EU proposes climate resilience law requiring states to name who is responsible
Brussels wants to shift from disaster response to prevention. Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra puts this summer’s extreme weather damage at more than 100 billion euros.
Photo: European Commission Audiovisual Service / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The European Commission on Tuesday proposed a European climate resilience law aimed at shifting from reacting to disasters toward protecting people, essential services and infrastructure in advance. Member states would have to specify whether national, regional or local authorities are responsible for preparedness. “It is up to member states to decide where they want to put that responsibility,” Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said, according to Euronews.
Climate scenarios would have to be factored into planning for new roads, bridges and neighborhoods. Hoekstra estimated the economic damage from this summer’s extreme weather at more than 100 billion euros. For Europe, Commission projections envisage 2 degrees Celsius of global warming by 2050 and 3 degrees by 2100, while only about 25% of climate-exposed assets are insured.
The Commission also announced next steps, including a European heat wave plan, a climate insurance alliance, a water initiative and the identification of the 100 most climate-vulnerable territories. No new funding for household adaptation was announced.