The European Green Deal (EGD) is the growth strategy for Europe, covering multiple domains, and aiming to an equitable, climate neutral European Union by 2050. The UN Agenda 2030, encompassing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), establishes the foundation for a global sustainability transition. The integration of the SDGs into the EGD is an overlooked issue in the literature, despite Europe’s slow progress to achieve the sustainability targets. We employed a machine-learning text-mining method to evaluate the extent of SDG integration within the 74 EGD policy documents published during 2019–2023. The findings reveal a substantial alignment of EGD policies with SDGs related to clean energy (SDG7), climate action (SDG13), and sustainable consumption and production (SDG12). In contrast, there is a significant underrepresentation in areas related to social issues such as inequalities, poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, decent work, and peace, as indicated by lower alignment with SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, and 16. Temporal trends suggest a marginal increase in the attention given to environmental health (especially water and marine life) and gender equality. Furthermore, we illustrate the alignment of EGD policies with the six essential sustainability transformations proposed by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in 2019 for the operationalization of the SDGs. The results indicate that besides the prevalence of “Energy Decarbonization and Sustainable Industry”, all areas have received attention, except for the “Health, Wellbeing and Demography”. The findings call for a more integrated approach to address the complete spectrum of sustainability in a balanced manner.

Climate change–driven wildfires, especially in the Mediterranean, are not only becoming more frequent and severe but also amplifying flood risks by altering catchment hydrology. Yet, post-fire flood risk management remains inadequately addressed. In response, we develop an integrated simulation framework that combines meteorological, hydrological, hydraulic-hydrodynamic models and remote sensing techniques to represent post-wildfire flood hazards and support the design of Post-wildfire Flood Protection Treatments (PFPTs). We utilize the framework to accurately represent a post-wildfire flash flood event in a Mediterranean catchment in Greece. The flood event is simulated under three scenarios: pre-wildfire, post-wildfire without any PFPTs in place (reality), and post-wildfire with PFPTs. The results show that the wildfire's impact on flood extent was around a 24.1 % increase, but the PFPTs could have counterbalanced this impact. Moreover, we present an economic model for estimating the cost of the recommended PFPTs and the flood damage direct costs, combining an accounting and a semi-automated AI-based approach. The cost comparison reveals that the protection would have cost around EUR 5.05 million (just the 20 % of the flood damage costs, EUR 25.2 million) potentially saving EUR 6.37 million in flood damage. By filling critical knowledge gaps, our study offers insights into the dynamics of post-wildfire flood events and provides policymakers with valuable insights for timely risk mitigation amidst escalating fire-related disasters.

Climate change–driven wildfires, especially in the Mediterranean, are not only becoming more frequent and severe but also amplifying flood risks by altering catchment hydrology. Yet, post-fire flood risk management remains inadequately addressed. In response, we develop an integrated simulation framework that combines meteorological, hydrological, hydraulic-hydrodynamic models and remote sensing techniques to represent post-wildfire flood hazards and support the design of Post-wildfire Flood Protection Treatments (PFPTs). We utilize the framework to accurately represent a post-wildfire flash flood event in a Mediterranean catchment in Greece. The flood event is simulated under three scenarios: pre-wildfire, post-wildfire without any PFPTs in place (reality), and post-wildfire with PFPTs. The results show that the wildfire's impact on flood extent was around a 24.1 % increase, but the PFPTs could have counterbalanced this impact. Moreover, we present an economic model for estimating the cost of the recommended PFPTs and the flood damage direct costs, combining an accounting and a semi-automated AI-based approach. The cost comparison reveals that the protection would have cost around € 3.45 mill (just the 13.7 % of the flood damage costs, € 25.2 mill) potentially saving € 6.37 mill in flood damage. By filling critical knowledge gaps, our study offers insights into the dynamics of post-wildfire flood events and provides policymakers with valuable insights for timely risk mitigation amidst escalating fire-related disasters.

Despite growing global momentum for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), monitoring and reporting progress at the regional level remains limited

Climate change–driven wildfires, especially in the Mediterranean, are not only becoming more frequent and severe but also amplifying flood risks by altering catchment hydrology. Yet, post-fire flood risk management remains inadequately addressed. In response, we develop an integrated simulation framework that combines meteorological, hydrological, hydraulic-hydrodynamic models and remote sensing techniques to represent post-wildfire flood hazards and support the design of Post-wildfire Flood Protection Treatments (PFPTs). We utilize the framework to accurately represent a post-wildfire flash flood event in a Mediterranean catchment in Greece. The flood event is simulated under three scenarios: pre-wildfire, post-wildfire without any PFPTs in place (reality), and post-wildfire with PFPTs. The results show that the wildfire's impact on flood extent was around a 24.1 % increase, but the PFPTs could have counterbalanced this impact. Moreover, we present an economic model for estimating the cost of the recommended PFPTs and the flood damage direct costs, combining an accounting and a semi-automated AI-based approach. The cost comparison reveals that the protection would have cost around € 3.45 mill (just the 13.7 % of the flood damage costs, € 25.2 mill) potentially saving € 6.37 mill in flood damage. By filling critical knowledge gaps, our study offers insights into the dynamics of post-wildfire flood events and provides policymakers with valuable insights for timely risk mitigation amidst escalating fire-related disasters.

Climate change–driven wildfires, especially in the Mediterranean, are not only becoming more frequent and severe but also amplifying flood risks by altering catchment hydrology. Yet, post-fire flood risk management remains inadequately addressed. In response, we develop an integrated simulation framework that combines meteorological, hydrological, hydraulic-hydrodynamic models and remote sensing techniques to represent post-wildfire flood hazards and support the design of Post-wildfire Flood Protection Treatments (PFPTs). We utilize the framework to accurately represent a post-wildfire flash flood event in a Mediterranean catchment in Greece. The flood event is simulated under three scenarios: pre-wildfire, post-wildfire without any PFPTs in place (reality), and post-wildfire with PFPTs. The results show that the wildfire's impact on flood extent was around a 24.1 % increase, but the PFPTs could have counterbalanced this impact. Moreover, we present an economic model for estimating the cost of the recommended PFPTs and the flood damage direct costs, combining an accounting and a semi-automated AI-based approach. The cost comparison reveals that the protection would have cost around € 3.45 mill (just the 13.7 % of the flood damage costs, € 25.2 mill) potentially saving € 6.37 mill in flood damage. By filling critical knowledge gaps, our study offers insights into the dynamics of post-wildfire flood events and provides policymakers with valuable insights for timely risk mitigation amidst escalating fire-related disasters.