As climate change intensifies, local implementation is becoming crucial for climate resilience

Climate change is intensifying across the European continent. From heatwaves to floods, and then again droughts, extreme climate events are becoming increasingly common. These intensified challenges pose a huge threat to communities and citizens, demonstrating that mitigation without adaptation will not be enough. Climate resilience is now central to efforts against climate change, and municipalities play a major role in it.

For this reason, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) has published two different studies on the topic.

Adaptation is increasingly present at national level, but still fails to be translated in local implementation

The first study, ‘Climate resilience in Europe, 2025 — progress and challenges’, reports on EEA’s Member Countries’ efforts in achieving climate resilience.

It emerges that adaptation is increasingly strong in national legislation, being more anchored in national climate laws, with all analysed countries having adopted national adaptation policies. However, policy coherence continues to be challenged by diverse policy approaches, complex coordination across sectors and governance levels, unclear risk ownership, variable institutional capacity, and uncertain financing. These factors hinder effective implementation across Europe. Additionally, monitoring and evaluation vary greatly across countries, making it difficult to assess adaptation efforts.

Finally, although the subnational level is of major importance in adaptation efforts, regional and local implementation remains constrained by limited capacity and resources. This impedes the ability to translate national priorities into targeted action and contributes to uneven preparedness across territories.

Small but might: the efforts of small municipalities towards climate resilience

The second study, 'Small but mighty — climate resilience in Europe's small municipalities', is a briefing spotting small municipalities in Europe, which are home to over 40% of the EU's population. By analysing case studies, data, and literature, the briefing notes that small municipalities are quite active on adaptation, despite limited financial and human resources, as well as reduced access to knowledge networks.

The briefing focuses on key enablers to enhance the adaptation capacity of the EU's small municipalities. One is integration into networks that connect municipalities facing similar challenges; in this context, the EU Covenant of Mayors plays a pivotal role. 
Secondly, effective multi-level governance frameworks are necessary to provide knowledge, direction, and funding through clear national frameworks and regional actors. Thirdly, embedding adaptation into existing municipal plans, budgets, and regulatory mechanisms—rather than treating it as a standalone requirement—is quite effective.

Lastly, by combining forces with their neighbours, small municipalities can multiply their results. In this regard, the EU Covenant of Mayors provides the option for small municipalities to design a collective SECAP, combining individual resources for better outcomes.

An interactive platform to support climate resilience’s efforts

Together with the two reports, the EEA has launched a new online platform bringing together all data and projections on climate change-driven extreme weather events. By consolidating existing EEA data, indicators, and publications into a single, accessible entry point, the platform is designed to support resilience-building efforts at national, regional, and local levels.