EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, presented the findings of a new report on the future challenges facing regions in Europe. The Regions 2020 provides input into the ongoing debate on the future of EU cohesion policy which was launched by the publication of the Fourth Cohesion Report in May 2007. This review takes place in the context of the ongoing debate on the EU budget review, which DG Regional Policy, as one of the EU’s largest spending departments, has been actively trying to influence. The report provides the European Commission’s first analysis of the regional impacts of four key challenges facing Europe, namely adapting to globalisation; demographic change; climate change; and the energy challenge – with a 2020 perspective. Using a series of indicators, the report maps out a ‘vulnerability index’ for European regions to each of these challenges, and examines the potential differences in impacts across the EU. Regions are defined at a relatively broad scale (the so-called NUTS 2 level, which generally corresponds to state or provincial administrative units) and encompass both urban and rural areas.