Photo by Steve Harvey – Unsplash In Athens, rising temperatures are driving up cooling costs for the city’s most vulnerable residents. Mayor Haris Doukas implemented a policy exempting energy-poor households from municipal taxes for cleaning and lighting, as part of a broader climate adaptation strategy.
“Europe’s cities are working to protect people and infrastructure, but they cannot do it alone,” says Doukas, who also serves as Eurocities Shadow Commissioner for Climate Resilience. Cities need stronger national and EU support, particularly funding and capacity building, to prepare their infrastructure and operations for escalating climate threats.
This isn’t the only example. When severe flooding affected parts of southern Spain, Málaga’s response demonstrated what years of adaptation planning can achieve. In Tampere, Finland’s third-largest city, the mayor led a coalition of the country’s 10 largest cities to sign a biodiversity protection commitment.
The Eurocities Pulse Survey 2025, which gathered responses from 86 mayors across 26 countries between December 2024 and February 2025, reveals that 63% ranked climate action as their top priority for the third consecutive year, even as political attention at the EU level has shifted towards other concerns.
For industries facing similar challenges, associations can play the same leadership role, helping members navigate climate adaptation challenges.
Companies across Europe are asking how to prepare. But many lack the resources to assess climate risks independently.
Climate adaptation looks different for every sector. A manufacturing plant needs different strategies than a logistics network. What threatens agricultural production isn’t the same as what threatens chemical facilities.
The specifics matter, and associations can bridge the gap between policy and practice.
First, What Associations Are Doing
Rather than guess at solutions, associations can learn from peers.
Some organisations have already moved beyond general climate commitments to build concrete adaptation strategies that help their members prepare for real-world impacts.
The Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations and General Confederation of Agricultural Co-operatives (Copa-Cogeca), representing European farmers and agricultural cooperatives, knows its members are on the front lines.
“European farmers, forest owners and their cooperatives are the first to feel the impact of climate change,” the organisation states on its climate action page. “Adaptation is a current concern for agriculture and forestry due to the increase in extreme weather events.”
Extreme weather – droughts, storms, floods – is affecting harvests today. In last year’s wine harvest report, Copa-Cogeca documented how “episodes of frost, mildew, and hailstorms” contributed to reduced production across Europe, with France seeing a 22% drop.
The association’s work focuses on helping members build resilience to these immediate threats while maintaining food production. The association notes that farmers have cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 20% since 1990 while maintaining production standards. Copa-Cogeca works with its members to improve land management, adapt farming practices, and strengthen the link between climate mitigation and adaptation.
Some organisations have already moved beyond general climate commitments to build concrete adaptation strategies that help their members prepare for real-world impacts.
The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) took a different but equally practical approach. In partnership with the Climate Action Programme for the Chemical Industry (CAPCI), it helped develop climate risk assessments for five partner countries: Argentina, Ghana, Thailand, Peru, and Vietnam. The programme helped companies and governments in these countries identify where they could reduce emissions in chemical production and throughout their supply chains.
What made ICCA’s involvement most valuable was its network. The association used its credibility and connections to help companies, especially smaller ones that lack dedicated environmental teams, understand the climate aspects of chemical production and use.
ICCA organises webinar series, creates knowledge bases of best practices, and facilitates stakeholder dialogues between industry, government, and academia. The work links climate protection with existing programmes like Responsible Care, building on structures members already knew.
This regional work is part of ICCA’s broader push to help the chemical industry reach climate neutrality without relying on carbon offsets or credits. “Most large companies have some kind of climate goals. No question about that,” said Daisuke Kanazawa, a member of ICCA’s carbon neutrality task force and an advisor at Mitsubishi Chemical’s Sustainability Planning Department, speaking at a COP30 event in November 2025. The challenge, he and others acknowledge, is moving from goals to action.
ICCA’s report on climate neutrality identifies multiple pathways for the industry, acknowledging that companies will need different approaches depending on their regional resources and constraints.
How Associations Can Help
The Copa-Cogeca and ICCA examples show what’s possible. But many associations are still figuring out where to start.
The good news is that associations don’t need new departments or massive budgets. They need to do what they already do well.
In practice:
- Advocate for better policy. Associations already lobby on behalf of their members. They can push governments to provide adaptation funding and implement clearer regulations on climate risk disclosure. It’s about ensuring the policy framework actually helps industries prepare for what’s coming.
- Translate policy into practical questions. Traditional policies are written in the language of government targets and scientific scenarios. Members need to know what this means for theiroperations. Associations can work with experts to turn abstract scenarios into concrete directions specific to their sector.
- Connect members across regions. A manufacturer in southern Europe facing drought can learn from peers in water-scarce regions that have already adapted. A logistics company facing flooding risks can talk to others who’ve rerouted supply chains or developed backup distribution centres. Associations can facilitate these connections through working groups, site visits, or peer exchanges, creating forums where members share not just what worked, but what failed and why.
- Demonstrate at events. Associations can lead by example at their own conferences and meetings by running carbon-neutral events, reducing waste, or testing new sustainable practices. When members see it work in practice, it becomes achievable for their own operations.
- Create simple tools. Associations can develop practical tools like checklists for supply chain, scenario-planning templates for extreme weather, or frameworks for evaluating infrastructure resilience.
- Develop sector-specific standards. What does climate resilience mean for a chemical plant versus a farm versus a logistics network? Associations can work with members and experts to define this, creating standards or frameworks that give companies clear targets and help investors understand which operations are actually prepared.
- Connect to specialists. Members often don’t know where to find reliable expertise. Associations can vet and connect members with climate scientists, insurance experts, government programmes, and technical specialists. This might mean hosting expert briefings, maintaining an adviser directory, or partnering with research institutions.
- Share real stories. The most valuable knowledge comes from members who’ve already dealt with climate impacts. Associations can document and disseminate these experiences through case studies, member spotlights, or dedicated publications. When others see concrete examples of how a company maintained operations during extreme weather or adapted supply chains after disruption, abstract risks become tangible and actionable.
Adaptation requires coordination. Members need information, connections, and confidence that they’re not alone in facing these challenges. Associations already do this work by connecting peers, translating complex issues, and showing what’s possible. The move toward climate resilience creates an opportunity for associations to apply these strengths where members need them most.