EEA - European Environment Agency

06/10/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/10/2026 16:17

Extreme weather and uneven climate adaptation challenge Europe’s resilience

Extreme weather and uneven climate adaptation challenge Europe's resilience

Press releasePublished 11 Jun 2026

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Europe experiences record-breaking temperatures, severe floods, droughts and wildfires intensified by climate change. The European Environment Agency (EEA) published today three new products dedicated to climate resilience, to help decision-makers, communities and citizens understand and respond to the growing impacts of climate change.

Since the 1980s, Europe has been warming at twice the global average, and weather and climate- related extremes are taking a huge toll. The European Union has registered EUR 822 billion total losses in the period of 1980-2024, with 25% of these losses registered between 2021 and 2024 - a sign that the events and their effects are intensifying. The same events produced, unfortunately, over 441,000 fatalities.

Even with significant mitigation efforts reducing greenhouse gas emissions, these impacts will continue to intensify. This means that climate resilience and adaptation are essential to protect people, economy and infrastructure.

Two publications released today by the EEA cover climate resilience efforts that span the full range of governance levels - from country level down to Europe's smallest communities - and are accompanied by a new interactive platform consolidating the EEA's knowledge base on extreme weather events.

EEA report: 'Climate resilience in Europe, 2025 - progress and challenges'

The new EEA report presents a comprehensive assessment of national climate adaptation policies and actions across 32 EEA member countries, drawing on the latest reporting cycle under the EU's Governance Regulation.

The picture that emerges is one of real but uneven progress. As of 2025, all EEA member countries have adopted national adaptation policies. Yet the evidence points to persistent gaps between planning and implementation, and significant limitations in the data needed to track whether adaptation efforts are actually reducing risk.

Europe has started building a stronger evidence base on climate risks, but this is not consistently translated into coordinated action across governance levels. There is a clear opportunity to move towards a more coherent adaptation policy cycle - one where risk identification, anticipatory action, progress monitoring and shared learning are better connected. To support more consistent and effective action across Member States, the findings also point to the need to strengthen enabling conditions for adaptation. That includes a more coherent legal basis for preparedness and climate resilience at EU level. The report comes ahead of the European Commission's expected publication of a European Integrated Framework for Climate Resilience, due by the end of 2026.

Key findings from the report include:

  • Climate risk assessments, despite now being more prominent across countries, vary in methodological approaches, sectoral and thematic coverage and timeliness, limiting a coherent understanding of shared risks across Europe.
  • Countries are strengthening the policy foundation for adaptation; however, diverse policy approaches, complex coordination across sectors and governance levels, unclear risk ownership, variable institutional capacity and uncertain financing continue to challenge policy coherence - particularly at regional and local levels.
  • The development and use of monitoring, evaluation and learning systems vary across countries, making it difficult to assess whether adaptation efforts are working.
  • Social vulnerability and equity considerations are not yet systematically integrated into national adaptation planning.

Regarding the future risks reported, all countries see heatwaves and changing temperatures as significantly increasing. Floods and droughts are closely behind.

Figure 1. Key future hazards reported in 2025

EEA briefing: 'Small but mighty - climate resilience in Europe's small municipalities'

This new EEA briefing turns the spotlight on Europe's small municipalities (home to over 40% of the EU's population) and documents both the ambition they are showing on climate adaptation and the structural constraints they continue to face.

Based on case studies, as well as on data and literature, the briefing finds that many small municipalities are already acting on climate risks despite limited financial and human resources, reduced access to knowledge networks and often unclear legal responsibilities. Yet they consistently lag behind larger municipalities in formalising those efforts: only 16% of small municipalities have adaptation action plans, compared to 28% of larger ones.

The briefing identifies a set of common enablers that are helping small municipalities overcome these constraints:

  • Effective multi-level governance - clear national frameworks and regional intermediaries that provide knowledge, direction and funding.
  • Access to adaptation networks and peer exchange - enabling knowledge sharing, collaborative funding and innovative solutions.
  • Strong political and community leadership - where mayors and local leaders drive and sustain action, often compensating for limited administrative capacity.
  • Policy integration - embedding adaptation into existing municipal plans, budgets and regulatory mechanisms rather than treating it as a standalone requirement.

Case studies from Ober-Grafendorf (Austria), Kajárpéc (Hungary) and Samsø (Denmark) illustrate how even the smallest communities can achieve meaningful climate resilience when the right enabling conditions are in place.

While the briefing highlights examples of innovation and local leadership, it concludes that significant structural barriers continue to limit the scale and pace of adaptation action in many small municipalities. The briefing calls on the EU and Member States to use the forthcoming Integrated Framework for Climate Resilience as an opportunity to address the distinct needs of small municipalities and ensure that no community is left behind.

Interactive platform: Climate impacts and preparedness in Europe

Today, the EEA has also launched a new online platform bringing together its full body of evidence on extreme weather events driven by climate change. The platform covers heatwaves, floods, droughts and wildfires - the hazards causing the greatest harm to people, ecosystems and economies across the continent. It also presents data, projections and adaptation examples through interactive maps, indicators and charts.

The platform makes clear the scale of what is already under way. Weather- and climate-related extremes caused economic losses estimated EUR 822 billion across the EU between 1980 and 2024, with the last four years each ranking among the five costliest on record.

By bringing existing EEA data, indicators and publications into a single, accessible entry point, the platform is designed to support resilience-building efforts at national, regional and local level.

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EEA - European Environment Agency published this content on June 10, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on June 10, 2026 at 22:17 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]