City climate plans are improving but still neglect vulnerable people

Most local authorities are not considering the needs of vulnerable people sufficiently when planning for climate change, according to a study of more than 300 European cities. A recent study led by the University of Twente has found that only 167 out of 327 European cities had full urban adaptation plans by the end of 2020 - with most found in the UK, followed by Poland, France, and Germany. While, in general, plans improved between 2005 and 2020, they got worse over time in terms of detailing measures that particularly address vulnerable people. The researchers recently published their work in the Nature journal Urban Sustainability. The 2015 Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, requires regular assessments of climate change adaptation progress, and a global stocktake is currently taking place to measure implementation. "It is important to evaluate the quality of cities' climate adaption plans, since they are particularly threatened by climate change, with many of them being highly vulnerable to heatwaves, flash flooding, coastal erosion and storms", explains first author Diana Reckien. General improvement.