Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe ... - MemoFin.fr

IntroductionIt should be noted that mountains are not coveredin a separate section, but relevant informationis included within some of the abovementionedsections (e.g. on biodiversity).Chapter 4 presents information on climate changeimpacts on socio‐economic sectors and systems, andon human health:• Agriculture (Section 4.1);• Forests and forestry (Section 4.2);• Fisheries and aquaculture (Section 4.3);• Human health (Section 4.4);• Energy (Section 4.5);• Transport services and infrastructure(Section 4.6);• Tourism (Section 4.7).The selection of socio‐economic sectors and systemscovered in this report is based on several criteria,including the relevance of climate change, theavailability of EU-wide quantitative information,and the importance of EU policies. Mainly due tolack of such information some sectors, systemsand issues are not covered, including industry andmanufacturing, insurance, infrastructure (exceptfor transport infrastructure), livestock productionand cultural heritage. However, hard-to-quantifyand immaterial impacts of climate change (suchas aesthetic changes and changes in personalwell‐being) are not systematically covered becausemeaningful indicators are not available. Also,information on changes in migration of peoplewithin and to the EU due to climate change is notincluded because of a lack of evidence.The indicators in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 provideinformation on climate changes and their impactsand give an indication of where, to what extent andin which sectors Europe is vulnerable to climatechange, now and in the future. An importantquestion is to which future climate change theEU should adapt. Since future levels of greenhousegas (GHG) emissions and associated global climatechange are uncertain, this report provides impactprojections for a range of emissions scenarios,where available. This allows the user of the reportto interpret which impacts may need to be avoided.The projections shown are for different timehorizons in the 21st century depending on availableinformation for each indicator (for details seeTable 1.3).Information for each indicator comprises keymessages, an explanation of its environmental andpolicy relevance, and an analysis of past trendsand future projections, where available. Dataquality issues and main uncertainties are generallydiscussed for a group of indicators together. Somesections also present relevant information onclimate impacts on specific sectors even thoughdata availability and quality does not currentlyallow developing an EEA indicator based on thisinformation.Chapter 5 presents information on the current andprojected vulnerability ( 4 ) of regions and sectorsto climate change, also taking into account futurechanges in demography and socio‐economicconditions. It also covers vulnerability in cities. Inaddition, selected information on economic lossesfrom past weather and climate-related eventsand from projected climate change is presented.Information in Chapter 5 is generally not presentedin the form of EEA indicators.Chapter 6 identifies indicator and data needs andpresents key actions and programmes aimed ataddressing these needs.Finally, Chapter 7 presents the abbreviations andacronyms used throughout this report.This report was prepared with contributionsfrom many experts and organisations includingthe World Health Organization Regional Officefor Europe (WHO/Europe), the European Centreof Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), theEuropean Commission's Joint Research Centre(JRC), and various European Topic Centres (ETCs),funded by the EEA (European Topic Centreon Climate Change impacts, vulnerability andAdaptation, ETC/CCA; European Topic Centreon Inland, Coastal and Marine waters, ETC/ICM;ETC on Biological Diversity, ETC/BD).( 4 ) For an explanation of the terms 'vulnerability' and 'risk', and their use in this report, see Section 1.7.Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 201231