German NGO, utilities call for dedicated funds as EU steps up climate adaptation
Clean Energy Wire
The EU should back up its new climate adaptation push with dedicated funding, German environmental NGO NABU and the local utilities association VKU said in separate statements. They welcomed that the EU is stressing preparing for climate risks after this summer’s severe heatwaves, wildfires and droughts, but said the plans must come with additional money.
“Especially now, as the next EU budget is being negotiated, the EU must set up its own fund for climate resilience,” NABU said. The call was echoed by VKU, which said local and national authorities need to support measures to protect water resources and make water management infrastructure climate-resilient. “Against this background, we regret that no additional funding is currently earmarked for climate adaptation.”
Europe’s countries should ensure that climate change adaptation is taken into account in all major policy areas, the European Commission said on Tuesday (27 October) when presenting its Climate Resilience Framework. A proposed Climate Resilience Law would require member states to assess and plan for climate risks based on the same reference scenario for global warming: 1.5 degrees by 2030, two degrees by 2050 and three degrees by 2100, compared with pre-industrial levels.
“The fact that the EU is now basing its preparedness measures on three degrees of warming highlights the scale of the challenge,” said NABU’s Raphael Weyland. “However, this pathway must not become a political licence to scale back climate action.”
Under the proposal, member states would have to consolidate their protection plans into a single national strategic plan, clearly define which authority is responsible for what climate risk, and have it in place by the end of 2030.
The European Commission itself will improve data collection and work to better understand cross-border climate risks as well as climate tipping points. A new website, the European Climate Viewer, shows projected climate risks – including heat and cold waves, wildfires, drought and changing rainfall patterns – for specific locations at different times.
Presenting the proposal, EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said it would be “unwise” not to prepare for warming scenarios that trajectories suggest based on current action, even if the EU still pursues the 1.5°C warming limit of the Paris Agreement. The EU still aims to become climate neutral by 2050.
Kai Tegethoff, a Volt member of the Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament, called for future climate risks to be factored into all construction projects and urban development wherever Brussels invests in physical infrastructure, Tagesspiegel Background reported.
The summer of 2026 saw more than 35,000 heat-related deaths in the EU, according to preliminary data, while wildfires burned about 680,000 hectares up to late September. Water levels across Europe’s main rivers fell to critically low levels. The European Commission estimates the annual damage caused by extreme weather at an average of around 50 billion euros from 2022 to 2025.
“This makes a compelling case for why Europe must move beyond reacting to disasters after they occur and embrace a more proactive and systemic risk management approach to future climate conditions,” the Commission wrote.
Europe is the continent experiencing the fastest rise in temperatures because of climate change, and the impacts are felt everywhere across the region.