Changing climate and Europe’s summer

European Climate Risk Assessment

The first European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) identifies 36 climate risks that pose a threat to Europe’s energy and food security, ecosystems, infrastructure, water resources, financial stability, and people’s health. It shows that many of these risks have already reached critical levels and can become catastrophic without urgent and decisive action. 

Without strong adaptation and mitigation actions, hundreds of thousands of people could die from heatwaves, and economic losses from coastal floods alone could exceed EUR 1 trillion per year in a high warming scenario. 

Responding to climate change impacts on human health in Europe: focus on floods, droughts, and water quality

The report draws attention to the water-related impacts of climate change on health and well-being that are already felt across Europe and include deaths, injuries, outbreaks of infectious diseases and mental health consequences.

One in eight Europeans currently live in areas potentially prone to river flooding. Permanent water stress already affects 30% of people in southern Europe, and water restrictions and rationing are already in place in some regions. In addition, prolonged spells of dry and hot weather facilitate the spread of wildfires; again, mainly in southern Europe, but increasingly in other regions

Urban adaptation in Europe

The report highlights the urgent need to adapt European cities to climate change and provides an overview of actions they are taking. The report provides a rich source of information to support climate adaptation policies across Europe, from EU to municipal level.

Cities have a critical role to play not only in protecting their own citizens, but in ensuring overall, long-term climate resilience and environmental sustainability. The triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are interlinked and reinforcing, and the impacts are even further exacerbated in densely built and densely populated urban areas.

Extreme summer weather in a changing climate: is Europe prepared? 

Published in 2023, this web report compiles data and knowledge about summer climate extremes in Europe. It analyses what might happen during the summer in Europe; the impact of past weather events; what we can expect in the long term; and how prepared we are as a society. The next update is expected in 2025.

Economic losses from weather- and climate-related extremes in Europe

This annually updated indicator shows estimated values for the number of fatalities, the overall and insured economic losses from weather- and climate-related events in the in the EU Member States and in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and Türkiye.

Other EEA indicators on climate change impacts and adaptation

The regularly updates several indicators on climate change impacts in Europe, including on ocean acidification, sea level rise, flooding, droughts, temperatures, water scarcity and more.

Combined effects of air pollution and heat exposure in Europe 

Preventative measures aimed at boosting the general health of the population; reduction of air pollutant and greenhouse gases emissions from all sources; urban planning prioritising active mobility and public transport and access to green spaces; building improvements; and a society that is more aware of these risks are examples of win-win measures. 

Preparing society for climate risks in Europe - lessons and inspiration from Climate-ADAPT case studies

While European countries have made considerable progress in putting in place policies to adapt to climate change, the pace and scale of adaptation actions need to increase and widen to cover more areas like the health, agriculture, and forestry sectors. A European Environment Agency (EEA) review of the EU’s Climate-ADAPT online platform, published today, shows that sharing examples of adaptation actions can boost learning across the EU, Member States as well as regional and local authorities to help societies better prepare for climate change.

Climate-ADAPT 

Climate-ADAPT is a web platform that gathers all relevant knowledge about climate change impacts and adaptation in Europe. Besides EEA assessments, the platform contains many case studies on climate adaptation across Europe, policy information and other resources.

Ground-level ozone effects on human health under the changing climate 

Ground-level ozone affects human health by impairing respiratory and cardiovascular function, which leads to more hospital admissions, school and work absences, medication use, and even premature mortality. Higher probability of heatwaves will likely lead to increases in ground-level ozone concentration peaks. Increased solar radiation and summertime temperatures will also accelerate the chemical process of ozone formation.