Every EU country would need a law-backed climate adaptation plan

EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra presented a package of measures in Brussels on Tuesday to make European countries more resilient to climate change. "It is the first European legislation in this area ever," he told a press conference.

Under the plans, every country must have a climate adaptation plan anchored in law. It must say how the country deals with heavy rain, water shortages and dry farmland, and which climate scenarios it uses. Countries must also say how they adapt their plans for, for example, new construction or industry accordingly.

Countries must also map risks systematically, and set out who is responsible for action and when. New tools for sharing information and experience, and an interactive map of climate risks, are meant to help them.

Hoekstra called the situation "the new normal". He said Europe must prepare for the scenario in which global warming reaches 3 degrees at the end of the century, even if efforts to meet the Paris climate goals continue. "It is simply unwise not to do so." The starting point, he said, must be built into policy: "How warm will it get in Europe?"

Hoekstra is also setting up an alliance of governments, experts and companies, including insurers, to close the gap in insurance against climate damage. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced it in September. The Commission says only a quarter of the economic damage from natural disasters in the EU has so far been insured, so governments too often have to step in.