## 1 Introduction
### Background  
The global fight against climate change began in 1988 with the establishment of the IPCC as the main body for evaluating this phenomenon (Figure 1). In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted to mitigate the concentrations of GHG [27]. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) subsequently set emission reduction targets for 2008-2012 and this marked an important milestone in international commitments to mitigate climate change. This international framework laid the foundation for regional climate action and prompted the European Union (EU) to develop its own adaptation strategies [28]. In response to the Kyoto Protocol, the EU launched its first official communication in 2005 under the slogan \"Winning the Battle Against Global Climate Change\", which promoted the adoption of adaptation policies in its member states [11]. At the same time, scientific advancements and the growing consensus on the impacts of climate change began to influence the development of these policies. In this context, Finland became the first European country to implement an explicit adaptation strategy in 2005, followed by Spain in 2006 [29; 30]. These examples served as models for other countries, especially those with coastlines, which began to develop instruments to address climate change. Furthermore, in 2005 a working group on impacts and adaptation was established within the European Climate Change Program (ECCP) [29]. Although these initiatives laid the groundwork, it was not until 2007 that the EU recognized the importance of developing comprehensive strategies at the national and local levels, as reflected in the publication of the green paper \"Adapting to Climate Change in Europe: Options for EU Action\" [31]. This publication was followed by a white paper in 2009 [32]. In 2013, the European Adaptation Strategy was approved, and member states were urged to develop and implement integrated adaptation policies [33]. The number of plans and strategies has since increased significantly, particularly from 2011 onwards, due to the rise in extreme events such as floods, heatwaves, and storms that occurred during the first decade of the 21 st century [29; 34]. The increase in adaptations and plans in numerous coastal EU countries is represented graphically in Figure 2. Furthermore, in many countries, the governance of their adaptation policies has been improved through reviews and updates of their national instruments. These instruments include NAS 2005 Finland; NAP 2006 Spain; NAS 2007 Spain and France; NAS 2008 Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands; NAS 2010 Belgium and Portugal; NAP 2011 France and Germany; NAS 2012 Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania, and Malta; NAP 2012 Denmark; NAS 2013 Poland and Romania; NAP 2014 Cyprus; NAS 2015 Italy and Portugal; NAP 2015 Germany and Romania; NAS 2016 Greece, The Netherlands, and Slovenia; NAP 2016 Belgium; NAS 2017 Croatia and Cyprus; NAP 2017 Estonia, Italy, and France; NAS 2018 Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden; NAS 2019 Bulgaria; NAD 2019 Bulgaria, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Portugal; NAP 2020 Spain; NAP 2022 Finland; NAS 2023 Romania and Sweden; NAP 2023 Ireland, Italy, Romania, and Sweden; NAS 2024 Germany; and NAP 2024 Ireland. In 2015, the Paris Agreement consolidated global efforts by strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity, and this marked a milestone in international climate policy [14; 35]. Figure 1: Chronology of putting climate change on the international political agenda. In Europe this commitment was reflected in an increase in policies and legal frameworks aimed at mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change [36]. However, these measures are still considered to be insufficient to address the current challenges [9; 10]. The European Adaptation Strategy was adopted in 2021, and this sets out new pathways to address the inevitable effects of climate change with the aim of moving toward a climate-neutral and resilient Europe by 2050.