Climate Change And The Future Of Europe

Climate Change and Cultural Transition in Europe is an account of Europe’s share in the making of global warming, which considers the past and future of climate-society interactions.

While the ambitious objectives outlined in the EU’s Green Deal aim at making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, national implementation greatly varies depending on local geographies, history, culture, economics, and politics. This book analyses Member States’ and EU neighbours’ national efforts to combat climate change. It subsequently draws on these factors to highlight local challenges, tensions, and opportunities on the road towards climate neutrality. In the context of inter-country dependencies following Russia’s war against Ukraine, it addresses strategic questions regarding EU integration, the transformation of our economies, the reduction of energy dependencies, and public perception of the above. The book also makes concrete recommendations, in various policy areas, on how individual countries and the EU as a whole should deal with the climate crisis.

With a Foreword by the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani. This book sheds light on the political dynamics within the EU member states and contributes to the discussions about Europe. Authors from all member states as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey assess how their country could get more involved in the European debate, taking the reader on a journey through various political landscapes and different views. The chapters cover issues ranging from a perceived lack of ambition at the periphery to a careful balancing act between diverse standpoints at the geographical centre. Yet, discussions share common features such as the anxiety regarding national sovereignty, the migration and border discourse, security concerns as well as the obvious need to regain trust and create policies that work. The book contributes vigorously to the debate about Europe in all capitals and every corner of the continent, because this is where its future will be decided.

Life in Europe will indeed go on as the climate changes, but not in the same way as before. The air will be warmer, winds will change, patterns of rainfall and snowfall will alter, and sea level is likely to rise. These phenomena are already being seen. Europe will in the future experience marked changes in vegetation cover, increased floods along rivers and coastlines as well as more frequent droughts and forest fires, often leading to large societal costs. The changes will be minor in some cases, profound in others, but in any case, pervasive. This book uses the most up to date information issued by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), and informs readers about these effects, as well as showing how Europe is contributing to attempts to slow the tempo of global climate change, and how it can adapt to the climate change that seems unavoidable. Life in Europe under Climate Change makes essential information on climate impacts in Europe accessible to a broad audience, including students, politicians, planners and members of non-governmental organizations.

The impacts of climate change on Europe's environment and society are shown in this report. Past trends in the climate, its current state and possible future changes are presented using 22 selected indicators. For almost all of these a clear trend exists and impacts are already being observed. The report highlights the need to develop strategies at European, national, regional and local level for adapting to climate change. The topics covered are: atmosphere and climate; glaciers, snow and ice; marine systems; ecosystems and biodiversity; water; agriculture; economy; human health.

The European Union (EU) has emerged as a leading governing body in the international struggle to govern climate change. The transformation that has occurred in its policies and institutions has profoundly affected climate change politics at the international level and within its 27 Member States. But how has this been achieved when the EU comprises so many levels of governance, when political leadership in Europe is so dispersed and the policy choices are especially difficult? Drawing on a variety of detailed case studies spanning the interlinked challenges of mitigation and adaptation, this volume offers an unrivalled account of how different actors wrestled with the complex governance dilemmas associated with climate policy making. Opening up the EU's inner workings to non-specialists, it provides a perspective on the way that the EU governs, as well as exploring its ability to maintain a leading position in international climate change politics.

A richly illustrated book on the history of climate change in Europe. Two perspectives, one unique book: two leading experts, a historian and a climatologist, co-author a new standard work on climate history. An overview of the connection between climatic and social developments over the last 1000 years. For the first time, a historian and a climatologist with knowledge of climate history have worked closely together to create a unique book, combining climate reconstructions based on documented data in their human-historical context with temporally highly resolved analyses of climate and glaciers. "Here we can clearly see how changes in climate affected the environment and people of Europe over many centuries, with important lessons for the future. A wonderfully engaging and well-documented account by two of Europe's leading climate scientists." Prof. Dr. Raymond Bradley, Director, Climate System Research Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (USA) "This unique book provides new fascinating insights into the interaction of past climate and society in Europe. It can be highly recommended to climatologists, historians and geoscientists, but also to students and the broad public." Prof. Dr. Rudolf Brázdil, Department of Geography, Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic) "The authors offer a truly interdisciplinary combination of history and science in order to explore the complex relationships of climate and society over the past millennium. They demonstrate convincingly that climate change is nothing new while at the same time revealing the character of the unprecedented climatic epoch mankind now faces." Prof. Dr. Jan de Vries, Professor Emeritus of History and Economics, University of California, Berkeley (USA) Christian Pfister is Professor Emeritus of Economic, Social and Environmental History at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He was founding president of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH). Heinz Wanner is Professor Emeritus of Geography and Climatology. He was co-chair of the international Past Global Changes (PAGES) project and a member of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Both scientists work at the renowned Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern.