Port leads a sea change among European cities

Ahmed Aboutaleb is overseeing big changes as mayor of Rotterdam, bidding to go green and challenging its petrochemical proprietors, writes Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill

THE citizens of Rotterdam have a habit of turning adversity into opportunity — they did it after the Second World War when the Nazis bombed the city to nothing, growing its port to become the biggest in the world.

Now its very existence is under threat as climate change threatens to swamp its inhabitants, with 80% of the region as much as 7m below sea level, making evacuation impossible.