Opportunities in EU water policy: making the most of the EU Water Resilience Strategy
German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU)External Publications (2025)
Policy Paper No. 14, Berlin: German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU)
Dt. Ausg. u.d.T.: Klimareslientes Wassermanagement: die neue EU Wasserpolitik als Chance nutzen
European water policy is changing rapidly: on 4 June 2025, the EU Commission presented a Water Resilience Strategy. It represents a realignment and re-networking of the EU policy field of water. This is necessary in view of the intensifying impacts of climate change, the already strained water situation and water emergencies in the EU. The EU Water Resilience Strategy contains some very good approaches, but needs to be supplemented further. Climate-resilient water management should become the guiding principle of EU water policy and of member-state water authorities and local associations in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. Green water is key for this: farmers should become green-water caretakers. Furthermore, EU water policy must create more synergies between policy areas than has hitherto been suggested, and exert an integrative effect on other directives and regulations. Moreover, the WBGU recommends a common EU foreign policy on water and a commitment to new forms of governance at the international level.
Lead authors: Aletta Bonn, Jörg E. Drewes, Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Kai Maaz, Karen Pittel, Hans-Otto Pörtner, Sabine Schlacke, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann, Joscha Wullweber. Co-authors: Julia Behrens, Mareike Blum, Catharina Caspari, Verena Engelhardt, Saba Fazal Firdousi Adam Ali, Tallulah Gundelach, Paula Haufe, Oskar Masztalerz, Katharina Michael, Alexander Mitranescu, Katharina Molitor, Jürgen Orasche, Marion Schulte zu Berge, Astrid Schulz, Jan Siegmeier
