Climate change and environment

What is it?

Climate change affects millions of people worldwide, deteriorates the humanitarian landscape, and multiplies the needs of vulnerable communities. It alters the earth's temperatures and weather patterns, leading to global warming and increased frequency, scale and duration of extreme weather events.

According to the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), climate change is undeniably caused by human activity. The EU supports the most vulnerable people affected by crises caused or worsened by climate change. We also aim to reduce the environmental impact of humanitarian work.

Facts & figures

Over the last 2 decades:

According to IFRC those needing humanitarian assistance every year due to climate-related disasters could be:

Why is this important?

Climate change is a serious threat to the world’s poorest countries, aggravating pre-existing crises and requiring higher efforts to meet the rise in humanitarian needs. Among its most common consequences there are:

• food insecurity and water scarcity: extreme weather threatens agricultural resources. Lack of access to clean water results in waterborne diseases and diarrhoea, one of the main causes of death for children
   
• epidemics/health risks: as temperatures rise, diseases such as cholera, malaria and dengue fever, spread faster and are harder to contain
   
• migration and displacement: populations affected by natural hazards leave their land to seek shelter
   
• conflict and security: food shortages and scarcity of key resources can exacerbate tensions within entire regions, worsening the humanitarian situation for people already affected by conflict

How are we helping?

The current climate and environmental crisis calls upon a new self-directed approach for the EU to reduce its environmental footprint both in the EU and globally, including within humanitarian action. 

Towards a greener humanitarian response

On 14 July 2021, the EU adopted a set of proposals summarised in the European green deal tabled in December 2019. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, an objective now enshrined in the legally binding European climate law.

To achieve the goals set by the European Green Deal, the EU has pledged to mobilise at least €1 trillion in sustainable investments over the next decade. Currently, 30% of the EU budget is dedicated to climate change objectives, and the EU is the world’s largest climate finance donor.

The EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations have joined the EU’s environmental journey. We are supporting the implementation of a greener humanitarian response and reducing the environmental and climate footprint of EU-funded humanitarian operations. 

To do this, we help our humanitarian partners address environmental issues and reduce their footprint on the ecosystem. We are also facilitating collective learning within the humanitarian sector. 

Actions

Climate and weather-related events requiring humanitarian assistance are intensifying. As a result, the EU humanitarian budget allocated for disasters caused by natural hazards has steadily grown over the years. It integrates dedicated programmes and tools, including

Disaster preparedness

Knowledge and resources developed by governments, organisations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to and recover from disasters. Preparedness helps save lives, reduce suffering and decrease the extent of needs. It lessens the hazard’s impact and helps build the resilience of communities.

Early warning and information systems

They help the emergency response coordination centre monitor hazards and events around the world. These include earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, volcanic activity, droughts, floods, and forest fires.

Copernicus satellite

It monitors our planet and its environment. Copernicus services deliver near-real-time data and mapping on a global, regional and local level. It helps us better understand our planet and sustainably manage the environment we live in.

ReliefEU

An emergency response tool that can be activated by humanitarian partners and organisations to support response operations in case of sudden disasters or the deterioration of an ongoing crisis. It includes support to the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF),  managed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). 

Humanitarian funding

In 2025, the EU allocated €81 million of its annual humanitarian funding to targeted preparedness actions, in addition to including preparedness elements in all its response operations. By the end of 2025, 1/3 EU-funded humanitarian projects included a preparedness component.

In addition, in 2026 we allocated €115 million to ReliefEU. The funding will  support communities affected by natural hazards and man-made crises to access food assistance, health, water, sanitation, shelter, rehabilitation of basic infrastructures, protection, as well as providing logistics and coordination support for the wider humanitarian response.

The EU is also a supporter of the climate and environment charter for humanitarian organisations and a co-sponsor and signatory of the humanitarian donors’ declaration on climate and environment.

Downloads