Regions and cities urge to step up climate adaptation efforts through multilevel action

With an opinion led by the Mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore (IT/PES), the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is urging to step up monitoring and evaluation of climate risks and vulnerabilities and to strengthen adaptation efforts in the EU.

Regions and cities stress that the cost of inaction will be exponentially higher than the upfront investment required for adaptation, and that mitigation and adaptation measures generate direct health benefits. The opinion was adopted unanimously at the CoR plenary session on 11 December.

The CoR welcomes the European Commission's intention to present a European initiative for climate resilience and risk management in the second half of 2026 and suggests setting an EU-level 2050 target for climate adaptation. Regions and cities believe that the upcoming framework should promote climate adaptation as a new cultural form of social and economic change by integrating the 'resilient by design' principle and embedding prevention and preparedness into all related policy and planning.

The CoR is urging to ensure the systematic consultation and participation of local and regional authorities both in the policy planning and implementation, and to strengthen the section on adaptation in the National Energy and Climate Plans. It calls on the Member States to set up national coordination structures on multi-level adaptation with clear criteria for the organisation and distribution of competences and responsibilities, warning that lack of clarity can lead to losses of human lives and damage to ecosystems. The opinion also underlines the need to integrate adaptation into regional development strategies and spatial and urban planning, prioritising nature-based solutions.

Regions and cities warn that considering climate and environmental measures only as 'cross-cutting priorities' in the next long-term EU budget could undermine the climate perspective and slow down key action at local and regional level due to difficulties in accessing targeted funds. They also regret that the proposed centralisation of cohesion funding in the national and regional partnership plans risks reducing the involvement of local and regional authorities. The CoR also urges the Commission to develop tools to facilitate private financing and to incentivise investments at local and regional level, possibly by setting up a permanent round table between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and local authorities.

The CoR also stresses the importance of reinforcing local and regional administrative capacity by increasing financing and technical support and training. It highlights the need for locally disaggregated data to identify regions with similar vulnerabilities and foster shared solutions, and underlines the importance of improving communication on climate adaptation by presenting it as a positive social and economic change.

Quote:

Rapporteur Matteo Lepore (IT/PES), Mayor of Bologna: "Adaptation to climate change is an enormous challenge for local and regional authorities, and we need to address it with an all-of-society approach. We need to ensure we have the right kind of data, develop smart, nature-based solutions, invest in infrastructure, involve all sectors of society and build resilience across all services - that means that we need to learn from each other across Europe and prepare also our citizens. The European Commission's new integrated framework for European climate resilience and risk management needs to be built together with cities and regions and also address the crucial question of the necessary resources and capacities to prepare for the future."

More information:

According to a study in Nature Medicine, Europe saw 47 690 additional deaths in 2023 as a result of global warming. Between 1980 and 2023, extreme weather and climate events resulted in estimated financial losses of EUR 738 billion. Furthermore, the economic damage is unevenly distributed across the EU's regions: it disproportionately affects the poorest regions and vulnerable communities, undermining the objective of territorial and social cohesion in Europe.

The European Commission is developing a new integrated framework for European climate resilience and risk management to help Member States prevent and prepare for the growing impacts of climate change. It is expected to be adopted during the second half of 2026. The main objective is to establish a more ambitious, comprehensive and coherent EU approach to climate resilience and preparedness, covering individual Member States and the EU as a whole.

· Photos of the CoR plenary session

· Climate mitigation: climate shelters provide relief during Bologna's heat waves (video with rapporteur Matteo Lepore)

Contact:

Lauri Ouvinen
Tel. +32 473536887
[email protected]