Abstract. The 2020 update of the European Seismic Hazard Model (ESHM20) is the most recent and up-to-date assessment of seismic hazard for the Euro-Mediterranean region. The new model, publicly released in May 2022, incorporates refined and cross-border harmonised earthquake catalogues, homogeneous tectonic zonation, updated active faults datasets and geological information, complex subduction sources, updated area source models, a smoothed seismicity model with an adaptive kernel optimised within each tectonic region and a novel ground motion characteristic model. ESHM20 supersedes the 2013 European Seismic Hazard Model (ESHM13, Wössner et al 2015) and provides full sets of hazard outputs such as hazard curves, maps, and uniform hazard spectra for the Euro-Mediterranean region. The model provides two informative hazard maps that will serve as a reference for the forthcoming revision of the European Seismic Design Code (CEN EC8) and provides input to the first earthquake risk model for Europe (Crowley et al., 2021). ESHM20 will continue to evolve and act as a key resource for supporting earthquake preparedness and resilience throughout Euro-Mediterranean region under the umbrella of the European Facilities for Seismic Hazard and Risk Consortium (EFEHR Consortium).