EU Covenant of Mayors' Signatories share the vision that, by 2050, European citizens will be living in decarbonised and resilient cities with access to affordable, secure, and sustainable energy. To achieve this, Signatories commit to increasing resilience and preparing for the adverse impacts of climate change, in addition to reducing emissions and tackling energy poverty.
The EU Covenant supports signatories in their efforts to plan, implement and monitor adaptation actions - by providing methodological guidance, capacity building activities, knowledge resources and opportunities for collaboration.
Why does it matter?
- Climate impacts are intensifying across Europe, affecting health, ecosystems and infrastructure.
- Local governments are on the frontline of extreme heat, floods, droughts and storms.
- Strengthening resilience builds safer, healthier and more equitable communities.
Empowering cities to adapt:
The Policy Support Facility (PSF), launched under the EU Adaptation Strategy, supported local and regional governments in implementing concrete climate adaptation measures.
Over two years (2022–2023), the PSF provided:
- Technical assistance to 36 cities across 12 EU Member States;
- Peer exchanges and expert guidance to boost local adaptation capacity;
- National workshops involving more than 250 local authorities
Explore the Policy Support Facility final report for insights and case studies.
The EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change supports European regions and local authorities in understanding climate risks, planning adaptation pathways, and implementing solutions. It aims to help at least 150 regions and communities strengthen resilience by 2030.
For EU Covenant of Mayors' signatories, the Mission provides a direct link between local planning and action and innovation at the EU level. It ensures that cities and regions can access the latest available resources, tools, platforms and opportunities to fast-track their adaptation efforts, while learning from real-life cases of resilience action.
Projects you should follow for continuous updates and opportunities:
- MIP4Adapt: The platform for the Mission on Adaptation, offering a Community of Practice for regions to connect and exchange. It organises the Annual Mission Forum.
- REGILIENCE+: The key project connecting regions to ensure exchange of good practices and solutions.
- Adaptation Hubs: It coordinates the 27 National Platforms across all EU Member States ensuring Member State level coordination of EU Adaptation Mission actions.
The EU Covenant actively contributes to the operations of the European Resilience Partnership, launched at the 11th European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) in Valencia. The Partnership is a collaborative platform that strengthens coordination among key partners working on resilience in Europe and aims to enhance the delivery of support to local and regional governments.
Through the Partnership, Covenant signatories and coordinators can:
- Gain visibility for their actions and success stories.
- Share experiences and case studies with peers and EU projects.
- Access European resources, tools, events, and policy discussions on resilience.
The increasing number of heat waves pose an existential threat to communities worldwide. As temperatures rise, cities and towns hit refresh to redefine our urban environment, protecting and supporting communities, and rethinking spaces for a cooler future.
Explore the EU Covenant of Mayors' Cities Refresh movement and discover how 48 cities across Europe are redesigning urban spaces to tackle extreme heat and create more liveable environments.
Discover local actions and best practices from our CoM-munity
Explore our collection of resources to help you boost adaptation in your city
The Urban Adaptation Support Tool is the main adaptation resource for the Covenant community. It provides step-by-step guidance to develop an adaptation action plan and implement adaptation measures. For each step, the tool refers to additional knowledge materials, case studies, and practical tools. The tool has been developed jointly by the EU Covenant of Mayors and the European Environment Agency and tested by Covenant signatories.
The Urban Adaptation Map Viewer provides an overview of a range of climate hazards and the vulnerability of cities to these hazards and their adaptive capacity. It shows observed and projected data on heatwaves, floods, water scarcity, wildfires, and vector-borne diseases, and explains what drives vulnerability and exposure. The tool has been developed by the European Environment Agency.
Adaptation AGORA Community Hub: A collaborative platform to share needs, knowledge and experiences on climate adaptation issues and solutions.
CARDIMED Catalogue: A series of publications with key information to replicate different types of Nature-based Solutions, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean area.
CLIMAAX Climate Risk Assessment Framework helps you to conduct standardised, participatory, and evidence-based climate risk assessments
CLIMAS Citizens‑engagement toolbox: A tool supporting you in developing participatory processes through Climate Assemblies.
CLIMATEFIT Guidance: A guideline to support drafting a Climate Adaptation Investment Plan.
ICARIA Adaptation Measures Portfolio: An interactive platform helping you find already tested climate adaptation solutions according to your needs.
PIISA Insurance-based climate adaptation solutions - risk assessment tool: A tool to understand your financial risk from inadequate insurance for property damage caused by ground movement.
REGILIENCE Self-Assessment Tool on Maladaptation: A user-friendly questionnaire to spot the maladaptive potential of the planned adaptation action.
RESIST Handbook of Solutions: An inspirational catalogue of innovative adaptation solutions.
SpongeBoostComics Series: Comics books that will support you explaining the importance of permeable solutions to a broad range of stakeholders.
SpongeScapes Academy: A series of webinars (even organised in short videos) to deepen your knowledge on water management through permeable solutions.
TransformAr Playbook and Scorecard: The Playbook offers an overview of the essential tools you might need for designing adaptation pathways in your own communities, guide you in how to discover opportunities with local stakeholders, and offer methods to evaluate your progress. The scorecard is a simple assessment of the transformative nature of a project/programme.
VALORADA Capacity Building Programme: A series of recorded webinars and related materials guiding you towards improving adaptation data management and evidence-based decision-making.
Reports & Assessments
European Climate Risk Assessment (EEA)
Just Resilience Report (EEA)
Europe’s environment 2025 Report (EEA)
Trends and projections in Europe 2025 Report (EEA)
Guidebooks
Guidebook: How to develop a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP)
Practical Kits
Discover all our news articles on this topic →
Events and capacity building opportunities
Stay tuned for upcoming events — they'll be displayed here!