Amsterdam's new coalition has earmarked EUR 18.0 million over 2027–2030 for climate adaptation and green space, while a study for the city puts the investment needed by 2050 at EUR 1.04 billion. At its peak of EUR 5.0 million a year, the extra money is about 12% of the roughly EUR 41.5 million a year the programme was reported to cost.
A summer that tested the city
The gap matters more after 2026. The Netherlands had its warmest summer since 1901, averaging 19.3°C against a normal of 17.5°C, and was in an official actual water shortage from 16 July to 3 September. On 3 September the minister named salinisation in the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal and the Lek, the waters Amsterdam's drinking water depends on, as a continuing concern.
What the money would buy
The Arcadis study for the city, completed in September 2025, models 23,630 new trees, about EUR 355 million to protect some 71,000 drought-vulnerable trees and about EUR 350 million of wadis. Without the measures, it expects EUR 1.18 billion to EUR 3.46 billion of extreme-weather damage in Amsterdam over 2018–2050. The 2050 goals behind the estimate have not been formally adopted.
Dikes are further ahead
Flood defence is better funded. The Amstel, Gooi en Vecht water authority has made EUR 226.5 million available for its first regional dike programme and plans up to EUR 18.0 million a year for a second from 2028. In 2025, 80% of its regional dikes met the standard, against a 90% target for 2030.
How exposed Amsterdam is to cloudbursts, heat and drought, what the national evaluation of the 2026 drought due before 1 April 2027 could change, and which decisions would get the costed programme funded are set out in the report. The full report, Climate Resilience: Drought and Flood Risk in Amsterdam, is available for USD 249. For a free overview, see Amsterdam City Snapshot.