The European Parliament adopted a set of recommendations following a summer of devastating droughts, forest fires and other extreme weather phenomena across Europe. MEPs called for an EU framework on climate adaptation and a climate resilience “stress test” for key infrastructure in order to improve our emergency response. Improving our food security, sustainable water and forest management play an essential role in the context of climate adaptation.
Beside adapting our food system to make it resilient in the long term, the text calls on the Commission to present a comprehensive EU water strategy. MEPs ask for general efforts to reduce the overall water use and “to increase the use of water reuse techniques, water-saving irrigation technologies and practices […] across all industrial, residential and commercial water cycles and applications”. MEPs also call “for the amendment of current legislation to encourage the reuse of water in industries that use a lot of water while respecting the strictest quality criteria” (point 49). Moreover, it underlines the direct impact of water efficiency on the energy-water nexus (point 50).
You can find out more in the text adopted 15th September 2022 (Water, point 47 to 52).
