Climate Action | Adaptation to climate change

Regional policy

The impacts of climate change will vary across Europe, posing different risks for different regions. EU funding programmes are now giving a special importance to adaptation, in order to ensure all regions are more resilient to climate change.

Regions throughout Europe will increasingly feel the effects of climate change in the coming years. These will vary depending on the region – a significant proportion of the population in northern, low-lying or mountainous regions live in flood-prone areas, whilst many southern regions face water shortages. Likewise, some EU regions that rely heavily on climate-dependent sectors, such as tourism or agriculture, will be among the most vulnerable.

Vulnerability to climate change does not depend only on climatic, geographical or geological conditions. Factors including the health of eco-systems, existing land use, infrastructure, as well as the political, social, cultural and economic structures in place, all influence how climate change will affect different regions.

What the EU does

Regional development is one of the largest areas of EU funding, especially through ‘Cohesion’ policy and the ‘Structural Funds’. Providing investments in infrastructure, employment or business-related projects, these large-scale actions have been reformed in recent years to improve sustainability and address major challenges such as climate change. Incorporating adaptation into these efforts and minimising the negative impacts is becoming an increasingly important concern.

These funds have the power to influence investment decisions in regions and for cross-border initiatives, either funding direct adaptation measures or ensuring that all projects consider climate impacts.

The right support and investments at the regional level can ensure that new infrastructure projects are built to be resilient to climate change or that existing infrastructure is upgraded to reduce vulnerability.

Regions can use structural and cohesion funds for measures that reduce the risk from climate change, stimulate the use of eco-innovative and climate-friendly technologies or help to create green business opportunities.

Regional and spatial planning

Within any region, climate change impacts will vary depending on land management and resource use. This means that long-term planning policies and decisions about land use need to take climate change into account to ensure that impacts and conflicts are minimised and the opportunities maximised.

Such ‘spatial’ planning takes place at the local, regional and national levels. In areas such as the Baltic Sea or the Danube river basin, which span several national borders, there needs to be co-operation between countries.

Planning structures and regulations vary widely in different countries and regions. Some areas of the EU are well advanced in integrating climate change adaptation into their policies, but others have yet to start considering it.

Another important aspect is that, at present, knowledge and awareness of climate change impacts and how to best adapt to them varies considerably in different regions. EU actions aim to fill these gaps and to spread knowledge of what can be done to adapt in all regions across the Union.

Other relevant policies

The White Paper on adapting to climate change  outlines how many areas of EU policy need to take action to improve resilience to climate change.

Adaptation is becoming increasingly important for several policies and initiatives that influence regional development and planning, including:

• The Habitats and Birds Directives, as well as the Natura 2000 network of protected areas are the main EU nature conservation efforts;
• The Water Framework Directive, which is establishing cross-border river basin management plans, and the related Floods Directive which requires countries to assess the risk of floods in vulnerable areas;
• The thematic strategy on soil and the related proposed Directive, which aim to increase soil protection;
• The INSPIRE Network for spatial information;
• Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) aims to increase the sustainability of coastal areas;
• The European Landscape Convention to help protect landscapes;
• The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion (ESPON) 2013 programme gathers data on territorial dynamics;
• The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which accounts for a considerable proportion of total EU funding, is being reformed to be more sustainable;
• Strategic Environmental Assessments aim to ensure that environmental effects are taken into proposals for large-scale infrastructure projects, such as motorways, dams or factories;
• The thematic Strategy on Urban Environment aims to improve the sustainability of cities and towns.