European Climate Adaptation Newsletter Issue June 2, 2020

1. Launch of open public consultation for design of new EU Adaptation Strategy

The European Commission announced the adoption of a new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change as part of the European Green Deal. On 14 May, the Directorate-General for Climate Action launched an open public consultation for its work on the new Strategy. Stakeholders are invited to provide feedback by 20 August.

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2. Open public consultation on the European Climate Pact

The European Commission announced the launch of a European Climate Pact to engage all citizens, communities and stakeholders in action for our climate and environment, as part of the European Green Deal. The deadline to participate in this open public consultation and provide feedback on the Climate Pact has now been extended until 17 June.

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3. Local authorities consultation on climate adaptation challenges

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has launched an online consultation to understand local and regional authorities’ experiences and needs in relation to climate change adaptation. The findings of this consultation will feed the contribution of the CoR to the future EU Adaptation Strategy.

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4. EU taxonomy for sustainable activities

On 9 March 2020, the Technical expert group on sustainable finance published its final report on the EU taxonomy. The report contains recommendations relating to the overarching design of the taxonomy, as well as extensive implementation guidance on how companies, financial institutions and public authorities can use the taxonomy and make disclosures against it. An annex to the taxonomy contains 68 climate change adaptation activities, including criteria for doing no significant harm to environmental objectives.

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5. EEA report on the importance of floodplains

The preservation and restoration of Europe’s largely degraded floodplains must be better prioritised, according to this new European Environment Agency (EEA) report. Floodplains have a key role to play in improving biodiversity, water quality, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

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6. New adaptation options in Climate-ADAPT

Climate-ADAPT has expanded and updated its catalogue of potential adaptation options to further support decision-makers in their efforts to develop measures and actions to cope with the effects of climate change.

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7. New case studies on Climate-ADAPT

Three new adaptation case studies have been published on Climate-ADAPT recently: one about adapting to heat stress in Antwerp; another on the use of insurance loss data by local authorities in Norway; and the third about an insurance company supporting adaptation action in small- and medium-sized enterprises in Turin.

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8. European State of the Climate Report 2019

The Copernicus Climate Change Service, implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission, has published the European State of the Climate 2019, comprising three main sections (General, Events and Spotlights) and summarising the latest updates of the EU’s annual climate indicators.

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9. World's sandy beaches under threat from climate change

Half of the world's beaches could disappear by the end of the century due to coastal erosion, according to a new study led by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission's science and knowledge service.

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10. Climate change could cause sudden biodiversity losses worldwide

A research study shows an estimation of when and where there could be severe ecological disruption in the coming decades due to global warming. According to the study, the first instances may already be occurring.

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11. REGREEN accelerates transition towards green, healthy and equitable cities

The Horizon 2020 project REGREEN was launched in September 2019. The project focuses on present and near-future challenges facing cities, such as climate change impacts (flooding, heat islands), air pollution and biodiversity decline, and how nature-based solutions can address these challenges in new ways.

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12. New climate risk assessment tools launched by Oasis H2020_Insurance

Models, tools and services developed in case studies carried out under the EU project 'Oasis H2020_Insurance' have been made available on the oasishub.co website. The project also resulted in the launch of films and webinars discussing new climate risk tools for flooding, wildfire, smallholder agriculture, typhoons, and climate and health.

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13.  New special edition of Climate Services published

This special issue of Climate Services gives examples of European the climate services market and discusses its conditions, challenges and prospects. It provides an overview of the market in terms of the current structure, and its strengths and weaknesses. Other articles focus on leverage points to better match supply and demand.

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14. Strengthening cooperation on Alpine water resources

Under the French Presidency of the Alpine Convention, an alpine-wide conference on water resources and alpine rivers in times of climate change gathered over 130 participants from six Alpine countries in Annecy last February.

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15. Forest Fires in the Alps

In the framework of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region, the white paper, Forest fires in the Alps —  state of knowledge, future challenges and options for an integrated fire management, provides concrete recommendations taking into account climate change risks.

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16. Nomination of climate change adaptation projects for the German Blauer Kompass contest

The German Environment Agency has nominated 15 climate change adaptation projects to compete in the Blauer Kompass contest. Many exemplary actions are included, ranging from educational training modules in agriculture and climate-adapted housing to heat protection for day care centres, schools and nursing homes. A jury of experts will select the three winning projects by the end of June.

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17. Climate adaptation game

The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute has published a new game — freely available on the web — which aims to develop better understanding of the effects of climate change and how to meet the challenges it brings. The game can be used in education for sustainable development or in various contexts within climate change adaptation.

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Events

Due to COVID-19, events are being organised differently or they are postponed or cancelled. Please always check sources for the latest update.​

• ​24-28 August 2021, Conference Eurosoil 2020, Geneva, Switzerland << ​Read more

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•  25 January 2021, Climate Adaptation Summit, The Netherlands  << Read more

•  21-25 June 2021 (new date), 4th European Conference on Flood Risk Management: Science and practice for an uncertain future, Budapest, Hungary   << Read more