The new ‘EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change’ views research, innovation and education as key for Europe to adapt well to the changing climate.
On 24 February 2021, the European Commission (EC) adopted the Communication: ‘Forging a climate-resilient Europe – the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change’. This new strategy, already announced in the EC’s European Green Deal Communication in late 2019, builds on the evaluation of the EU’s previous climate change adaptation strategy from 2013. It aims to shift the focus from understanding the challenge of climate change adaptation to developing solutions. The EC recalls that the overall trajectory of global warming will continue even if efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions prove effective. The frequency and severity of weather extremes is already increasing. The last decade was the hottest on record the world has experienced so far. Water shortages due to the changing climate have affected economic activities as diverse as agriculture, aquaculture, tourism, power plant cooling, and cargo shipping on rivers. The EC estimates that economic losses from the more frequent climate-related extreme events in the EU account already for over €12 billion per year. Conservative estimates show that exposing today’s EU economy to global warming of 3°C above pre-industrial levels would result in an annual loss of at least €170 billion – about 1.36% of the EU’s GDP. Rising sea levels will particularly affect coastal areas, which produce around 40% of the EU’s GDP and are home to about the same share of the EU’s population.
The EC intends to strengthen the anchoring of decision-making and actions in the latest science. The new strategy aims to realise the 2050 vision of a climate-resilient (and also a climate-neutral) EU by making adaptation smarter, more systemic, and swifter. Building a climate-resilient society requires better knowledge of climate impacts, improved adaptation planning and climate risk assessments. The EC strives to close knowledge gaps on climate impacts and to build resilience, among others through Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, the European Earth Observation Programme Copernicus and the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). The EC also plans to help strengthening climate resilience globally. Effective and inclusive governance mechanisms that ensure dialogue between policymakers and scientists will be developed, for instance through the biennial European Climate Change Adaptation Conference.
While the EU is committed to climate neutrality by 2050 and to reduce carbon emissions by at least 55% until 2030, compared to 1990 levels, a multitude of reports highlight the lack of preparedness to the changes already under way. This is the case even though the EU has taken action under the 2013 Adaptation Strategy. The adaptation to climate change has been mainstreamed in the EU’s policies and already in the 2014-2020 long-term budget. Today, all Member States have a national adaptation strategy or plan. To further improve adaption and put in place actions, the EC stresses the importance of robust data and risk assessment tools that are available to all. The Climate-ADAPT platform has already become a key reference in this respect. The EC foresees to further strengthen this climate change adaptation knowledge platform, progressively expanding it, for example with access to Copernicus data. The EC plans to use the platform for the exchange of knowledge and good practices, including from EU-funded projects, but also by linking it to national and subnational adaptation platforms. In addition, a health observatory will be added to better analyse and prevent climate change impacts on health.
While more research is needed to better understand the process and the impact of climate change, innovation (and education) are important for the adaptation itself. The digital transformation is playing a critical role in implementing the adaptation objectives. Data from key EU scientific undertakings, like Copernicus and EMODnet are already freely and openly available to users worldwide. The EC wants to use the latest digital technologies to improve for instance remote sensing or smart weather stations and promote artificial intelligence and high performance computing. New instruments such as Destination Earth and Digital Twins will help understanding present and future climate impacts at planetary and local scale. Science-based ecosystem restoration and management will improve resilience and ensure vital ecosystem services, such as food production, air and water purification, biodiversity, and climate mitigation. While the R&I framework programme and for instance the EIT’s Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community already support adaptation, the EC’s hopes are on the new ‘Missions’ instrument under Horizon Europe to deliver tangible actions. Especially the Mission on ‘Adaptation to Climate Change, including Societal Transformation’ is seen as important. The Mission proposal aims to support 200 communities to develop solutions for transformative adaptation, and scale up 100 deep demonstrations of climate-resilience. Also the Mission areas on soil health, climate-neutral cities, and oceans will be directly relevant for climate change adaptation.
Job losses in climate-affected sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and tourism will also have to be mitigated. This will include the need to better understand the effects of climate change on different sectors and their workers. The EC plans to support education, training and reskilling initiatives that lead to green jobs or help workers to requalify and move towards green growth sectors. Existing initiatives and instruments, such as the European Skills Agenda and the Youth Guarantee, the European Social Fund Plus, or the national recovery and resilience plans under Next Generation EU will have to play an important role in this effort.
The Commission is inviting the European Parliament and the Council to endorse the new Strategy and help achieve a climate-resilient Union together. In addition to the implementation on the EU level, like via the research, innovation and education programmes mentioned above, the EC plans to reach out to cities, businesses, social partners and regions to encourage them to participate actively in implementing the new strategy.