News Archive
Two new publications help cities adapt to and mitigate climate change
18 Jan 2022In its role as part of the Covenant of Mayors, ICLEI Europe has developed two publications to help local authorities implement effective climate change adaptation and mitigation. The first publication draws on the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, among other strategic documents aiming to forge a climate-resilient Europe by 2050. The second publication homes in on governance.
European Innovation Council Horizon Prize on Early Warning for Epidemics: Commission awards €5 million to winning project
17 Jan 2022The 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.
Global long-term mapping of surface temperature shows intensified intra-city urban heat island extremes
13 Jan 2022The 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.
Rainy days harm the economy
12 Jan 2022Economic growth goes down when the number of wet days and days with extreme rainfall go up, according to a research study published in Nature. Rich countries are most severely affected and with their manufacturing and service sectors hardest hit. Analysis of data from more than 1,500 regions over the past 40 years shows a clear correlation and suggests that intensified daily rainfall driven by climate-change from burning fossil fuels will harm the global economy.
Sea level survey invites stakeholder perspective
11 Jan 2022A 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.
Global Risks Report 2022
11 Jan 2022The 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.
Policy paper released on nature-based solutions and global climate protection
07 Jan 2022The German Environment Agency released a policy brief with findings from a study examining the role of NbS for global climate protection and in international climate policy considering their relevance for adaptation. It provides a critical assessment of global mitigation potentials of NbS in forests, grasslands, and terrestrial and coastal wetland, and provides recommendations for international climate policy. The results show that the potential of NbS to mitigate emissions is probably overestimated in the scientific literature due to various factors.
Final report from the Stepping Up Knowledge Exchange between Climate Adaptation Platforms (KE4CAP) project available
31 Dec 2021Web-based climate adaptation knowledge platforms play a vital role in providing access to high-quality information essential to support adaptation action. By facilitating a series of knowledge-exchange activities between 30 platforms around the world, the KE4CAP project, which was funded by the European Commission, has created an active community of practice with members sharing insights, and ideas to help deliver the best possible support for platform users. This final report provides a synthesis of all project activities and outputs and is aimed at informing developers and operators of adaptation knowledge platforms.
Boosting resilience through climate risk information
17 Dec 2021EIT Climate-KIC explores ways to accelerate the transition to a more resilient world through cutting-edge innovation projects. Adapting to climate change and extreme weather events requires decision-support tools to validate measures dealing with risks. The new CRISI-ADAPT II tool offers decision-makers this kind of support. The CRISI-ADAPT II project aims to monitor and improve the planning of adaptation measures through real-time validation based on a site-based and seasonal forecast of climate risks.
Financing Climate Adaptation: Sustainable investments in adaptation are harmonised in a European Union taxonomy
09 Dec 2021Sustainable 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.