Urban adaptation to climate changein Europe

Birgit Georgi, 21 May 2012

Vulnerabilities and adaptation - isn’t it a local issue?

75% of Europeans live in cities

… and most of Europe’s economic wealth is generated

Current approach

But what about Europe?

Single city studies Collection of adaptation measures Guidance to cities

Heat waves in Europe…

Urban heat island effect

Heat waves

Social sensitivity

Social sensitivity – elderly people

Soil sealing increases the risk for urban flooding

Copenhagen2 July 2011

Urban Flooding

Coastal floodingand erosion

Coastal Flooding

Adaptive capacity

Cities are strongly interconnected

Cities depend on national and European decisions

Floods in France – Getting the national framework supportiv for urban adaptation

The need for a multi-level

governance approach

Pillar: Territorial governance

Pillar: Policy coherence

cohesion

environment

transport

employment

economy

…

national

local

Pillar: Financial support and access to funding

Pillars: Institutional capacities and knowledge base

http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu

Climate-ADAPT

Take aways

A multi-level governance framework

Identifying urban hotspots across the continent

European dimension of

urban adaptation challenge

Your

http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/urban-adaptation-to-climate-change