Earth Observation in support of EU policies for urban climate adaptation

Urban areas as major population centres are inherently exposed to high and compound climate risks, impacting across a socioeconomic, ecological, financial, and political nexus. The EU policy landscape recognises the critical importance of urban climate adaptation, as encompassed by the European Green Deal, EU Climate Adaptation Strategy, and European Climate Law. A key aspect of achieving the policy objectives is using knowledge and intelligence derived from Earth Observation (EO) to enable smarter, faster, and more systemic adaptation. This report presents the findings of the second deep dive assessment of the Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation (KCEO), focusing on how EO products and services can support EU policies on urban climate adaptation. Components of the assessment include the needs of policy and Horizon Europe Missions; a consolidated set of EO-relevant urban climate adaptation indicators; and a series of use cases spanning urban heat islands, urban greening, water management, urban coastal risks and adaptation, and urban development in Africa co-developed with several European Commission Directorates-General. A common set of adaptation measures is represented by the Key Type Measures approved by European Environment Agency. Whilst EO provides valuable information for urban adaptation needs, uptake and impact could be significantly improved through higher value intelligence offerings, tailored for decision-making. Relevant recommendations include the development of policy-focused risk and outcome indicators, a greater range of combined risk and change detection services, and city-based adaptation scenario capabilities; enabling user networks of adaptation intelligence communities; and integrating higher spatial resolution products.