GRIFFON Axelle

Joint letter to President von der Leyen on Climate Resilience

After a series of natural disasters this summer, CEMR joins 30+ organisations call on the front line of floods, droughts, wildfires, mate disasters.  

Two days ahead of the State of the European Union address, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has joined more than 30 organisations representing local and regional governments, sustainable farmers, water providers, healthcare providers and financial service providers in an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The letter urges her to make nature-based solutions the first line of defence against climate disasters, and to embed this ambition in the upcoming European Framework for Climate Resilience. 

A summer that exposed Europe’s vulnerability 

The letter follows a summer that broke heat records and once again exposed how unprepared Europe is for the climate it already faces. Western Europe recorded its hottest June–July period since records began, with severe wildfires sweeping across the continent. At least 35,000 excess deaths have been linked to this summer’s back-to-back heatwaves, a figure that does not even include August, meaning the true toll is likely higher still. 

For local and regional governments, who are on the front line of responding to floods, droughts, wildfires and heatwaves, these are not abstract statistics. They translate directly into strained emergency services, damaged infrastructure, and communities left exposed. 

Restoring nature to restore resilience 

The signatories point to a common root cause behind Europe’s intensifying climate risks: the degradation of landscapes, soils and water systems. Wetlands, floodplains, peatlands, healthy soils, coastal ecosystems and forests naturally store water, recharge aquifers, regulate temperatures and buffer extreme events. Yet, these systems have been steadily lost or degraded across the continent, leaving communities exposed to increasingly volatile cycles of flooding, drought and heat. 

The letter calls the Commission to: 

• Make the systemic integration of nature-based solutions a key priority in the legislative part of the European Framework for Climate Resilience;  

• Provide legal incentives and financing mechanisms so that Member States manage landscapes and water systems to prioritise resilience, including national targets for natural water retention delivered through locally driven approaches that reflect territorial needs and capacities. 

This last point matters greatly for CEMR’s members: it recognises that effective climate adaptation must be designed and delivered at the local and regional level, where the knowledge of territorial needs and the capacity to act actually sit. 

A moment for action 

“Europe’s recent summers have shown that climate resilience can no longer be treated as a problem for the future. The Commission has acknowledged the vital role that nature-based solutions play in protecting communities and ecosystems from climate disasters. With the interservice consultation on the European Framework for Climate Resilience expected to begin before the end of September, now is the moment to ensure that this recognition is translated into the legislation itself,” said Claire Baffert, Senior EU Policy Officer, Water & Climate Change Adaptation at WWF EU, speaking on behalf of the 30+ signatories. 

President von der Leyen has herself acknowledged the stakes: in her State of the Union speech last year, she warned that climate change is making summers hotter, harsher and more dangerous, and that Europe must radically step up its efforts on resilience, adaptation and nature-based solutions. In July, she confirmed in writing to MEPs that nature-based solutions play an essential role in adapting to heatwaves, droughts, and floods. 

CEMR and its co-signatories are now calling on the Commission to turn that recognition into law and to give local and regional governments the tools, incentives and financing they need to lead the way. 

For more information, contact:

GRIFFON Axelle

Advisor – Environment and mobility

Cities and regions must lead Europe’s climate adaptation 

CEMR participated on 3 and 4 of June in the Climate Chance Europe Summit 2026 organised in Brussels by The Climate Chance association. The two-day event brought together local and regional leaders, European institutions, businesses, NGOs and civil society networks around a shared theme: climate adaptation as a lever for resilience and prosperity in Europe.  

The message shared by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) was that towns, cities and regions must be recognised as strategic partners in designing Europe’s climate response, not merely as implementers on the ground.  

The summit echoes the key messages of CEMR’s position paper “Adapting Together – A territorial approach to resilience and risk management”, published in February 2026. In this position paper, CEMR makes a case for a territorial approach to climate resilience, grounded in multi-level governance. A fundamental gap is highlighted: local and regional governments already implement most adaptation measures, yet their role remains insufficiently recognised and supported in EU and national frameworks.  

To close this gap, CEMR continues to flag six priorities:  

1. Empowering local and regional governments with clear mandates and flexibility to act 

2. Strengthening local capacity through better access to data and peer learning 

3. Securing predictable and accessible funding for adaptation investments 

4. Improving preparedness and disaster risk management 

5. Restoring ecosystems and scaling nature-based solutions 

6. Ensuring water resilience through integrated, locally driven water management 

The summit organised by Climate Chance came at a critical political moment. The European Commission is currently developing a new integrated framework for European Climate Resilience and Risk Management, expected to be adopted in the second half of 2026.  

Ronan Dantec, CEMR Spokesperson for Climate: “Climate adaptation will only succeed if local and regional governments are recognised as full partners in the future resilience framework. Territories need a common trajectory, the tools to understand their vulnerabilities and the long-term funding to turn resilience into reality.” 

Discussions at the summit on multi-level governance, funding adaptation and resilience at local level, technical support for LRG to prepare risk management strategies and investments, and solidarity mechanisms all reinforced what our position paper argues: coherent and effective climate action requires local and regional governments at the table from the very beginning — in the design, financing and monitoring of policy, not just its delivery. 

The summit closed with the adoption of the Brussels Declaration of European Non-State Actors on Climate Change Adaptation, signed by a wide range of local government networks, economic actors networks, and NGOs, including: Eurocities, FEDARENE and Association internationale des maires francophones (AIMF). 

It commits all signatories to playing an active role in shaping Europe’s climate resilience policies and calls for adaptation to be built into every level of decision-making, from EU policy down to local plans. 

CEMR will continue to push this message forward in the lead-up to the adoption of the EU framework by the end of the year. Europe’s resilience starts in its territories. 

Connie Heedegard, Chair of the Climate Adaptation Mission and former Commissioner for Climate Action: “Adaptation is crucial for resilience, but it is also key for citizens safety. The EU Adaptation Mission has laid the foundations; now is the time to harvest the fruits and scale up implementation.” 

Read our position paper Adapting Together – A territorial approach to resilience and risk management  

For more information, contact:

GRIFFON Axelle

Advisor – Environment and mobility