European cities and urban areas are on the front line of the fight against climate change. Rising temperatures, more frequent and intense heat waves, intense rainfall, urban flooding, droughts, rising sea levels and Coastal erosion is increasingly affecting critical infrastructure, economic activities and the health of citizens. The vulnerability of cities is compounded by their physical characteristics and socio-economic factors.

Addressing these challenges requires actionable knowledge, robust planning tools and practical climate services. The European Commission, through the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and the Green Deal Projects Support Office (GDPSO), funds innovative projects that provide solutions and services tailored to urban needs.

Climate risks and implementation barriers in cities

Europe is warming faster than any other continent, with significant consequences for urban environments and their livability. Extreme heat events are exacerbated by the urban heat island (UHI) effect and limited green space. In addition, episodes of heavy rainfall are expected to become more frequent, leading to an increase in pluvial (surface) and fluvial (river) flooding, mainly due to limited urban drainage capacity and increased surface sealing. Long-term and severe droughts are also more frequent, and could be up to 14 times more intense in southern European cities by the end of the century than in the period 1951–2000.

Despite progress in adaptation efforts, cities face significant obstacles. Common implementation challenges include:

• Data and knowledge gaps: Cities often lack access to reliable, high-resolution climate data or the knowledge to integrate these predictions into local decision-making.
• Insufficient support for tools and planning: The tools available at national or European level often do not match the complexity or needs of individual cities.
• Funding and resources: The lack of dedicated funding slows down or makes the implementation of adaptation strategies impossible.

Innovation for transformative adaptation

EU-funded projects under the Horizon 2020 Green Deal Call (GDC) – including ARSINOE, CityCLIM, IMPETUS, REACHOUT, REGILIENCE and TransformAr – actively develop practical solutions, tools and climate services that address these challenges and contribute to transformative adaptation.

These projects provide specific outputs such as: decision support tools (Decision-support tools) that help policymakers evaluate options, and data and visualization tools, which help interpret complex data.

• REACHOUT focuses on the Triple-A approach (Analyse, Ambition, Action) and develops tailor-made services for cities (City Hubs). Its tools include, for example Thermal Assessment Tool to visualize the risks of extreme heat and identify hotspots.
• ARSINO is building an ecosystem for adaptation that combines technological and social innovation. In Athens, it has developed a digital visualization dashboard to support long-term heat adaptation planning, allowing for comparison of the impact of nature-based solutions (NbS) such as cool roofs.
• IMPETUS develops, for example Hot-spots Identification and Prioritization Service (HIPS) to identify and rank climate risks and Flood risk decision support tool (a flood risk decision support tool) which was used in the Rijnmond-Zeeland region.
• CityCLIM provides city management services such as EO-based Heat Island Identification Service, which simulates urban heat island effects using satellite data.

Project REGILIENCE plays a key coordination and support role, strengthening synergies and maximising the uptake of adaptation tools in the 50 most vulnerable regions of the EU. It collaborates with sister projects (ARSINOE, IMPETUS, TransformAr) to accelerate the dissemination of integrated solutions.

Complementing adaptation with mitigation

Integrated approaches combining adaptation and mitigation are essential to achieve a comprehensive climate strategy in cities. Mitigation-focused projects such as NetZeroCities, support the mission of "100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030". openLab focuses on creating neighborhoods with positive energy, while ARV a PROBONO are focused on deep energy renovation of buildings and sustainable urban transformation. The project RI-URBANS in turn, it improves the monitoring of air pollutants, thereby supporting better targeted mitigation policies.

These initiatives are in line with the European Green Deal and the EU's mission on climate change adaptation, and represent a path towards an integrated, inclusive and climate-resilient urban future in Europe. JRi

The text contains excerpts from independent expert messages entitled "EU-funded climate services and solutions for a more resilient urban Europe"