the water cycle. Impacts are observed in all environments and socio-ecosystems. This international event is open to the academic world and to socio-economic partners concerned by the variability of the water cycle and adaptation to extreme events.

Sustainable investments in adaptation are harmonised in a European Union taxonomy that needs to cover more economic activities over time and is globally applicable. Via investments that are labelled sustainable, the financial sector can promote and support adaptation measures to reduce physical climate risks. Residual risks can be transferred via insurance mechanisms.

The Interreg project TEACHER-CE (joinT Efforts to increase water management Adaptation to climate CHanges in central EuRope) is integrating results of previous projects recognizing their links to climate change adaptation in the field of water management. The main outcome of the project is an Integrated Toolbox CC-ARP-CE for climate change adaptation and risk prevention and reduction, which will be demonstrated in this webinar.

The findings of the 2021 Lancet Countdown report for Europe will be presented during this webinar, where policy makers and researchers exchange their views with the speakers on how to prevent the effects of climate change on public health.

A few weeks after the end of COP26, this webinar will be an opportunity to discuss the perspectives and opportunities of NBS in cities. What will be the place of NBS in the climate adaptation agenda of cities in the near future? How to finance NBS and what is the place of nature-based enterprises in this economy? Guest speakers will first give presentations to reflect on these topics, followed by a panel discussion.

At the COP26, held in Glasgow, climate adaptation was the object of particular emphasis. The Glasgow Climate Pact emphasizes the need to scale up adaptation action to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change in line with the best available science and urges Parties to further integrate adaptation into local, national and regional planning

As extreme weather events and other climate hazards are increasing in frequency and severity across Europe, solid information is needed for assessing climate risks and planning for adaptation. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) new interactive report gives an overview of past and projected changes in Europe’s most important climate hazards and how they impact European regions. It is especially valuable for policymakers and experts concerned with climate risk assessment and adaptation planning. The report relies strongly on the European Climate Data Explorer (published on Climate-ADAPT), which was developed jointly with the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The EU Climate Pact mobilises citizens to engage in implementing EU Climate objectives including on adaptation. With its new issue, EU Climate Pact Newsletter offers directly dedicated sections on ambassadors, pledges, and to better support people and organisations, by featuring as many concrete actions and projects as possible.

The team behind LIFE Heatland is holding an online workshop, ‘Urban heat island and noise – our not so invisible enemies,’ on 17 November 2021. LIFE Heatland seeks to improve urban adaptation to the consequences of climate change. The team is looking to reduce the urban heat island effect by developing new pavements with less solar storage than conventional ones.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding setting out a framework for cooperation on the enhanced use of Copernicus Earth observation data. As part of the Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025, the EIB committed to substantially increase climate adaptation efforts and ensure that all the operations it supports, are adapted to current weather variability and future climate change impacts. The new cooperation agreement with ECMWF will support it in achieving these objectives.

This virtual event, organised by The European Investment Bank in collaboration with the European Court of Auditors, focuses on the challenge of generating a pipeline of climate adaptation projects in the European Union (EU). The event examines the role of advisory services in this challenge and explores opportunities to work with EU member states, cities and regions on translating adaptation plans and strategies into bankable adaptation projects.

This event will showcase how top profitable climate solutions contribute to the climate objectives of COP21, and engage the conversation with institutions to accelerate their implementation. Following an introduction by the European Investment Bank’s Director, General Chris Hurst, and Bertrand Piccard on the Solar Impulse Foundation’s side, there will be a showcase of a series of high-impact solutions across various sectors, followed by two rounds of panel discussions.

On 28 July 2020, 50 participants from Spain took part in a digital citizen engagement event on the European Union Mission on “Adaptation to climate change” Participants were selected randomly from different gender, age and employment situation groups to ensure a variety of views.