European Union prepares new initiative on climate risk management

Brussels – Europe is warming “twice as fast as the global average,” which already reached 1.1ºC in 2020: this is the warning of the European Commission as it works to present in the first quarter of the year a new communication to identify areas for further action to manage the risks derived from climate change in the EU based on the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Experts, which states that climate change is causing “inevitable increases in physical impacts” in our society, such as the increasing frequency of extreme weather events in the EU and around the world.

Current global commitments are estimated to be insufficient to meet the Paris Agreement goals of confining warming to within 1.5ºC, but instead indicate a trajectory of 2.4-2.6ºC by the end of the century. The EU is already working on adaptation measures but also notes that increased physical hazards from the effects of climate change are inevitable in the short term, regardless of the emissions scenario.

The idea is that to reduce the impact of growing climate risks on the EU and to prevent today’s policy decisions from increasing those risks for future generations, they must be managed “urgently and proactively.” The communication – which will not have legislative force – therefore will identify areas for further work to better manage the related risks in the EU, and to ensure that policymakers make informed decisions about the acceptable risk levels.

It adds that these climate risks may be compounded by other drivers, including social (socioeconomic status, gender, old age, health conditions, and ethnic background), environmental, and economic factors. With “several policy areas, such as health and social care, labor market, energy, food, housing, or urban policy highly exposed and vulnerable to climate change, failure to manage climate risks could have substantial negative impacts for Europeans and might impact on their confidence in the EU,” the Commission writes in the document accompanying the launch of the public consultation.

The initiative is part of a broader EU adaptation strategy that the European Commission adopted in 2021 and will be based on the independent scientific report on the European Climate Risk Assessment, which is expected to be published in the spring and will complement the assessment of the progress in adaptation at the national level.