EU sets new climate adaptation strategy

The European Commission announced on February 24th, 2021 a new climate adaptation to address the impacts of climate change and prepare for the inevitable consequences of climate change while remaining committed to mitigating its impacts through proactive action. With this strategy, the Commission now shifts from research into action, updating the 2013 plan’s focus on understanding the coming changes to actually developing responses to the anticipated impacts.
The strategy emphasizes the significance of involving societies and governments as a whole in the process, ensuring that top-level government decisions are funneled down into practical steps on the local level and that citizens take an active role in changing their own behavior. The new strategy will be based on a firm foundation of data on climate change which the Commission wants to make available to all parts of society so that the Climate-ADAPT platform serves as a decision-making tool for everyone.

In addition to its actions within European society, the Commission’s strategy also aims at global leadership on climate change mitigation. Bringing its support to African nations and small island states, increasing support for international resilience and preparedness through scaled up financing and engagement and exchange programs.

Read the announcement here, for more about the European Green Deal that frames this strategy, and see the Climate-ADAPT platform here