JRC Report - Coastal adaptation against sea level rise makes economic sense

Coastal communities will face increasing risk of floods as climate change could cause extreme sea levels to rise with one meter or more by 2100. A new JRC study recently published in Nature Communication reveals that coastal adaptation, however, could prevent 95% of the projected economic losses.

In the absence of climate action and with continued demographic pressure and urbanisation along coastlines, annual damages from coastal flooding in the EU and UK could increase sharply from €1.4 billion today to almost €1.6 trillion by 2100, with 3.9 million people exposed to coastal flooding every year. The study underlines that coastal adaptation measures can protect  communities from coastal flooding while also being economically efficient.