Urban adaptation in Europe: what works? Implementing climate action in European cities
This report uses the Key Type Measure classification, which changes the focus from hazard-specific approaches to approaches that emphasise the importance of building overall resilience. Ideally, this can result in a society able to withstand the impacts of multi-hazard events and other potential economic or political shocks. The classification can also be used to facilitate the reporting and monitoring of progress on adaptation actions. Physical and technological measures are the most frequently reported actions taken by cities across Europe, followed by nature-based solutions and governance measures. However, the interconnectedness between different adaptation measures is especially important, and they usually need to be used in combination to maximise the effectiveness of any specific adaptation initiative. This is not only because limited financial resources need to be used to address as many challenges as possible, but also because in any one activity there are social, natural, technological and financial dimensions that interact.
Average temperatures across Europe are rising faster than the global average, and Europe’s cities are feeling the impacts of climate change more regularly and more severely. With the summer of 2023 breaking temperature records, the case for investing in societal resilience to climate change has never been clearer. Cities across Europe have highly diverse contexts, capacities and experiences, and are at very different stages of adaptation readiness, but all are taking some form of action. Good practices are being tested and shared, although they are not being scaled up quickly enough to keep pace with climate change. In 2022, over 19,000 adaptation actions were reported by local authorities signatory to the Covenant of Mayors, mainly addressing adaptation needs in the water (17%), buildings (13.6%), environment (11.7%), land (10.8%), agriculture (9.3%) and health (7.6%) sectors.
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