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News Archive

  • The Ripple Factor: Economic losses from weather extremes can amplify each other across the world

    27 Oct 2021

    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.

  • 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown: Tracking progress on health and climate change

    21 Oct 2021

    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.

  • Europe's sustainability agenda needs knowledge for action and more concrete targets to achieve its ambitions

    14 Oct 2021

    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.

  • The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) forecasts, notifies and monitors devastating floods in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland

    11 Oct 2021

    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.

  • Current practice in flood risk management in the EU

    11 Oct 2021

    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.

  • Tackling the effects of climate change on health in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions

    11 Oct 2021

    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.

  • Economic costs of heatwaves to increase five-fold by 2060

    05 Oct 2021

    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.

  • Special Report 21/2021: EU funding for biodiversity and climate change in EU forests: positive but limited results

    04 Oct 2021

    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.

  • Outcome of online engagement with citizens from Spain

    02 Oct 2021

    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.

  • Commission launches EU missions to tackle major challenges including on adaptation to climate change

    01 Oct 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.