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Climate-resilient Europe starts with resilient cities and regions

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On 27 October 2026, the European Commission published its EU Framework for Climate Resilience, including a first European Climate Resilience Law and a Communication, the latter setting out accompanying support measures and policy initiatives. The package aims to move Europe from reacting to climate disasters towards anticipating and managing their risks.

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) welcomes the Framework, including the common scientific warming trajectory reference, provisions for participation of local and regional governments in national plans and tools to raise awareness on climate risks. But to turn this ambition into action, towns, cities and regions need a sustained role in decision-making, stronger capacity and predictable funding.

A common reference global warming trajectory

The proposed Climate Resilience Law establishes a reference global warming trajectory of 1.5°C by 2030, 2°C by 2050 and 3°C by the end of the century, relative to pre-industrial levels. This provides a shared basis for climate risk assessments and strategic planning.

It aligns with CEMR’s policy paper ‘Adaptation together‘, calling for a common reference scenario to help governments make coherent decisions about infrastructure, spatial planning and investment. A shared understanding of future conditions can strengthen cooperation across administrative boundaries and help avoid investments that leave communities exposed to climate risks and disasters.

Yet a common reference must be translated into accessible, territorially relevant intelligence. Climate risks differ considerably between and within countries. National assessments must draw on local and regional knowledge and provide information detailed enough to support decisions on the ground.

Local and regional authorities as strategic partners for planning, monitoring, but also for implementation

CEMR considers a positive step that under Article 7 of the proposed Law, Member States have to give subnational authorities early and effective opportunities to participate in preparing national strategic plans and take their feedback into account. Towns, cities and regions already develop adaptation plans and have practical knowledge of local vulnerabilities, infrastructure and community needs. Their experience, existing plans and reports should inform national priorities and investment decisions.

CEMR, together with other networks of cities and regions, considers that this is not enough and called in a recent joint letter to the Commission for permanent and structured cooperation covering planning, implementation, monitoring and review.

The Commission intends to present an Implementation Plan within six months after adoption of the Law identifying support for its effective application at territorial level. CEMR calls for the Plan to provide guidance on a structured multi-level governance mechanism to ensure meaningful involvement of local and regional governments in shaping and implementing adaptation and resilience policies.

The proposed law also requires Member States to identify the public authorities responsible for managing major climate risks. Clearer responsibilities can improve coordination, particularly when risks cross sectors and territories. But these responsibilities must reflect existing competences and be matched by adequate decision-making powers, staff and resources.

“As an elected representative from Shetland, I see how important it is for European action to reflect the different risks and needs of our territories. For example, where I come from, the coastline is experiencing some of the most severe effects of climate change and accelerated erosion and even more extreme weather conditions. These place-specific impacts underline the critical role of local and regional governments in translating EU and national adaptation policies into concrete measures tailed to communities.” Gary Robinson, CEMR Spokesperson for Environment and Councillor of Shetland Islands

Knowledge must be backed by capacity

The package introduces useful tools including a European Climate Viewer, a Navigator of Climate Resilience Tools and a Mission Solutions Explorer. It also builds on support through the EU Mission on Adaptation and National Adaptation Hubs. These initiatives can help authorities understand risks, learn from practical examples and identify suitable measures.

However, access to information does not replace implementation capacity. Local and regional governments also need training, technical assistance, support for project preparation and opportunities for peer learning. These services must reach authorities of all sizes, including smaller municipalities and rural areas with more limited administrative resources.

Nature-based solutions need long-term support

CEMR welcomes the proposed requirement for European and national strategic plans to promote nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation and is pleased to see that calls made through a joint letter have been acknowledged in the proposed approach. Restored wetlands and floodplains, healthy soils, urban trees and other blue-green infrastructure can address several risks simultaneously while supporting biodiversity and quality of life.

Their inclusion must now translate into practical delivery and adequate financial support. Local governments need support for the full lifecycle of these measures, from planning and land management to implementation and maintenance. The links with water resilience and national nature restoration plans should help deliver coherent measures at the appropriate territorial scale.

Closing the funding gap

The European Commission identifies that adaptation investment needs are around €70 billion annually. It points to EU funding programmes – 35% of the future EU budget should be spent on climate and environment, the future National and Regional Partnership Plans and EIB financing. However, references to these instruments do not guarantee that local adaptation priorities will receive direct funding. The to-be-published Implementation Plan needs to emphasise dedicated funding to local and regional authorities, but in its current format, legislation does not explicitly require Member States to provide local and regional governments with adequate financial and technical support.

Planning must also be aligned with funding decisions. The next EU financial programming period starts in 2028, while national strategic resilience plans would not be due until the end of 2030. Investment priorities could therefore be established before these plans are finalised. To bridge this gap, existing local, regional and national adaptation plans must inform the preparation of future funding programmes, particularly the National and Regional Partnership Plans.

The Framework also addresses the climate insurance protection gap, a recognised challenge for local and regional governments. The CEMR webinar addressing the very topic of “Costs of climate and natural disaster risks” highlighted that climate adaptation is becoming a public finance necessity, not only an environmental objective, with a need for support for local resilience investments before disasters occur. CEMR welcomes the proposed EU Climate Insurance Alliance and suggests putting local and regional governments at the centre of the forthcoming Alliance.

CEMR will work with its member associations and the European institutions to strengthen the proposal, focusing on meaningful multilevel partnership, responsibilities matched by resources, and accessible implementation support.

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Joint letter to President von der Leyen on Climate Resilience

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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. 

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Cities and regions must lead Europe’s climate adaptation 

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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  

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