On Tuesday 1 December, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) adopted by a large majority (64 votes in favour, 9 against and 7 abstentions) a draft resolution calling for greater EU focus on adaptation to climate change.
Welcoming the European Commission’s intention to present a new strategy on this subject in early 2021 [the current strategy dates from 2013, editor’s note], this draft resolution calls specifically for adaptations to climate change to be taken into account when building new infrastructure and renovating existing infrastructure.
In particular, MEPs call for an ex-ante review to assess the ability of projects to cope with medium- and long-term climate impacts under different global temperature increase scenarios, to determine whether or not they are eligible for EU funding and to ensure that EU funds are spent on sustainable and climate-friendly projects.
They furthermore call for the new strategy to pay particular attention to the most vulnerable geographical areas (coastal zones, islands, and outermost regions) and to include “ambitious action plans on stepping up the use of sustainable nature-based adaptation solutions and on the conservation and restoration of ecosystems”.
According to them, such solutions “can simultaneously contribute to climate change mitigation, adaptation, protection of biodiversity, and combating different types of pollution”.
Finally, the draft resolution invites the Commission to present a strategy specifically dedicated to combating desertification as part of the new adaptation strategy.
The text is due to be put to a vote by all MEPs at Parliament’s next plenary session (14-17 December).
See the draft resolution (https://bit.ly/3lsLNt2 ) and the adopted compromise amendments (https://bit.ly/2Jq1x31 ). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)