Latest news and events on Climate-ADAPT

After the worst-ever year in 2019, 2020 was another year in which fires burnt large areas of natural land in Europe. Despite the increased level of preparedness in EU countries, about 340,000 hectares (ha) burnt in the EU in 2020. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission presented the 21th edition of its Annual Report on Forest Fires in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, covering 2020.

The European Environment Agency's report: ‘Water resources across Europe - confronting water stress: an updated assessment’, presents the current state of water stress in Europe with the aim to put focus on managing water availability risks under the impacts of a changing climate. Climate change is expected to make problems worse, as droughts are increasing in frequency, magnitude and impact. Europe needs to strengthen the resilience of its ecosystems and use water more efficiently.

On 21 of September 2021 the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) organized a high-level panel discussion on “Climate Change: the rapidly increasing challenge for the Mediterranean” providing an opportunity for actors to voice clear messages on how the Mediterranean countries are prepared to better address the looming challenge.

The Leibniz-Institut für Raumbezogene Sozialforschung and the University of Potsdam explored the climate mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 big and medium-sized German cities. The ranking shows that bigger cities are more active in terms of climate change measurements. In addition, the commitment of cities concerning climate mitigation actions amplifies their activities in the fields of climate adaptation.

The EU funded LIFE-IP AdaptInGR project has produced new climate projections for Greece to further boost mainstreaming of adaptation across policies and projects. High resolution GIS maps for 22 climate indices have been produced for three greenhouse gas emissions scenarios and for two future periods (2031-2060, 2071-2100). The maps are accessible through the GIS Mapsportal of the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy.

This event addresses the need for smarter, faster and systemic climate change adaptation. It convenes leaders and practitioners to discuss solutions for key obstacles hindering adaptation action. A high-level launch will highlight adaptation ambition in developed and developing country contexts. A panel discussion will follow, focusing on accelerating adaptation action.

The sixth edition of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Adaptation Gap Report: 'The Gathering Storm' looks at how Europe and the entire world is doing in adapting to the impacts of climate change. The report finds that there is an urgent need to step up climate adaptation finance.

The EU funded LIFE SHARA project (Sharing awareness and governance of adaptation to climate change), has strengthened the network of collaboration between Spain and Portugal in climate change adaptation. In addition, the generation and transfer of knowledge has been boosted through the creation of a technical platform for adaptation to climate change “AdapteCCA”.

The German "Climate Impact and Risk Assessment for Germany" (KWRA) was undertaken by 25 federal authorities under the lead of the Federal Environment Agency and on behalf of the Federal German Government. 102 Climate impacts and 13 fields of action were investigated and assessed. This summary report presents the contents of the six sub-reports for all fields of action, next to the main contents of the integrated assessment; an overall consideration of climate risks without and with adaptation; the spatial patterns and the urgent needs for action, as well as the need for further research.

The H2020 funded MED-GOLD project aims to make European agriculture more resilient to climate change by developing climate services for three key Mediterranean crops. In this workshop, the dashboard tool will be showcased and discussion will be held on the potential usability of this tool in the wine sector.

Side event organized by WHO Europe during the COP26 with the aim to explore why urgent climate action is a prerequisite for sustaining global health, and how health-promoting environments and behaviours can be good for the climate.

Weather extremes can cause economic ripples along the supply chains. If they occur at roughly the same time, the ripples start interacting and can amplify even if they occur at completely different places around the world, a new study shows. The resulting economic losses are larger than the sum of the initial events, the researchers find in computer simulations of a global economic network.

The 'G20 Climate Risks Atlas - Impacts, policy, economics', contains a series of Country Factsheets featuring maps and infographics which summarizes scientific projections of how climate impacts will play out in the top 20 world’s largest countries over the coming decades.

On October 25th and 26th, The Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Union for the Mediterranean will be hosting a virtual workshop to present the challenges linked to climate change in the Mediterranean, and how these can be overcome by better leveraging climate data.

The mission adaptation to climate change will help prepare for unavoidable climate impacts and accelerate Europe’s transformation into a climate-resilient continent. On 23 November 2021 an information session will be organized to present the concept and implementation mechanisms of the mission, and explain how the regions can engage in the process.

EEA is organizing a session at the EU Pavilion at COP 26 with focus on climate change and health. Tackling climate change impacts on health requires solid knowledge and evidence-based and equity-oriented solutions in both adaptation and mitigation. The session will showcase findings of key recent research projects on heat impacts on health; present the EU knowledge-sharing platform - the European Climate and Health Observatory; and discuss sharing knowledge with EU’s neighbours and across policy fields.

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.

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.