Southern Europe most vulnerable to climate change impacts, expert study warns

Southern Europe is already hurting and will hurt even more in the years to come from rising temperature, less rainfall, coastal erosion and floods, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warns in its first European Climate Risk Assessment report published earlier this month.

Calling for immediate action at a bloc-wide level, the report stresses that mitigating measures have already become imperative in areas like protecting coastlines and agricultural production, reducing the impact of heatwaves on the general population, improving flood prevention and management, and bolstering European solidarity mechanisms.

"Southern Europe, low-lying coastal regions and the EU's outermost regions are hotspot regions for climate risks," the report warns. "Southern Europe is particularly affected by heat and prolonged drought. Three out of the eight risks in the highest urgency...