News Archive

As wildfires are getting larger, more frequent, and more destructive, the European Commission is presenting a new integrated approach to wildfire risk management, which covers prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. This holistic approach will enhance Europe's resilience against the growing threat of wildfires and ensure stronger protection for Europeans and the environment, as well as its infrastructure and cultural heritage.

The EU-funded REGILIENCE+ project has published the results of a needs assessment conducted with 147 stakeholders from 27 countries on the implementation of adaptation projects. These findings provide a clear roadmap of the specific challenges and requirements facing local and regional authorities, offering valuable insights into how EU Mission projects can better tailor their solutions to support regional climate resilience.

The newest State of Climate report from the World Meteorological Organization finds that the Earth’s climate is more out of balance than at any time in observed history, as greenhouse gas concentrations drive continued warming of the atmosphere and ocean and melting of ice. These large-scale changes have occurred within a few decades but will have harmful repercussions for hundreds – and potentially thousands – of years.

The European Commission adopted new guidance to help Member States adapt the Natura 2000 network of protected natural sites to the growing pressures of climate change. It provides recommendations on practical adaptation measures and a climate adaptation framework for Natura 2000 managers, national authorities and stakeholders responsible for safeguarding Europe's most precious habitats and species.

A new report from The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies shows that climate hazards such as heat, drought and wildfires disproportionately affect Southern and Southeastern Europe, while flooding increasingly impacts Central and Northern regions. These uneven pressures translate into widening socio-economic disparities, particularly in agriculture, infrastructure, health and the broader economy. However, climate adaptation can turn risk into resilience.

A new early warning system has been launched in Latvia to address the increasing flood risk due to snowmelt and heavy precipitation. The system, building on a previous sensor-based application operating in the city of Jelgava, will deliver alerts to residents and authorities in the Zemgale region, a flat territory with dense river network. It received funding from the Horizon 2020 IMPETUS project and was an outcome achieved due to collaboration of the Jelgava Digital Center, the Zemgale Planning Region, the Latvian Environment Geology and Meteorology Center and the Baltic Environmental Forum.

The newest Climate-ADAPT search assistant upgrade brings several enhancements designed to mprove performance, reliability, and user experience. Key new features include DeepResearch capabilities enabling more comprehensive responses, Multi step Reasoning, and Fact Check AI, which offers greater stability and trustworthiness.

The Norwegian Environment Agency, together with the Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs, has commissioned a comprehensive literature mapping on links between climate change and social inequality. The report, which will inform Norway’s forthcoming national climate vulnerability assessment, indicates that climate related events tend to deepen existing inequalities. The report is written in Norwegian, but includes an English summary and key findings.

This report compiles the results of the project “Municipal Survey: Where Do Municipalities Stand in Adapting to Climate Change and How Do They Arrive at Multifunctional and Transformative Adaptation Solutions?”, provides guidance on how to strengthen municipal adaptation in Germany, and identifies future research needs. The report is in German, but there is an extensive English summary.

The EEA Management Board formally endorsed the Republic of Moldova as a cooperating country of the EEA and Eionet. This reflects a closer cooperation between the EEA and the Republic of Moldova on environment protection, including adaptation to climate change. Climate-ADAPT will gradually build up covering the country in the Climate-ADAPT resources and services.

Two new policy briefs have been published in the EU-funded LAND4CLIMATE project, highlighting that scaling up nature-based solutions on private land requires building long-term trust with landowners, simplifying administrative and legal procedures, providing clear economic incentives, and strengthening local technical capacity to move from fragmented action to more systematic and effective implementation.

A new European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing shows that with targeted investment, stronger governance and better monitoring of climate risks and adaptation, Europe can move from reactive crisis management to proactive resilience — stabilising farm incomes and safeguarding longterm agricultural productivity.

The European Environment Agency is developing a new tool called the Navigator, which will contribute to the Integrated framework for European climate resilience and risk management prepared by the European Commission. Hosted on Climate-ADAPT, the Navigator will help users across the EU find and access climate adaptation tools more easily. Please take our short survey by 30 March 2026 to help us design a Navigator that meets your needs.

The Climate-ADAPT case study catalogue was enriched by a national whole-of-government wildfire governance case study from Portugal. It shows the making of the Portuguese Integrated Rural Fire Management System to protect people and assets while supporting rural development. It complements another national example from Sweden, reflecting on managing/preventing wildfires under climate change conditions in Northern Europe.

Through developing a case study on engineering interventions to secure continued operation of road transport in areas affected by increasing intense rainfall due to climate change, the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Republic of Poland helped to close a gap for inspiring examples of practical adaptation actions in the transport sector in the Climate-ADAPT case study catalogue.

By analyzing nine storms that hit the western Mediterranean in early 2026, an international team of researchers found that densely populated urban centres, particularly where tourism-driven development has expanded into floodplains, as well as low-lying, eroding coastal towns, have a significantly higher exposure to heavy rainfall events. The combination of advance warning and decisive response helped limit the impact on communities at risk.

Setúbal, a signatory of the Covenant of Mayors since 2014, has invested in structural flood prevention. A dual water retention basin system integrated into what appears to be an urban park has now passed its first real stress test under extreme rainfall conditions, proving its effectivity to significantly mitigate disaster risks.

A new report from the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, 'Strengthening resilience to climate change – Recommendations for an effective EU adaptation policy framework', sets out how the EU can strengthen its approach to climate adaptation in the face of escalating and increasingly systemic climate risks.

The reference warming trajectory for climate adaptation (TRACC) is now enshrined in the Environment Code in France. A decree adopted on 23 January 2026 defines the objectives of the trajectory and the conditions for its updating. It is completed with an order specifying the warming levels of the trajectory and the procedures for making the corresponding regional climate projections available by the national Met agency, Météo-France.

Europeans are very concerned about extreme heat and other impacts of climate change like wildfires according to the results of a Europe-wide survey. It found that many citizens were also underprepared to deal with the increasing frequency and magnitude of heatwaves, flooding, or water shortages in their own homes. Ensuring the well-being and prosperity of European society under the rapidly changing climate requires a broad implementation of measures preventing and preparing for climate impacts, the affordability of household-level resilience measures and the fair distribution of authority-led adaptation actions

Four new policy briefs from the EU co-funded Ready4Heat project offer practical guidance for cities. The briefs translate local pilots from Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and Germany into clear recommendations for other municipalities.

Funded by the European Commission and coordinated by Slovakia’s Ministry of Environment, the Technical Support Instrument project delivered key findings to support the update of Slovakia’s National Climate Adaptation Strategy, along with related communication and capacity building activities. All deliverables are available in English on Slovakia’s climate adaptation web platform.

The Swedish Forestry Agency (Skovstyrelsen) published its second climate change adaptation plan for 2026-20230. This 5-year plan includes measures to increase surveillance and crisis management, ensure site adapted forests with reduced sensitivity for storm-felling and high level of variation, and to avoid increasing damage on the environment and other societal values over time. The report is in Swedish with an English summary.

The first European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA), published in 2024, is an important part of the evidence base for the integrated framework for European climate resilience and risk management. The EEA has now started work on the second edition (EUCRA-2), due for publication in 2028. EUCRA-2 will strengthen quantitative risk analysis, expand the policy scope, deepen adaptation insights, and increase stakeholder involvement, including from Eionet. A consortium has recently been contracted to support the delivery of EUCRA-2.

A new study commissioned by the Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA) and funded under Horizon Europe concludes that the EU, its Member States, and the private sector need to invest about €70 billion per year until 2050 in climate adaptation, to reduce exposure to increasing climate hazards and improve resilience.