Adaptation policies climate change

Adaptation policies aim to reduce our vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Without adaptation measures, for example, many homes could become uninhabitable during the summer months; transport infrastructures, energy, water and telecommunication networks could cease to function during heat waves; inhabited territories would be flooded on a recurrent basis and others subject to coastline retreat; certain agricultural productions would fall drastically.

France's adaptation policy aims to anticipate these risks, which could have major human, social and economic consequences. It favors adaptation solutions with co-benefits, notably in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting biodiversity and health.

The national climate change adaptation plan

France adopted a climate change adaptation strategy in 2006. Since 2011, three successive plans have translated this strategy into concrete measures.

The 3^rd National Plan for Climate Adaptation (PNACC 3), published on March 10, 2025, includes various actions to better map the risks associated with climate change, improve water management, anticipate the gradual increase in exposure to natural hazards and extreme heat, and integrate adaptation issues into all government and regional actions.

The reference warming trajectory for climate adaptation

For metropolitan France, which is warming faster than other parts of the world, the IPCC's baseline scenario implies a rise in average temperatures of 2°C in 2030, 2.7°C in 2050 and 4°C in 2100 compared to the pre-industrial era (see p. 25). Subject to public consultation in 2023, this trajectory has become the national reference warming trajectory for France's climate adaptation (TRACC, see glossary).

Data relating to the future climate according to the TRACC are gradually being improved and access to them facilitated, notably via Météo-France's Drias online portal. This should enable all stakeholders to gain a better understanding of the consequences of climate change for the territories and activities that concern them, and to build their adaptation strategies accordingly.