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In the view that planning for adaptation requires a strategic approach at European level, the European Commission has prepared an adaptation framework for Europe to ensure timely, efficient and effective adaptation actions coherently across sectors and levels of governance. EEA 2013 highlighted five main reasons for the EU to take action on climate change adaptation:

• Many climate change impacts and adaptation measures have cross-border dimensions;
• Climate change and adaptation affect EU policies;
• Solidarity mechanisms between European countries and regions might need to be strengthened because of climate change vulnerabilities and adaptation needs;
• EU programmes could complement Member State resources for adaptation;
• Economies of scale can be significant for research, information and data gathering, knowledge sharing, and capacity building.

The development process for EU adaptation framework first led to the adoption of the 2007 Green Paper on adapting to climate change in Europe, recognising that all parts of Europe will increasingly feel the adverse effects of climate change. In 2009 the White Paper “Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action” set out concrete steps to be taken in preparing the 2013 EU strategy on adaptation to climate change², adopted on 16 April 2013. As stated in the White Paper and further strengthened by the EU Adaptation Strategy, the EU sees its key role to support the public and private sector at national, regional and local levels by providing comprehensive information on adaptation (mainly through the European Climate Adaptation Platform Climate-ADAPT³), by giving directions and advice to ensure coherent adaptation approaches (e.g. through guidelines) and by allocating funding (e.g. through the LIFE programme⁴) for adaptation action. In addition, the EU has a key role in supporting EU Member States on transboundary issues and further strengthening mainstreaming of adaptation into certain sectors that are closely integrated at EU level through the single market and common policies (EC, 2014). Furthermore, the EU Adaptation Strategy encourages all its Member States to adopt comprehensive adaptation strategies recognising that in particular National Adaptation Strategies (NASs) are widely accepted as key tools to frame consistent action at country level.