DG Climate Action published on 12th November 2018 its evaluation of the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change – see here. This evaluation was underpinned by work carried out by Trinomics (as part of a team led by Ricardo E&E and also including IEEP and Wageningen Environmental Research). The evaluation support study and adaptation preparedness scoreboard country fiches that we prepared to support the European Commission have now been published.
The EU evaluation update notes the increased urgency and need for climate change adaptation to protect the regions and economic sectors of the EU. The evaluation concludes that the EU strategy has delivered on its objectives, namely to: (1) promote action by the Member States; (2) support better informed decision making; and, (3) Climate proof EU action and promote adaptation in vulnerable sectors. It lists a set of key findings, heavily based on our evaluation study, which include that:
- the EU Adaptation Strategy remains relevant;
- useful adaptation knowledge is being generated through EU funding;
- major infrastructure projects funded by the EU have become climate proof;
- all EU cities should have an adaptation plan to protect citizens from climate change;
- adaptation and biodiversity need to support each other through nature based-solutions;
- private sector contribution to climate resilience must be encourages, including through the EC Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth; and,
- climate services for adaptation, based on EU Earth observation (e.g. Copernicus) should be developed into business opportunities.
The country fiches prepared by the project team contain a comprehensive assessment of the national adaptation strategies and/or supporting processes and implementation, for each of the 28 EU Member States.
