Earth observation in support of EU policies for urban climate change adaptation: a deep dive assessment of the Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation

The European Commission (EC) Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation (KCEO) undertakes deep dive (DD) assessments on selected EU policy areas. DD methodology consists of the following steps: 1. definition of key actors involved, 2. collection and assessment of needs of policy Departments across the entire policy cycle, 3. Earth observation (EO) value chain analysis, 4. translation of policy needs into technical requirements, 5. fitness for purpose analysis of existing products and services and 6. gap analysis and final report production including recommendations and relevant information to contribute to filling the knowledge gaps. One of the DDs that KCEO is currently undertaking is on urban climate change adaptation. As a result of co-design activities carried out with policy Departments, four use cases were identified: * The role of urban greening for managing flood and drought risks and mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon, in relation to the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, proposed by DG ENV; * Monitoring temperature and its impacts (floods, drought and UHI) at a temporal and spatial resolution adapted to Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 reporting, proposed by DG REGIO; * Coastal flooding, coastal eutrophication, coastal erosion and geomorphological change and coastal marine heat waves, in relation to the Marine Spatial Planning Directive, proposed by DG MARE; * Compact cities and function of cities in strategic corridors in Africa and measuring and mapping urban vulnerability to make cities resilient in EU partner countries, to support the Urban Development Technical Facility in the context of Global Gateway, proposed by DG INTPA; In addition to the use cases, this DD touches upon the relevant EU Missions and defines a set of indicators for urban climate change adaptation, defining the role of EO, the related Key Type Measures and risk components and considering both the climate change impacts and adaptation action outcomes.