News Archive
Report on assessment of tipping point risks and societal opportunities
07 Dec 2023More than 200 scientists from around the world, contributed to the ‘Global Tipping Points Report’: a comprehensive report on Earth system tipping points and their potential impacts and opportunities for societal change. With global warming now on course to breach 1.5°C, at least five earth system tipping points are likely to be triggered. Based on an assessment of 26 negative Earth system tipping points, the report concludes “business as usual” is no longer possible, with rapid changes to nature and societies already happening.
UK participation in the Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes
27 Nov 2023The European Council gave its green light to UK participation in the EU’s Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes. This means that researchers and organisations in the United Kingdom will, as of 1 January 2024, be able to participate in the EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon Europe on equal terms with their counterparts in the EU member states.
Commission funds 171 new LIFE projects in environment and climate across Europe with over €396 million
27 Nov 2023The European Commission approves 171 new projects under the LIFE Programme for environment and climate action. The sub-programme climate change mitigation and adaptation is enriched with 34 projects (worth €110 million) to boost the implementation of the European Climate Law and the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, for which the EU provides around €65 million.
Scaling nature-based solutions for climate resilience and nature restoration
17 Nov 2023Nature-based solutions, such as restoring wetlands in flood-prone areas or green infrastructure to reduce heat island effects in cities, need to be scaled up to help Europe adapting to climate change. A European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing assesses the current state of such climate adaptation projects and how they can increase both societal resilience to climate change and nature restoration.
New information on the process and outcome of the European Climate Risk Assessment
10 Nov 2023The European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) will support the identification of adaptation related policy priorities and related investments in EU policy development in climate sensitive sectors. An update of the Climate-ADAPT EUCRA page shows the latest developments towards the publication of this key product of the EU Adaptation Strategy.
UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2023
06 Nov 2023The Adaptation Gap Report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) looks at progress in planning, financing and implementing adaptation actions. The main finding for 2023 is that progress on climate adaptation is slowing when it should be accelerating to catch up with rising climate change impacts.
ASPECT survey to improve the usability of climate information for European organisations
30 Oct 2023The EU funded Horizon Europe ASPECT project aims to improve the provision of climate information for risk management and climate change adaptation. Professionals from all sectors and organisations of any size that are sensitive to climate or weather and who have either used or could potentially use weather/climate information are asked to fill in a 15 minute survey. The feedback will guide important advancements in European climate prediction research and services, enhancing the region's resilience to climate change.
Germany steps up its effort in adapting to climate risks and impacts
30 Oct 2023The OECD released in May 2023 the 4th Environmental Performance Review of Germany. It assesses the country's Adaptation Policy Framework; efforts to implement Nature-based Solutions, and provides also recommendations to further strengthen resilience to climate change. The report shows that, in the past two decades, Germany experienced a considerable number of extreme weather events, including floods, storms, droughts and heatwaves, which all had significant impacts on livelihoods, the environment and the economy. Germany has therefore scaled up its engagement on climate change adaptation across all government levels and initiated an ambitious programme to foster investments in nature-based solutions.
Innovative storylines approach to cross-border climate change affecting Europe
30 Oct 2023The EU funded Horizon 2020 project RECEIPT studied the cascading impacts of climate change outside Europe on key socio-economic sectors of the European Union. The project has developed storylines unveiling cause-and-effect relationships over time and summarised actionable recommendations for decision-makers in 5 policy briefs on how the European Union can protect itself from remote climate change impacts.
Climate Risk Sourcebook published
30 Oct 2023Funded by Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), a new version of the Climate Risk Sourcebook (CR-SB), developed by Eurac’s Research Center for Climate Change and Transformation together with GIZ, UNU-EHS, GeoSphere Austria and IIASA, was launched during the Adaptation Futures 2023 Conference. The book delivers a conceptual framework for a comprehensive Climate Risk Assessment (CRA) together with modular instructions, divided in eight modules, on how it can be conducted. The guidelines were updated to be consistent with the most recent IPCC report (AR6), introducing external risk drivers, impact/risk cascades and systemic risks, and a new chapter on how CRAs inform Climate Risk Management (CRM).