Connecting disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation | Climate-resilient regions on the road to 2030
Climate-related hazards are becoming more frequent and more severe across Europe, with implications that vary across European regions depending on their risk profiles and capacity to anticipate and manage them. Floods, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, and windstorms affect local communities differently, and the response to evolving climate realities is inherently driven by regional and local-scale interventions.
Preventing and limiting damages and losses requires a multi-sectoral policy approach and coherence across two domains that have historically developed in parallel: Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), shaped internationally by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 – 2030, and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), driven by the UNFCCC processes, through the Global Goal on Adaptation and the Global Stocktake. In recent years, these two fields have been progressively converging, with significant room to strengthen their connections. The Sendai Framework has shifted its focus towards disaster risk anticipation, and the IPCC has featured response integration more prominently in its Sixth Assessment Report.
Bridging these two key areas of climate risk management is fundamental to ensuring resilience and avoiding maladaptation, especially in Europe, where these fields address overlapping challenges but operate through parallel knowledge and practice bases. The UNDRR (2025) report on DRR-CCA coherence highlights that strategic coherence is largely driven by international frameworks, whereas local implementation and regulation remain fragmented. Recent EU policy developments signal a growing commitment to integration, with the Preparedness Union Strategy (2025) promoting an all-hazards approach and the European Framework for Climate Resilience expected to further enhance policy coherence from 2026 onward.
On the occasion of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, initiatives such as the CLIMAAX and CARMINE European projects take stock and look ahead, highlighting what has been achieved toward the 2030 horizon and bringing attention to ever more impending climate adaptation challenges. The event will connect these two conversations through a high-level expert panel.