Making agriculture, energy and transport climate resilient: how much money is required and what will it deliver?

In times of limited budgets and numerous challenges, any investment decision needs to be taken with care. This briefing outlines the long-term benefits of investing in climate resilience. It presents the costs of enhancing resilience in some of Europe’s most climate-vulnerable sectors and describes the benefits for EU’s economy and society.

Key messages

Agriculture, energy and transport are among the sectors most vulnerable to climate change (EEA, 2023a; Figure 3). Making these sectors climate resilient may require estimated investments of between EUR 53bn and 137bn annually by 2050 and a further EUR 59-173bn annually by 2100 depending on the climate emissions scenario. Current committed funding levels are estimated at just EUR 15-16bn per year for these sectors (Neumann, T. et al. (2026)).

Climate adaptation and resilience support Europe’s competitiveness, security and innovation. Well-chosen adaptation measures can unlock economic potential and generate societal benefits – on top of avoiding economic losses.

For climate adaptation and resilience to be most effective it must happen early – and ideally now – in order to support also climate mitigation efforts.