The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its 4th Assessment report (2007) reconfirmed and strengthened earlier scientific findings about key aspects of climate change. Increased monitoring and research efforts have enhanced understanding of climate change impacts and vulnerability. European research on impacts and vulnerability in national and EU programmes has advanced considerably, making a major contribution to international assessments of the IPCC, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (2004), the UNEP Global Outlook for Ice and Snow (2007) and WHO reports.

At the 2007 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Bali conference, the urgency of responding effectively to climate change through both adaptation and mitigation activities was recognised by a larger number of countries than ever before. The EU has proposed a target of a maximum global temperature increase of 2 °C above the pre‑industrial level and a number of EU mitigation targets and actions by 2020. A post-Kyoto regime that would include both adaptation and mitigation is expected to be agreed by end of 2009. There has been progress in implementing the UNFCCC work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, developed to help countries improve their understanding of climate change impacts.

The main part of this report summarises the relevance, past trends and future projections for about 40 indicators (from 22 in the 2004 report). The indicators cover atmosphere and climate, the cryosphere, marine systems, terrestrial systems and biodiversity, agriculture and forestry, soil, water quantity (including floods and droughts), water quality and fresh water ecology, and human health. The report also addresses adaptation and the economics of climate change impacts and adaptation strategies and policies, and data availability and uncertainty.

This report is an update and extension of the 2004 EEA Report Impacts of Europe's changing climate. Since 2004, there has been much progress in monitoring and assessing the impacts of climate change in Europe. The objectives of this report are to present this new information on past and projected climate change and its impacts through indicators, to identify the sectors and regions most vulnerable to climate change with a need for adaptation, and to highlight the need to enhance monitoring and reduce uncertainties in climate and impact modelling. To reflect the broadening of coverage of indicators and make use of the best available expertise, the report has been developed jointly by EEA, JRC and WHO Regional Office for Europe.

Recent decades have seen notable changes in global and European climate. Sea levels and temperatures are rising, precipitation is changing, and the intensity and frequency of weather extremes in many regions is increasing. This report presents an indicator-based assessment of recent and projected climate changes and their impacts in Europe. Its objectives are to:

The aim is to provide short but comprehensive indicator information covering all the main impact categories, where feasible across Europe (EEA's 32 member countries). However, for categories for which no Europe-wide data were available, indicators have in some cases been developed and presented for smaller scales, providing data was available for at least several countries. The report updates a previous EEA report on climate change impacts in Europe (2004). It is intended for a broad audience consisting of policy-makers at the EU and national and sub-national level, and the interested public and non-governmental organisations (e.g. environmental, businesses).

Published as a joint report

In cooperation with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and the European Environment Agency

European Environment Agency
Kongens Nytorv 6
1050 Copenhagen
Denmark
Phone: +45 33 36 71 00
Fax: +45 33 36 71 99
www.eea.europa.eu

/09/2008

European Environment Agency, World Health Organization Europe, European Commission Joint Research Centre

research

Urban Policy > Urban environment

Environmental sustainability