Luxembourg, 16 October 2024
- At least €8 billion in 2014-2020 and €26 billion in 2021-2027 were earmarked for climate adaptation
- The majority of projects examined increased adaptive capacity, but around 40 % had little or no impact
- Progress towards climate adaptation difficult to measure
There is a risk that the EU’s adaptation policy might not keep pace with climate change, according to a report published today by the European Court of Auditors. Extreme climate events such as heatwaves, drought and flooding are occurring with increasing severity and frequency. They also have major economic consequences. While the EU has a sound framework for addressing the impact of climate change, adaptation policies experience issues when put into practice, say the auditors.
There has been a surge in the number of climate disasters in the EU over the last two decades and in the level of damage caused, as we have seen with recent droughts, heatwaves and devastating floods in 2024. Economic losses from extreme climate-related events in the EU have averaged €26 billion per year over the last decade. Inaction, too, has a cost: exposing today’s EU economy to global warming of 1.5 to 3°C above pre-industrial levels – a conservative estimate – would result in an annual economic loss of between €42 and €175 billion.
“We looked at how the EU is addressing the urgent need to adapt to recurring extreme climate conditions” said Klaus-Heiner Lehne, the ECA Member responsible for the audit. “We found issues in the way policies are implemented on the ground. If the implementation of EU action does not improve, there is a risk that EU adaptation ambitions may not keep pace with climate change.”
Overall, the EU has a sound framework for becoming climate-resilient. The auditors examined national adaptation policies in France, Estonia, Austria and Poland, and found them generally consistent with EU strategy. However, the auditors also found cases of outdated scientific data in national adaptation-strategy documents, and either underestimates or omissions of the cost of adaptation measures. Transposing EU and national adaptation policies into local rules is a challenging process. Although the EU considers “the local level to be the bedrock of adaptation”, the auditors surveyed 400 municipalities in the audited member states and found that respondents were largely unaware of climate adaptation strategies and plans, and were not using the EU’s climate adaptation tools (Climate-ADAPT, Copernicus and the EU Covenant of Mayors).
Over half of the audited projects addressed climate risks effectively, and the auditors also identified some good practices. But they also came across cases of conflicting priorities where climate adaptation objectives had to coexist with other objectives, such as competitiveness or regional development. For instance, they found projects addressing needs for increased irrigation at the risk of increasing overall water consumption, or a project for flood protection where building permits were still being issued for new houses in the same risk area. They even found two projects that may lead to maladaptation, i.e. increasing vulnerability or exposure to climate change instead of reducing it. Examples of maladaptation include promoting irrigation for water-intensive crops instead of switching to less water-intensive ones, or investing in energy-saving artificial snow cannons instead of focusing on year-round tourism. In addition, certain projects such as sand beach refilling offer only a short-term adaptation solution.
As regards funding, adaptation is cross-cutting, and EU funding comes from several EU sources such as agriculture, cohesion and research. This makes tracking the funding a challenge. Reporting on adaptation requires improvement: according to the auditors, it does not currently allow for evaluation of progress on climate adaptation in the member states, as it is largely descriptive and lacks quantifiable data.
Background information
Climate adaptation is not a one-time emergency response, but a series of prevention, protection and preparedness measures to adjust to actual or expected climate events and their effects. The EU published its first adaptation strategy in 2013 and another in 2021, confirming the EU’s high vulnerability to climate change. Member states decide their own implementation approaches.
ECA Report
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