Adapting to climate change is challenging in border regions where emergency situations can become amplified on a cross-border basis. Such amplification is largely the result of more agencies becoming involved in the response; groups that are often geographically dispersed, bring more divergent agendas to the ‘table’ and are often less well acquainted with each other. However, acting to build adaptive responses across international borders serves to increase resilience and decrease vulnerability to climate change. Over the coming decades climate change is likely to increase flood risk. On the island of Ireland, border regions are amongst the most vulnerable to hazards such as flooding. Developing effective cross-border emergency management will require collaborative planning, capacity building and innovative leadership. This paper sets out the urgency of adapting to climate change in border regions and provides an overview of progress and capacity building in moving towards greater shared services in border communities in Ireland.