Extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and flooding, as experienced in recent years, will worsen in Europe even under optimistic global warming scenarios and affect living conditions throughout the continent. The EEA has published the first ever European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) to help identify policy priorities for climate change adaptation and for climate-sensitive sectors.
According to the assessment, Europe’s policies and adaptation actions are not keeping pace with the rapidly growing risks. In many cases, incremental adaptation will not be sufficient and, as many measures to improve climate resilience require a long time, urgent action may be needed even on risks that are not yet critical.
Some regions in Europe are hotspots for multiple climate risks. Southern Europe is particularly at risk from wildfires and impacts of heat and water scarcity on agricultural production, outdoor work, and human health. Flooding, erosion and saltwater intrusion threaten Europe’s low-lying coastal regions, including many densely populated cities.
The assessment identifies 36 major climate risks for Europe within five broad clusters: ecosystems, food, health, infrastructure, and economy and finance. More than half of the major climate risks identified in the report demand more action now and eight of them are particularly urgent, mainly to conserve ecosystems, protect people against heat, protect people and infrastructure from floods and wildfires, and to secure the viability of European solidarity mechanisms, such as the EU Solidarity Fund.
The EU and its Member States have made considerable progress in understanding the climate risks they face and in preparing for them. National climate risk assessments are increasingly used to inform adaptation policy development. However, societal preparedness is insufficient as policy implementation is lagging behind the rapid increase in risk levels.
Most major climate risks identified in the report are considered ‘co-owned’ by the EU, its Member States or other government levels. To address and reduce climate risks in Europe, the EEA assessment stresses that the EU and its Member States need to work together and also involve regional and local levels, when urgent and coordinated action is required.
There are still many knowledge gaps with major climate risks identified in the EEA report. The EU can play a key role in improving the understanding of climate risks and their risk ownership, and how to address them through legislation, proper governance structures, monitoring, funding and technical support, the report states. Such new knowledge would also be instrumental input for a follow-up European Climate Risk Assessment.