EU must step up joint adaptation to unavoidable climate consequences – scientific advisors
Clean Energy Wire
The European Union should step up coordination on climate adaptation to better protect itself from the unavoidable consequences of climate change, said the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. “Adaptation efforts to date remain insufficient to prevent avoidable impacts and to manage escalating climate risks,” the board warned in a report assessing how the EU can improve resilience.
“Effective adaptation requires coordination across the EU,” said the board’s chair, Ottmar Edenhofer, adding that efforts across Europe remain insufficient, are too fragmented and often come too late.
The EU faces escalating climate risks that are driving up loss of life as well as economic and ecologic damages, the scientists said. More frequent and increasingly severe heatwaves, droughts, floods, sea level rise and coastal erosion are weakening Europe’s competitiveness, straining public budgets and increasing security risks, they added.
While Europe set itself the target of becoming climate neutral by 2050, further warming and its impacts are already locked in due to past greenhouse gas emissions.
The researchers called on the EU to enable member states to coordinate their climate risk management more effectively, for example by developing joint standards in climate risk assessments. The board also suggested adopting a reference for adaptation planning based on expected climate risks reflecting current climate policies, which would mean a global temperature increase of 2.8 to 3.3 degrees Celsius by 2100.
Additionally, the EU should set a vision for climate resilience by 2050, including sectoral strategies and measurable adaptation targets, and ensure that policies and investments are “resilient by design,” the researchers added. This was to ensure that new housing, transport infrastructure or green spaces can withstand future climate risks. The board also recommended mobilising public and private finance for adaptation, including through the EU budget and risk-sharing mechanisms. The European Commission is working on a new integrated framework for climate resilience, scheduled for adoption by the end of the year.
Policymakers, businesses and civil society face challenges in implementing adaptation measures, including tensions between short-term political cycles and long-term resilience planning, uncertainty about future warming, and limited human and financial resources. Many policy and investment decisions still fail to account for future climate risks, such as building in flood-prone areas or designing cities without considering rising heat stress and its effect on human health. Meanwhile, many climate adaptation measures remain voluntary and cross-border risks require closer cooperation.
The scientists warned that insufficient global progress on cutting emissions makes overshooting the goal of limiting global temperature to 1.5°C increasingly likely. “There are limits to what adaptation can achieve, and every additional increment of global warming increases climate impacts and risks across Europe,” the scientific advisory body said, adding that Europe must advance mitigation, carbon removals and adaptation simultaneously.