Farming
(BRUSSELS) – The European Commission adopted Wednesday a new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, setting out a pathway to prepare for the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
With droughts, decimated forests and eroded coastlines, climate change is taking its toll in Europe and worldwide, says the EU executive, and the aim is to shift the focus from understanding the problem to developing solutions, and to move from planning to implementation.
Economic losses from more frequent climate-related extreme weather average over EUR 12 billion per year, while conservative estimates show that exposing the EU economy to global warming of 3°C above pre-industrial levels would result in an annual loss of at least EUR 170 billion. Climate change affects not only the economy, but also the health and well-being of Europeans, who increasingly suffer from heat waves; the deadliest natural disaster of 2019 worldwide was the European heatwave, with 2500 deaths.
Smarter, swifter, and more systemic adaptation: adaptation actions must be informed by robust data and risk assessment tools that are available to all – from families buying, building and renovating homes to businesses in coastal regions or farmers planning their crops. To achieve this, the strategy proposes actions that push the frontiers of knowledge on adaptation so that we can gather more and better data on climate-related risks and losses, making them available to all. Climate-ADAPT, the European platform for adaptation knowledge, will be enhanced and expanded, and a dedicated health observatory will be added to better track, analyse and prevent health impacts of climate change.
Climate change has impacts at all levels of society and across all sectors of the economy, so adaptation actions must be systemic. The Commission will continue to incorporate climate resilience considerations in all relevant policy fields. It will support the further development and implementation of adaptation strategies and plans with three cross cutting priorities: integrating adaptation into macro-fiscal policy, nature-based solutions for adaptation, and local adaptation action.
The Paris Agreement established a global goal on adaptation and highlighted adaptation as a key contributor to sustainable development. The EU says it will promote sub-national, national and regional approaches to adaptation, with a specific focus on adaptation in Africa and Small Island Developing States. It will increase support for international climate resilience and preparedness through the provision of resources, by prioritizing action and increasing effectiveness, through the scaling up of international finance and through stronger global engagement and exchanges on adaptation. And the EU will work with international partners to close the gap in international climate finance.
