EU seeks private funding to share burden of climate adaptation

The European Union is asking the private sector to contribute to climate change adaptation costs, because due to the economic crisis, the member states are unable to finance effective implementation of national adaptation strategies.

"This burden cannot only be taken by governments. That's why we believe that the private sector should be involved. There is room for public-private partnership and there is room for the insurance firms to be involved as well. It may seem to be costly to take actions regarding adaptation to climate change but it will be much more costly if we do absolutely nothing." said Cyprus Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sofoclis Aletraris.