The Netherlands sets out climate adaptation strategy ahead of COP26

The National Adaptation Strategy was first drafted in 2016 and is due to be updated next year. The strategy outlines a comprehensive cross-sector approach to achieving climate resilience in water management and water security and safety, mobility and infrastructure, special planning, nature and biodiversity, health and security. It takes gender, minorities, young people and other vulnerable groups into account because reports show that the best outcomes are ones that are open and inclusive.

Climate resilience

In January 2021, the Netherlands held the first Climate Adaptation Summit to highlight long-term sustainable development with regard to resilience and adaptation. As a low-lying deltaic, densely populated region with low-lying islands in the Caribbean, the Kingdom of the Netherlands acknowledges the risks identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climate change is already leading to extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, severe storms, flooding and rising sea levels.

Interventions to mitigate climate change will require a major effort through innovation and international partnerships. That is why the Netherlands is committed to achieving the EU goal of climate neutrality by 2050 and to more than halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Read the Adaptation Communication - the Netherlands submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.