An efficient EU Climate Adaptation Plan starts with assessing the costs
Climate adaptation, preparedness and solidarity features prominently in the Political Guidelines for the new EU mandate, unveiled by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July. And with good reason: infrastructures, access to water, food production, life in European cities – to name but a few – are increasingly impacted by the effects of climate change. Europe urgently needs to prepare better for the impact of climate change, was the message in the European Climate Risk Assessment published by the European Environment Agency earlier this year.
The Commission President has committed to addressing the challenges in a forthcoming European Climate Adaptation Plan. Such a plan will have to take into account that member states are at very different levels of progress on the issue and it shouldn’t be limited to crisis management. It will also have to investigate questions about costs.
There is very little information about the evaluation of budgetary requirements for adaptation or on the question of its financing available in the debate. Both the Commission and member states will have to tackle this issue, not only to secure an adaptation budget but also to ensure that all long-term investments, for example in European infrastructure developments, are fully climate proofed.
I4CE’s work in France shows that concrete actions, essential for better preparedness, are ready to be implemented and at very reasonable costs compared to the stakes (around €2bn/year for the country). Our research also provides a comprehensive overview of the longer-term needs in three major sectors: buildings, land transport infrastructure and agricultural production. Still, more work needs to be done to target and sequence investments where the main vulnerabilities are located. And a wider is debate is now needed about priorities.
This work in France has proved useful in moving adaptation up the political agenda by making it tangible and by formulating high-level trade-offs, including in the context of the debates on the Finance Bill. The methodological building blocks we applied can be used in other European countries and at the EU level, contributing to advancing a solid climate adaptation policy for Europe. We are therefore delighted to publish today the English versions of our latest studies carried out as part of the preparation of France’s 3rd national adaptation plan.
