Abstract. To facilitate progress in climate change adaptation policy and practice, it is important not only to ensure the production of accurate, comprehensive and relevant information, but also the easy, timely and affordable access to it. This can contribute to better-informed decisions and improve the design and implementation of adaptation policies and other relevant initiatives. Web-based platforms can play an important role in communicating and distributing data, information and knowledge that become constantly available, reaching out to a large group of potential users. Indeed in the last decade there has been an extensive increase in the number of platforms developed for this purpose in many fields including climate change adaptation. This short paper concentrates on the web-based adaptation platforms developed in Europe. It provides an overview of the recently emerged landscape, examines the basic characteristics of a set of platforms that operate at national, transnational and European level, and discusses some of the key challenges related to their development, maintenance and overall management. Findings presented in this short paper are discussed in greater detailed in the Technical Report of the European Environment Agency "Overview of climate change adaptation platforms in Europe".

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<p>The European Climate Adaptation Platform (Climate-ADAPT) is an adaptation service targeted at public stakeholders in Europe, which includes some elements of a climate service. Climate-ADAPT is a partnership between the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA). It supports Europe in adapting to climate change by helping users to access and share data and information on: expected climate change; current and future vulnerability of regions and sectors; EU, national and transnational adaptation strategies and actions; case studies, and tools for adaptation planning.</p><p>The 2017 Climate-ADAPT evaluation has shown that the platform is mainly used by experts developing tailor-made support for decision makers in adaptation policy, planning and implementation. The evaluation recommended that the future Climate-ADAPT work should anticipate improved access to C3S and the outcomes of EU funded projects as the main focus of the content development of Climate-ADAPT. The information should be provided in a format that is easily usable by those experts, including a slight preference for synthesis information. Within a dedicated Climate-ADAPT dissemination strategy, the platform should be better promoted towards users with less experience on adaptation and to users in eastern and central European countries.</p><p>Early versions of Climate-ADAPT presented information on climate change through ‘static’ indicators, which typically included pan-European time series and one or two maps of observed or projected changes. This information was useful for raising awareness of the importance of adaptation action and for providing a Europe-wide overview of specific climate hazards. As EEA’s stakeholder progressed to planning and implementing concrete actions, however, they requested more detailed information on past and projected changes in climate. In response, EEA partnered with Copernicus Climate Change Services (C3S) to develop a more interactive climate service.</p><p>The European Climate Data Explorer (ECDE), jointly developed by C3S and the EEA, provides easy access to many climate variables and climate impact indicators from the C3S Climate Data Store. The tool allows users to focus on smaller regions of interest and calculates time series for specific regions; it also allows downloading images and data. It will be expanded in the future with further indices, new data sources and additional functionalities. The ECDE also forms the backbone of EEA’s first interactive report Europe's changing climate hazards.</p><p>Climate-ADAPT will be significantly expanded in response to increasing policy needs expressed in the new EU Adaptation Strategy, launched under the European Green Deal, the EU Climate Law, the EU Mission on Adaptation to climate change, and Destination Earth. In this context, improving access to quality-controlled information on climate change hazards, impacts, exposure, and vulnerability data through the ECDE and the Urban Vulnerability Map Viewer is one of the top priorities of the next years. This includes improving the usability of those tools. Within the Climate-ADAPT dissemination work, those tools will be also actively promoted towards adaptation experts at all governance levels across Europe.</p><p> </p>

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