Sustainable measurement indicators to assess impacts of climate change: Implications for the New Green Deal Era

The vulnerability of European nations to climate change has been the focus of the EU for the past number of decades. Changes within weather systems such as increase in precipitation, snow and ice events, heatwaves and storms have led the EU Commission to develop new policies and strategies to deal with these extreme events. Changes within weather patterns are locked in for the coming number of decades, and thus, adaptation strategies at local and national levels have been developed to counteract or protect vulnerable communities from these effects. Furthermore, mitigation strategies that deal with the causes of climate change have also been developed at local and national levels as the EU strives to be a carbon-neutral society. As the development of these strategies continues, a robust set of sustainability measurement indicators are required for assessing the impacts of climate change at local and national levels. Furthermore, the identification of indicators that will directly be affected and influenced by the New Green Deal will be critical in assessing the impacts of our responses to climate change. Indicators should not be reliant on a single parameter but rather have a multidisciplinary scope taking into account, social, cultural and economic changes.