International Adaptation Europe Coalition

Why such an initiative?

Since 2024, Climate Chance, its network, and the International Adaptation Europe Coalition have made adaptation a central focus of their activities.

Following the Climate Chance Europe 2024 Summit in Wallonia, the Liège Declaration on Climate Change Adaptation, signed by nearly 100 organizations, was collectively developed to convey key messages to European institutions, particularly during the revision of the European Green Deal.

In 2025, during the Climate Chance Europe-Africa Summit in Marseille “Adaptation: Taking Action”, Climate Chance structured the event, its content, and its deliverables around two main objectives: making adaptation a central pillar of European and local policies, and fostering operational cooperation on adaptation between Europe and Africa, notably in the context of the revision of the European Adaptation Strategy.

The Marseille Declaration, bringing together over sixty signatory organizations, and the Action Plan for Europe are two major advocacy outcomes of the Climate Chance network’s activities.

Objectives of the International Adaptation Europe Coalition

In this context, the International Adaptation Europe Coalition aims to bring together non-state actors around a shared vision of adaptation, based on scientific knowledge, field experience, and territorial needs, in order to collectively influence European debates and accelerate action within the EU.

The coalition brings together a wide range of non-state actors, including local authorities and networks of cities and regions, environmental NGOs, economic and sectoral actors (energy, water, agriculture, construction, insurance, infrastructure), consulting and technical operators, research institutions, scientific experts, and citizen networks and local initiatives.

The International Adaptation Europe Coalition of Climate Chance has the following objectives:

• Converge multi-actor exchanges of good practices, combining scientific knowledge, territorial practices, and operational needs.

• Promote and disseminate concrete adaptation solutions that are replicable and adapted to European contexts.

• Strengthen dialogue between non-state actors and European institutions, continuing advocacy activities.

• Contribute to the evolution of European policy, regulatory, and financial frameworks in favor of adaptation, notably by engaging in the timeline for the revision of the European Adaptation Strategy.

Our activities

The International Adaptation Europe Coalition operates and organizes itself within the Climate Chance network, through a series of activities:

• Events: coalition members participate in ad hoc events (conferences, roundtables…), annual Climate Chance Summit meetings aligned with key European and international milestones, and dedicated sessions during major international and European gatherings (COP climate conferences, Climate Chance events, European forums…).

• Thematic webinars: a series of regular webinars on major adaptation challenges, fostering dialogue between scientists, decision-makers, and practitioners, while highlighting lessons learned and exemplary territorial initiatives (actor mapping…).

• Written outputs: preparation of position notes and policy papers, articles, opinion pieces, educational content, dissemination of good practices and operational solutions, roadmaps, and collective advocacy documents to effectively implement adaptation in Europe.

With the accelerating impacts of climate change in Europe, including extreme heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires, coastal erosion, and water stress in certain regions, adaptation has become a strategic priority for civil society across EU member states.

A recent 2025 report by the European Committee of the Regions highlighted the macro-economic, budgetary, and financial weight of climate impacts in Europe: 47,690 additional deaths in 2023 linked to warming, and €738 billion in losses due to climate disruptions between 1980 and 2023.

According to another recent report by the European Environment Agency, although all EU member states have adopted national adaptation policies in recent years, the transition from planning to action remains slow and partial.