Managing climate risks – protecting people and prosperity

Summary:

Communication adopted by the European Commission on 12 March 2024, setting out the European Union (EU) and its Member States can better anticipate, understand, and address growing climate risks.

Further information:

Climate resilience is a matter of maintaining societal functions, but also of competitiveness for economies and companies, and thus jobs. The coordination made possible by the EU is seen as a powerful tool for building resilience. Climate-related damages are not the result of unfortunate, unforeseen natural disasters. They are a function of known climate risks, and the policy actions taken to reduce those risks.

This Communication sets out key steps needed to ensure that, in the face of worsening climate risks, the public and businesses can rely on the EU and its Member States to maintain societal functions and continued access to basic services. It seeks to clarify who is responsible for making the difficult choices and taking action, informed by the best evidence. It shows how the EU can effectively get ahead of climate impacts in the years ahead and how building resilience makes achieving other policy objectives cheaper and easier. This endeavour requires that, in the future, preparedness and resilience in the face of climate risks be factored in into EU level and Member State action by default across policy areas.

Official

European Commission: Press Release, 12/03/2024: Commission sets out key steps for managing climate risks to protect people and prosperity https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_1385

European Commission: Questions and answers: Communication on managing climate risks to protect people and prosperity (12 March 2024) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_24_1386

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