EU Adaptation Action

Task Force on Water and Climate

Ninth meeting

Brussels-Geneva, 13 December 2017

Max Linsen, Policy Officer DG CLIMA – Adaptation unit European Commission Max.linsen@ec.europa.eu

The Paris Agreement • Ambitious long-term goals

limit temperature increase well-below 2°C pursue 1.5°C

• Mitigation and Adaptation

• Universal agreement based on 190 nationally determined contributions (NDCs)

"Bottom-up" approach where all countries define their contributions

Contrary to Kyoto-Protocol where targets were defined "top-down"

• Entered into force in 2016 and now ratified by 166 countries, including the 28 Member States and the European Union

Paris Agreement

EU Climate change impacts and vulnerability assessment (EEA, 2016)

Why at EU level?

National Geographic, 2017 European Forest Fire Information System, 2017

EU adaptation strategy

1. Promote action by all member states

Encourage all MS to adopt adaptation strategies

Provide funding to help them build resilience

Launch voluntary adaptation initiative for towns and cities

2. Make EU-level action 'climate-proof'

Further integrate climate adaptation needs into key vulnerable sectors eg agriculture, fisheries, energy, regional development

Make infrastructure more resilient

Promote insurance against disasters

3. Make decision-making better informed

Address knowledge gaps through research

Develop European climate adaptation platform as 'one-stop shop' for adaptation information in Europe

Mobilising local action: the new Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy

7,600+ signatory cities,

930+ signatories to new CoM,

700 cities committed to adaptation

370+ regions, provinces & grassroots

associations, 40+ Associated Partners

ca. 60 Local & Regional Energy Agencies

5,100+

Action Plans developed ... average CO2-emission

reduction of about 28% by 2020

Urban climate action

EU funding for climate action

European Fund for Strategic Investment (315bn) – half of the approved funds are climate related

At least 20% of EU budget 2014-2020 to climate-related action, including development cooperation (€180 billion)

Integrating climate considerations into all main spending areas, e.g. regional spending, agriculture, R&D

LIFE Programme - more than €800 million for climate projects in 2014-2020 (split between mitigation and adaptation)

NER300 Programme – one of world’s biggest demonstration programmes for low-carbon technologies (new funds)

Mainstreaming: agriculture, cohesion, fisheries… & funding

ERDF and ESF eligibility 2014-2020:

European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF): • European Regional Development

Fund (ERDF) • Cohesion Fund (CF) • European Social Fund (ESF) • European Agricultural Fund for

Rural Development (EAFRD) • European Maritime and Fisheries

Fund (EMFF)

Mainstreaming: agriculture, cohesion, fisheries

Mainstreaming in specific policy areas, e.g. Water

• Implementation of the Water Framework Directive and its River Basin Management plans are essential EU Floods Directive and Flood Risk Management Plans

• Proposal for Water reuse

• Ecosystem restoration, ecosystem-based adaptation, biodiversity protection and green infrastructure (including natural water retention measures and other nature based solutions to increase ecosystem resilience to climate change)

• Floods and droughts observatory

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European Water Policy

• Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC): – overall framework for integrated management – ambitious objectives (e.g. good status by 2015) – basic measures (directives on urban wastewater, nitrate

pollution, industry pollution and others) – protected areas (directives on bathing water, habitats, drinking

water and others)

• Completing the framework: – Groundwater (2006/118/EC) – Priority Substances (publication pending) – Intercalibration (2005/646/EC, results end 2008)

• Extending the scope: – Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) – Marine Strategy Directive (2008/56/EC) – Communication on Water Scarcity and Droughts (2007)

Findings - WFD

• Programmes of Measures (PoMs): MS included what is in place, in the pipeline or feasible rather than what is necessary

Base PoMs on assessment of pressures to design cost-effective measures

Provide appropriate justification for exemptions

• Water Abstraction: insufficient measures to control abstraction and ecological flow

Review permits to ensure sustainable use

Improve monitoring and enforcement

• Water pricing and cost recovery not applied across sectors & MS (e.g. lack of metering)

Adjust inadequate pricing of water resources

Key Findings of the implementation Flood Risk Management Directive (FD)

• Significant progress in the implementation (most MS have done Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment)

• Flood Hazard and Risk Maps provide a wealth of info on flood risks in EU

• 1st Flood Risk Management Plans were due in December 2015 and are currently being assessed by the Commission.

• Need to ensure better coordination between FD and WFD (i.e. use of Natural Water Retention Measures)

ESIF: Climate proofing of (major) projects

Project Context and Assessment Methodology

Vulnerability Assessment

Risk Assessment

Identification and Appraisal of Adaptation Options

Integration of Adaptation Measures and Residual Risk

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/publications/docs/major_projects_en.pdf 14

Climate Change and Major Projects in the 2014-2020 programming period

Climate resilient infrastructure

• 433 billion € in economic losses caused by weather and climate-related extremes over the past 35 years (~30 % insured)

• Insurance as a tool for signalling risks and provide incentive to mitigate risks

• Inventory and analysis of mechanisms to support damage prevention in the EU

Insurance

Insurance of weather and climate-related disaster risk

https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/4f366956-a19e-11e7-b92d-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

To adapt or to mitigate ? Not a question !

1. We must sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions to prevent unmanageable impacts ('mitigation') •AND • 2. We must adapt to climate change to increase society's resilience and manage unavoidable impacts ('adaptation')

Directorate-General for Climate Action ("DG CLIMA"): ec.europa.eu/clima

EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change: ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/adaptation/index_en.htm

European Climate Adaptation Platform: climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu

Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy: www.eumayors.eu

Thank you

for your attention

Annex

Link to the insurance report

Overall timeline for the assessment

Member States reports

Legal obligation: March 2016

Delays in adoption and reporting of plans into WISE

EC Implementation report for WFD and FD

Legal obligation: end 2018

Intention: early 2018, as an early input to the evaluation process.

Scope of the assessment

Second RBMPs

country specific assessments

assessment at EU level (overview)

First FRMPs

country specific assessments

assessment at EU level (overview)

International coordination in water resources and flood management

Assessment of 2nd RBMPs

Main guiding questions:

Status of implementation of WFD requirements?

Compliant implementation?

Progress made since the 1st cycle?

Follow-up of COM's previous recommendations?

+

Identification of good practices

Recommendations for the future steps

Assessment of 1st FRMPs

Main guiding questions:

Status of implementation of FD requirements?

Compliant implementation?

+

Identification of good practices

Identification of weaknesses

Recommendations

Evaluation and review of EU water policy

• Drinking Water Directive (2016)

• Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (tbc)

• Water Framework Directive (2019)

Environmental Quality Standards (Priority Substances) Directive

Groundwater Directive

Directive Laying Down Technical Specifications for Chemical Analysis and

Monitoring of Water Status (QA/QC Directive)

• Floods Directive (2019)

• Bathing Water Directive (2020)

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Preparation for the WFD evaluation

Deliverables / process

WFD/FD Implementation Report (2018)

Public consultation (2018)

Evaluation report (2019)

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