On Friday 7 February 2025, Luxembourg’s Minister of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, Serge Wilmes, presented a draft strategy for the country’s adaptation to the effects of climate change.
The reported aim of this project is to prepare the Grand Duchy for the inevitable effects of climate change, to increase its resilience and to reduce its vulnerability to the consequences of these changes. In this approach, the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, in collaboration with relevant ministries, is proposing 131 concrete measures in sixteen areas of political action.
According to the ministry, the negative impacts of climate change on society, health and ecosystems have intensified and its effects are being felt more frequently and intensely in Luxembourg. Extreme climate events have recently occurred in the form of prolonged droughts, heatwaves and torrential rains causing major flooding. Future climate projections for Luxembourg, carried out by Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and the European Climate Risk Assessment, published by the European Commission, confirm that these extreme climate events represent the main future vulnerabilities for the country. The strategy for adaptation to the effects of climate change highlights the areas in which additional measures are required to address this phenomenon and proposes concrete actions to counter its negative consequences and increase resilience.
The ministry added that floods and flash floods, heat waves, precipitation variability, droughts and extreme temperature variations will directly or indirectly impact all policy areas and society as a whole.
In total, sixteen policy areas were identified and their vulnerability was described in the adaptation strategy, covering the following areas: crisis management, health, water, society, urban areas, spatial planning, housing and construction, transport, economy, energy, soil protection, forestry and afforestation, agriculture, biodiversity, regional and international cooperation, as well as communication and awareness-raising.
Minister Wilmes said: “To develop the strategy and action plan for adaptation to the effects of climate change in Luxembourg, a holistic approach is essential. This is a strategy of the whole of government for the whole of society. Everyone can contribute to its implementation. This project, which aims to protect human beings, is a complementary link in the national climate policy, alongside the PNEC, or the future social climate plan, while contributing to the implementation of environmental policies, such as the PNPN and water management plans”.
The ministry referenced some of the concrete measures planned in the draft strategy. These include strengthening operational capacities for intervention during floods, collecting real-time data from hospital emergencies to detect heat-related pathologies, re-naturing waterways to improve the situation in the face of flood risk, greening public spaces to limit the impact of heatwaves on the well-being of the population, promoting a “Businesses against climate change” approach, converting unsuitable forests and monitoring the evolution of invasive alien species.
A press release added that the measures proposed in consultation with the relevant ministries will be subject to consultation with the public and stakeholders. They will then organise a series of workshops on different thematic areas with public and private stakeholders. In addition, they will also hold five workshops/information meetings open to all will be held throughout the country during the spring. At the end of the consultation process, they will organise a restitution meeting during which the ministry will explain which proposals will be retained and integrated into the final document before its submission for adoption by the cabinet (Government Council).
HOM
