At the request of the French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian delegations, the European Environment and Climate Ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on 20 June for the Environment Council, were asked to discuss policies for adapting to climate change, for which France and Spain presented reasons for strengthening them.
To open the debate, the French Minister, Christophe Béchu, stressed the importance of adapting to climate change, highlighting recent extreme weather events in Europe. He stressed the need for a holistic approach that integrates climate adaptation into all policies, and for a common reference policy to be put in place across all sectors and levels of governance. He also recalled that France had launched a public consultation process to prepare the country for an estimated rise in average temperatures of +1°C by 2100 – which would correspond to a global increase of 2.8 to 3.2°C – and announced that the results would be shared by the end of the year.
All the delegations that spoke expressed their support for this initiative to step up measures to adapt to climate change.
The Belgian Minister, Zuhal Demir, agreed with the French delegation and called for action to be taken in line with nature conservation legislation and the conclusions of scientific bodies such as the IPCC.
The Dutch Minister, Viviane Heijnen, and her Romanian counterpart, Mircea Fechet, both stressed the importance of an integrated approach and coordination in tackling climate risks. Both delegations emphasised the need for collaboration between stakeholders at all levels, from local to EU, as well as cross-border coordination to manage the effects of climate change, recalling that this was a cross-cutting societal issue, as Ms Heijnen described it.
The Portuguese Minister, Duarte Cordeiro, spoke of the loss of territory and extreme weather phenomena facing his country. He pointed out that Portugal needed support to respond to these challenges, and that a better understanding of the risks associated with climate change would be essential. The Greek Minister also stressed that the Mediterranean region was particularly affected by climate change, and called for financial support and a unified European approach to meeting the challenges of adaptation.
Finally, while the Spanish delegation expressed its agreement with the French proposal to take probable scenarios into account in planning, Minister Teresa Ribera also referred to the scale of the potential consequences, including flooding, drought and loss of biodiversity. Climate change scenarios that merit the use of precise terms to describe them, according to the German Minister, Steffi Lemke, who welcomed the initiative.
Read the information note sent by the French and Spanish delegations: https://aeur.eu/f/7mq (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)