Climate change, sustainability and socio-economic impacts in the EU

In recent years, the progressive increase in exceptional climatic events, which are also the result of climate change and of territorial organisations not very respectful of local characteristics, is one of the major problems and objectives addressed at international level (UN, 2015; Banca d'Italia, 2021; Copernicus, 2021; ECB, 2021; WMO, 2021). The frequency and growing intensity of the phenomena directly affect the financial situation of the territories and of particular economic activities, such as agriculture, most exposed to such extreme events. All this endangers the entire regional economic and social system to serious problems of stability and sustainability which require reflections on possible targeted interventions (Aspinall, 2012; Espon, 2021). In Europe, current debates focus on the creation of networks to support the transition to a low-carbon economy, as well as to manage the risks of climate change (Prezioso, 2020; Espon, 2021). Therefore, this research, by combining various data and sources at Community level, such as the data of the European Copernicus program and the Espon Observatory, made it possible to observe changes over time and to map the risks of socio-economic vulnerability in order to better evaluate them.