This policy brief synthesises the latest results from the COACCH project on the economic costs of climate change in Europe and identifies areas of possible discussion to explore with stakeholders at the second COACCH workshop. The policy brief is available for download.

Climate change will lead to economic costs. These costs, often known as the 'costs of inaction', provide key inputs to the policy debate on climate risks, mitigation and adaptation.

The COACCH project has produced new sector estimates of the economic costs of climate change. The sectors addressed in the report are: coastal flooding; river flooding; business, services and industry; energy; transport; agriculture; forestry and fisheries; biodiversity and ecosystem services; health; and macroeconomics, growth and competitiveness. Additionally, the report provides an update on the research being carried out on climate and socio-economic tipping points, as well as work on flood insurance affordability, sea-level rise and coastal migration, and food production shocks.

Where possible, results are reported as the combined impacts of future climate and socio-economic change together, along with a commentary on the importance of climate versus socio-economics in the estimates. In some sectors, early analysis of the costs and benefits of adaptation has been assessed.

The objective of the COACCH project is to produce an improved downscaled assessment of the risks and costs of climate change in Europe. The project is proactively involving stakeholders in co-design, coproduction and co-dissemination, to produce research that is of direct use to end users from the research, business, investment and policy making communities.