Chapter 6 - Climate resilience and adaptation

The impacts of climate change are here. Storms, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods are damaging homes, roads, nature, finances and the wider economy across all the EU countries. EU law requires the EU and its Member States to make progress on:

• building capacity to adapt: learn what’s coming and plan accordingly;
• strengthening resilience: help people, places, and systems to withstand disruptions and recover quickly; and
• reducing vulnerability: cut the exposure of communities and assets to climate harm.

Although progress has been made, EU and national measures are still falling short of what is needed at this stage.

Climate hazards and economic losses

In 2024, the EEA published the first European Climate Risk Assessment. This assessment revealed that 34 of 36 major climate risks across five risk clusters (ecosystems, health, infrastructure, food and economy and finance) could reach critical or even catastrophic levels during this century under high warming scenarios. The results of the 2024 European State of the Climate report [45] also found that those risks are threating the lives, livelihoods and wellbeing of many Europeans.

Since the 1980s, Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average, making it the fastest‑warming continent. 2024 was the warmest year on record in Europe, as tracked in all datasets, with record‑high annual temperatures in nearly half (around 48%) of the continent. The annual average sea and lake surface temperature for Europe in 2024 also reached the highest level on record, slightly above the previous record set in 2023. The glaciers in Scandinavia experienced their highest recorded mass loss and the largest globally.

In Europe, extreme heat causes about 95% of all climate-related deaths [46]. Over the past 20 years, heat deaths have risen by about 30%, hitting people living in dense cities the hardest due to the urban heat island effect [47].

Wildfires burnt over 400 000 hectares (4 000 km²) in 2024 in 21 of 27 EU countries and affecting 42 000 people. This is slightly above the average over the period 2006-2023, but less than during the previous three years [48]. However, serious wildfires broke out early in the main season, in July, on several Greek islands and in Madeira, Portugal. In only in one week, Portugal’s wildfires burnt over 100 000 hectares of land, some 32% of all burnt surface in Europe [49]. In Bulgaria, the total recorded burnt area was the highest for more than a decade, with 256 fires burning 45 000 hectares of land. By the end of August 2025, almost one million hectares had burnt since the beginning of the year, more than three times the average rate of 293 000 hectares during 2006-2024 [50].

Alongside warmer than average temperatures, the prolonged lack of rainfall across most of south-eastern Europe affected river flows and impacted agriculture, ecosystems and energy production. As an example, information from several sources show that in Sicily reservoirs were below alert levels in early July 2024, with volumes 45% lower than the previous year [51]. Many municipalities issued water-saving regulations as drought caused losses to agricultural production. This severely affected crops of citrus fruits, wheat and vineyards, with economic damages estimated at EUR 2.7 billion [52].

In 2024, while south-eastern Europe experienced the most severe dry conditions and had its driest summer for 12 years, September saw the wettest conditions in central Europe since 1979, due to extreme precipitation from Storm Boris falling over eight Member States. The resulting widespread severe flooding affected an estimated 413 000 people in 2024, resulting in the loss of 335 lives or more.

Damage from storms and flooding across Europe in 2024 is estimated to have cost at least EUR 18 billion and the insured losses due to flooding in 2024 were the second highest ever  [53]. Of all the natural disasters that hit Europe in 2024, the three costliest were caused by floods. Ranked by overall losses, Spain’s flash flood caused EUR 10 billion in losses, with less than half of the assets insured. The flash floods in Germany, Poland, Italy, Austria and Czechia caused overall losses of EUR 5 billion, with only 2 billion insured. The floods caused by Storm Boris in Czechia, Austria, Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary caused losses of EUR 4 billion, half of which was insured [54]. Climate change has been the cause of over third of all weather-related insurance losses over the last 20 years [55] . In 2023, only about a quarter of economic losses in the EU were insured and the share was below 5% in some EU countries [56].

The increase in the frequency and intensity of many of these extreme weather events also poses heightened risks to the built environment and infrastructure in Europe, and to the services they provide. A Commission’s study shows that climate change will accelerate corrosion in older reinforced concrete buildings, with repair costs projected at EUR 76 billion to 883 billion by 2100.

Extreme heatwaves and fires, heavy rainfall and flooding, heavy snowfall and thunderstorms severely test the resilience of the transport system, impacting operational and economic functionality and resulting in accidents, incidents and rail transport service delays or cancellation [57]. Marine heatwaves also have significant socio‑economic consequences, particularly for industries such as fisheries, aquaculture and tourism. Climate change is having an impact on specific groups of people and cultures in Europe too. For example, in northern Europe, climate change is having profound impacts on the livelihoods of the Saami people, threatening the culture and wellbeing of the Indigenous communities in Europe.

The extent of future economic losses will depend both on the action taken to mitigate climate impacts, to implement climate adaptation actions and to increase the resilience of exposed assets. Across all scenarios, EU’s annual losses could reach 2.2% of GDP by 2070, and a quarter of EU regions could experience GDP losses greater than 5% [58]. If global warming stays more permanently above the 1.5 degrees threshold set under the Paris Agreement, the cumulative additional loss in GDP for the EU could amount to EUR 2.4 trillion from 2031 to 2050 [59].

The European Commission recently carried out a study on labour productivity losses caused by rising heat stress in EU regions. The study shows that heat stress from climate change will reduce labour productivity and GDP across Europe, with southern and south-eastern regions being the most affected. By 2050, productivity losses may reach around 0.9%, and GDP losses up to 0.7% in the most affected regions, relative to a future without heat stress impacts. These losses are projected to deepen by 2080, with a loss in productivity reaching 2.5% and GDP losses exceeding 1.5%. If adaptation action is not taken, and the worst-case climate scenarios materialise, labour productivity losses could exceed 6% in a few regions, and GDP losses could exceed 4%.

EU action to boost climate resilience

Given the wide range of climate hazards, it is essential to boost climate resilience across our economy, society and infrastructure to maintain core societal functions and ensure wellbeing of people. Climate resilience and risk management are vital for a competitive, secure, and prosperous EU.

The Preparedness Union strategy aims to enhance the EU’s civilian and military preparedness and readiness for future crises so that everyone is ready and capable of responding quickly and effectively if needed. The strategy will help national preparedness action by stepping up coordination and efficiency under existing strategies and by fostering a culture of resilience to all types of future crises.

The strategy recognises that climate risks are part of the key crisis landscape. It stresses the importance of anticipation and prevention, and the need to tackle risks and threats in a comprehensive manner, considering how they interact and produce cascading effects. With this main aim, the strategy commits to develop a comprehensive cross-sectoral EU-level risk and threat assessment. The strategy also explicitly sets out to embed ‘climate resilience by design’ and ‘preparedness by design’ into all EU policies and actions. Using common climate reference scenarios, this would ensure better climate-proofing of policies so as to head off future crises and strengthen proactive climate, environment and water risk management across the EU.

In 2024, the focus has been on launching work on an integrated framework for climate resilience, including a public call for evidence. The European Environment Agency has led the preparation of a second European Climate Risk Assessment. The integrated framework will seek to ensure that all investments vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are designed to tackle the climate risks that could materialise in their lifetime (‘resilience by design’).

Fully aligned with the above policies, the Competitiveness Compass asks the EU and Member States to regularly update climate risk assessments and improve critical infrastructure based on the resilience by design principle. The Competitiveness Compass sets out options to avoid supply chains and production sites getting compromised by hazardous events, including action to integrate climate resilience in urban planning, deploying nature-based solutions, and developing nature credits and adaptation in agriculture while preserving food security.

The Vision for EU Agriculture and Food depicts the impacts of extreme weather events and changing precipitation patterns for farmers. To reduce their vulnerability and exposure to risks, incentives will be increased to fund adaptation at farm level and for risk sharing via producer organisations or cooperatives. Under the strategy, the future common agriculture policy will provide more targeted for measures and investments that make the agricultural sector more resilient to the changing conditions. More ambitious transformational changes will be needed in places where current production is not sustainable over the longer term, involving for example new local strategies, research and innovation.

As highlighted in the water resilience strategy, another important aspect of strengthening the EU’s resilience is support for public authorities, businesses and the public in preparing for future climate risks. This may include support for the use of digital tools for EU real-time early warning and monitoring systems. The strategy calls for action to empower people and communities to adapt and protect themselves from risks. A first step towards building societal resilience is to make sure information is widely available on the specific risks that people, businesses, land and, infrastructure face. Although, there may already be many tools to protect the population from climate-related disasters or mitigate the impact, they are not always sufficiently known or used. The EU and Member States must therefore strengthen the links between existing risk management tools at European level (such as the early warning tools of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service) and the tools available at national and local levels.

Embedding climate-related risks in fiscal policy is also key to strengthening resilience. As the economic and fiscal costs of climate change are rising and transition efforts accelerate, it becomes essential to assess the macro-fiscal impacts of climate change and integrate them into national budgetary frameworks. Significant progress was made in 2024 with amendments to the directive on requirements for budgetary frameworks of the Member States, adopted as part of the revised EU Economic Governance Framework. From 2026, all EU Member States are required to assess and report in their budget documents, to the extent possible, on how the macro-fiscal risks from climate change may affect the medium- and long-term sustainability of public finances, on disaster- and climate-related contingent liabilities and on the fiscal costs incurred due to disasters and climate-related shocks. These provisions aim to strengthen the understanding and management of climate-related fiscal impacts, foster more proactive and risk-informed budgeting practices, and support evidence-based policy and investment decisions.

Progress in the Member States on climate resilience and adaptation policies and legislation

The overall climate resilience and adaptation policy landscape and frameworks are well established across Europe [60]. The Member States use a range of policies to tackle climate risks and aim to boost climate resilience and adaptation action, such as:

• dedicated climate adaptation laws;
• national climate laws and other legislative acts with adaptation rules;
• national adaptation strategies and plans; and
• sector-specific and regional adaptation plans.

Germany has adopted a specific, standalone climate adaptation law, and Lithuania is currently preparing one. A growing number of countries are putting adaptation rules into their national climate laws to give greater legal force to adaptation action. 13 Member States give adaptation full legal force this way.

National adaptation planning and up-to-date climate risk assessments are a prerequisite for policy implementation. EU law requires the Member States to adopt and implement national adaptation strategies and plans. Progress has been made on this front. In 2025, all EU countries have an adaptation strategy or plan in place (see Figure 22). Between 2023-2025, 11 Member States adopted or updated their strategy or plan.

EU countries are making progress in developing their national climate risk assessments. They are taking action to generate and update knowledge about climate-related hazards, vulnerabilities, impacts and risks, strengthening efforts for evidence-based policy making on adaptation. Nearly all Member States tackle climate risks in some form, ranging from thematic or sector-specific analyses to multi-risk and multi-sectoral, comprehensive climate risk assessments.

Six Member States have reported having completed their new or updated national climate risk assessment from 2023-2025. The number of Member States with a comprehensive and national assessment available has increased to 21. 13 Member States report new national, comprehensive assessments as planned or in progress.

At least one third of Member States have completed new thematic or sectoral climate risk assessments. Most Member States have at least some form of sectoral or thematic climate risk or vulnerability assessment available.

Even if the level of policy preparedness of the Member States has steadily risen at national level, more coherent policy and monitoring, reporting and evaluation frameworks are needed at all levels. Currently, there is no coherent data available on the implementation of adaptation policies in all Member States, but recent evaluations show that implementation and methods to evaluate adaptation efficiency and effectiveness are lagging. It is crucial to mainstream adaptation into sectoral policy. Despite the growing trend of sectoral and thematic adaptation policies at national level, more action is needed on sectoral policies, e.g. in the health sector.

National, regional and local governments are increasingly incorporating justice into their adaptation policymaking and planning. Similarly, at regional and local level, justice has increasingly been taken into consideration in urban adaptation planning. With many examples around Europe, participatory processes are being used to inform policy. Nevertheless, inclusion of vulnerable groups and justice still need attention (see Chapter 11 of the accompanying staff working document for further details).

The development described above is aligned with the Commission recommendations and the responses given to them by the Member States. In its assessment, In September 2023, the Commission found that Member States’ measures were often in need for improvements to become more consistent with the EU’s and the international agreements’ objectives to ensure continuous progress in enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change. Following the assessment, the Commission issued tailored recommendations to 26 Member States, addressing a broad range of aspects across the policy cycle (see Chapter 11 of the accompanying staff working document for further details).

You can find more information about climate resilience and adaptation including country profiles, case studies, guidance, data and publications on Climate-ADAPT portal.

Figure 22: Adaptation strategies, plans and climate laws with adaptation provisions rules in the EU

Regional and local action

(Preliminary assessment of the 2025 Governance Regulation dataset / subnational adaptation)

Across the EU, regions and cities are stepping up climate resilience and adaptation work. They are making progress on two tracks:

• Legal requirements. An increasing number of Member States now oblige regional and local authorities to prepare and implement climate adaptation plans. Countries that have these legal requirements often have strategies in place or are integrating resilience and adaptation into sector programmes, policies and regulations and are rolling out measures through multilevel coordination.
• Voluntary action. In countries without legal requirements, regions and cities are increasingly taking voluntary action, often under national adaptation plans or EU cross-border programmes. Governments often support this with incentives, guidance and joint initiatives.

Multilevel institutionalised networks are becoming more commonplace, supporting local, regional and national bodies in sharing knowledge and aligning policies. EU funds are helping regions and municipalities finance climate resilience and adaptation projects. (For more information, see Chapter 7).

The Covenant of Mayors initiative, created in 2008 and supported by the European Commission, brings together thousands of local governments seeking to secure a better future for their citizens. By joining the initiative, the local governments voluntarily commit to implementing EU climate and energy objectives. The initiative is a key enabler of local adaptation planning across Europe by providing tools, networks and peer-to-peer support. Over 10 000 local governments have committed to action under the three pillars of the covenant, including strengthening resilience and alleviating energy poverty.