Climate: Europe needs 70 billion euros a year for adaptation
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
Over 800 billion euros in damages across Europe in 40 years. Without adaptation, we risk losing 7 percent of gross domestic product.
Climate: Europe needs 70 billion euros a year for adaptation
Over 800 billion euros in damages across Europe in 40 years. Without adaptation, we risk losing 7 percent of gross domestic product.
The European Union is not acting in a manner consistent with what is needed to adapt to climate change. And the funds allocated are insufficient to guarantee security for the population. This is the assessment of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (Esabcc), whose president Ottmar Edenhofer has strongly criticised EU policies, speaking of a "lack of coherence, lack of coordination and lack of funding".
A certain share of climate crisis impacts is now inevitable
The European advisory body has sounded the alarm based on data published by the World Meteorological Organization, according to which climate warming on the Old Continent is proceeding faster than the global average: Europe's mean temperature is already 2.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This implies a multiplication in the frequency and intensity of extreme events such as heatwaves, droughts and storms capable of causing severe flooding.
A certain share of climate change impacts is now inescapable. Even if we were to act drastically and immediately on mitigation — that is, on cutting greenhouse gas emissions — the rise in global mean temperature already recorded to date is such that the consequences mentioned above are unavoidable.
In the last decade, extreme events have caused 45 billion euros a year in damages across Europe
The inadequacy of policies adopted so far at European level in terms of adaptation is further underscored by a report published on 4 February by the European Environment Agency (Eea) and the Eurofound foundation, entitled "Overheated and underprepared: Europeans' experience of living with climate change". The report specifies that damages caused by extreme weather events over the past decade amounted to approximately 45 billion euros per year — five times more than in the 1980s.
🆕 Europeans are very concerned about #extremeheat and other #climatechange impacts according to the results of a Europe-wide survey by the EEA & @eurofound
🔎Many citizens were also underprepared to deal with the impacts in their own homes.
🔗eea.europa.eu/en/newsroom/ne…
🔎Many citizens were also underprepared to deal with the impacts in their own homes.
🔗eea.europa.eu/en/newsroom/ne…
In this context, Edenhofer cited the floods that struck Valencia in 2024, killing 229 people, as well as those that hit Belgium, Ireland and Italy. In his view, the absence of early warning systems — one of the "classic" tools of adaptation policy — compounded the consequences of these events. Likewise, mega-wildfires burned 3 percent of Portugal's territory in 2025, while hailstorms cause billions of euros in damage across the continent every year.
Addressing climate change adaptation in Europe requires coordination and funding
The report also stresses the need for greater institutional coordination, as well as the need to adequately inform citizens about the risks. A proposal put forward by the Esabcc in this regard aims to "make climate risk assessments mandatory and harmonised" so as to create a single reference framework for all countries.
What we are witnessing, moreover, risks being only the tip of the iceberg, given that — the report continues — even assuming the full implementation of current climate policies, Europe risks facing a rise in its mean continental temperature of 3.9 degrees Celsius by 2100.
In the last 44 years alone, the Eea and Eurofound note, losses have reached 822 billion euros. According to another study by the University of Mannheim and the European Central Bank, this figure could reach 126 billion euros per year as early as 2029.
Without adaptation, Europe could lose 7 percent of its GDP
A scenario exceeding "just" 1.5 degrees (at the global level) would, however, be enough to cause Europe a loss equivalent to 7 percent of its current gross domestic product. If that figure seems excessive, it is worth recalling that the catastrophic floods that struck Slovenia in 2023 cost the country 11 percent of its GDP.
An analysis conducted by the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (Cmcc) for the Brussels Commission has explained that, in order to avoid the worst impacts and implement the necessary climate adaptation policies, investments of 70 billion euros per year will be required between now and 2050. Above all to safeguard infrastructure in the transport, agriculture and energy sectors.