The European Commission has presented an EU Framework for Climate Resilience and a proposed Climate Resilience Law, setting out measures it says will help Europe anticipate, prepare for and manage climate risks, and whose worth is estimated at €70 billion per year.
Prolonged heatwaves and droughts this summer fuelled wildfires and pushed some of Europe’s biggest rivers to historically low water levels, while floods in recent years have also caused damage, the Commission said in its statement on Tuesday.
Estimated economic losses from climate damages between 2022 and 2025 totalled about €200 billion — around €50 billion a year.
“Europe is warming at double the global rate,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared.
The Commission said the framework is intended to embed climate resilience across major policy areas in the EU and beyond, and to support local and regional authorities through pilot projects and advisory services.
It also said adapting Europe’s infrastructure and economy to future climatic conditions is expected to require investment of about €70 billion per year.
A proposed law and new public tools
The proposed Climate Resilience Law sets out a “common reference trajectory” for global warming — a baseline assumption for assessing future climate risks — the Commission stated.
It cited scientific evidence suggesting the world is on a path to warm by 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2030, 2°C by 2050, and 3°C by 2100.
The Commission said the law would simplify national planning by introducing a single national strategic plan and by improving and regularising climate risk assessments to make them more consistent and comparable across the EU.
The framework also includes new additions to an online climate resilience platform, including an interactive European Climate Viewer map of projected climate hazards developed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
It also listed a Navigator of Climate Resilience Tools developed by the European Environment Agency, and a Solutions Explorer that compiles adaptation measures developed under the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change.
The Commission said it will begin implementing the framework immediately and will propose an EU strategic plan on climate resilience in 2028.
