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The 2021 floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands were more than just ‘heavy rain turning into fast-flowing water’, experts conclude. We must adapt a ‘landscape perspective’ to flooding.

The future of the tidal flats of the Wadden Sea, a valuable nature reserve in the Northwest of Europe, depends on the rate of sea-level rise. This rate may increase so fast that the flats will drown.

Scientists conclude that climate change has increased the likelihood and intensity of flash flooding in Western Europe and will continue to do so in a warming climate.

In the Czech Republic, the onset of the bark beetle outbreak triggered by drought led to a sharp increase of salvage logging since 2016, and to one billion Euro of damage in agriculture in 2018.

Climate change negatively affects the global economy, both directly in world regions and transnationally through foreign trade channels. Germany is relatively well off.

The consequences for Europe of doing nothing to the increase of extreme sea levels are hundreds of billions of Euros damage per year by 2100. Extra cost-effective protection reduces this risk by 95%.

Compound floods, simultaneous high water levels at the coast and in nearby rivers, have been relatively strong and frequent at times in parts of northwestern Europe. It’s not clear why.

For a number of rivers, discharge regime is shifting from snowmelt to rainfall-dominated. The number of European regions affected by multiyear drought is expected to increase as a result.

Less frost days and earlier blossoming of apple trees may seem like a beneficial effect of climate change, but it isn’t. In Germany, risk of frost damages may increase up to 10% in a 2°C warmer world.

In the period 1998 to 2016, the intertidal flats in the German Wadden Sea have accreted with rates ranging from 4 to 22 mm/year, strongly exceeding the observed recent mean sea-level rise.

In Central Europe heat waves will probably occur twice as often in the coming decades compared with previous decades. For the end of this century 2-4 heat waves are expected per summer.

Water temperature of the River Rhine is rising. It has been rising by over 2 °C in summer since 1978, and will continue to do so as a response to climate change.

The past three decades, soil organic carbon stocks in German Alps forests have decreased. This is likely due to accelerated microbial organic carbon decomposition with increasing soil temperature.

Global warming affects precipitation volumes in the Alps, the contribution of rain and snow to these volumes, and the timing of snowmelt. An overall decrease in snow cover

During recent decades, climate change-induced shifts of the growing season in Germany have been observed. An analyses of data over the period 1961 – 2010

The transboundary area of western Poland, eastern Germany and the northern part of the Czech Republic is now suitable for the cultivation of wine grapes

In a warmer future climate, Western Europe will see larger impacts from severe Autumn storms. Not only their frequency will increase, but also their intensity and the area they affect.

How much sea level rise is to be expected at the upper limit of current IPCC scenarios? This question has been dealt with for northern Europe

many German rivers may experience higher 50-year floods and more frequent occurrences of current 50-year droughts

According to a recent study, the chance of extremely hot summers would have increased dramatically since the 2003 European heat wave.

Total annual river flood damages in Germany sum up to nearly EUR 500 million per year for the current situation and, on average, double until the end of this century.

European wine farms show considerable potential to improve their economic performance, and thereby ease their situation in a global change scenario.

For Norway spruce in the Northern Limestone Alps (Germany and Austria), neither growth suppression at the lower elevation sites nor growth increase at higher elevation sites was observed

In the past decade, winter consequences and flood events accounted for 96% of the total rail and road networks costs in the Alps, 92% in mid-Europe and 91% across EUR29.

On the Rhine–Main–Danube corridor no decrease in the performance of inland waterway transport due to extreme weather events is expected till 2050.

Net primary productivity of beech decreases by 30% in 2071− 2100 compared with 1961−1990 due to higher mortality rates, lower water availability and higher drought stress.

The vulnerability of bulk cargo companies along the River Rhine to low water periods has been studied for the near and distant future.

Global-warming induced increases in insured losses are generically to be expected, but can be handled within the existing insurance frameworks in Germany.

The results show that in winter, the study area becomes moister (in the order of 5–10%) like most of Northern Europe. The changes of extreme precipitation in winter are of the same magnitude.

Severe hurricane-force (> 32.6 m/s) storms can cause floods in west-European coastal regions and inflict large-scale damage on infrastructure and agriculture.

At extremely low water levels, the price per tonne for inland waterway transport in the river Rhine area will almost double. These increased transport prices result in welfare losses.

The impact of hydrological changes on navigation conditions has been studied for the Rhine-Main-Danube corridor, one of the most important waterways in Europe ...

Extreme storm surge heights likely will show a small increase toward the coasts of the German Bight with stronger changes along the North Frisian Islands ...

Windstorm losses are expected to reach unseen magnitudes, which for some countries (e.g. Germany) may exceed 200% of the strongest event in present day climate simulations ...

The observed warmer seasons during 1949 to 2010 have resulted in greater ripening potential for the wines of Lower Franconia ...

Previous studies predict a large potential increase in value of the vineyards at the Moselle river ...

Wind-storm losses on a European-wide property insurance portfolio have been quantified under current and future climatic conditions ...

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