Category: News

When: 9 March, 2022 | 09:00 – 10:30 CET

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our times. The world has recently
experienced extreme climate events and natural disasters, occurring simultaneously in various countries. As of 1 October 2021, over 2000 jurisdictions in more than 35 countries all over the world have declared a climate emergency. The recent wildfires in Greece, Sardegna and Portugal and the deadly floods in Germany, France and the Netherlands affected vulnerable populations.

Unveiled in 2021 by the European Commission, the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change aims to prepare Europe to face climate change impacts by indicating pathways to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience, and reduce regions’ vulnerability. In addition, the EC has launched the Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change and Societal Transformation that fosters the development of innovative solutions and will engage with and empower regions, cities and communities to evolve and adapt to climate change. It helps maximize the impact of the EU’s support for research and innovation and demonstrates its relevance for society and citizens.

The Mission focuses on solutions and preparedness for the impacts of climate change to protect lives and assets. It addresses new communities beyond the usual stakeholders, including behavioural changes and social aspects, to guide and achieve societal transformation.

This session is co-organised by four Horizon 2020 projects in the Mission addressing specifically regional transformation towards climate adaptation and resilience. By coordinating to identify common goals, challenges and focus areas, as well as maximize efficiencies and synergies, REGILIENCE, ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TransformAr will achieve the best possible outcomes for regions and communities impacted by climate change.

These projects have received funding under the Green Deal Call 1.3 on ‘Climate-resilient Innovation Packages for EU regions’ and were officially kicked off in Autumn 2021. By assessing and improving the resilience of regions, these projects will help them prepare for future crises and reduce their associated risks. In this framework, new tools and methodologies help regions and communities to better understand, plan and develop strategies tailored to their needs that will maximize their resilience to the impacts of climate change.

In light of the implementation of the Mission for Climate Adaptation and Societal Transformation, the session:

• will raise the relevance and necessity for integrated climate adaptation for regions;
• will explain the opportunities of working together in a project cluster, by providing an overview of tools, processes and impact of the four projects laying the groundwork for potential collaborations with other stakeholders and partners in the upcoming months and years and
• will showcase the approach and already existing good practice from regions and the motivation of regional partners to step further regional climate action.

Agenda:
09:00 – 09:05 Welcome and introduction to the session
09:05 – 09:15 Keynote from the European Commissio
09:15 – 09:25 Testimonials from regions
09:25 – 10:25 Panel discussion
10:25 – 10:30 Closing remarks
Keynote: Mr. Johannes Klumpers DG Clima (Focus on Mission/EU Adaptation Strategy and its importance for regional development). 

Panel discussion:

Ms. Chrysi Laspidou, University of Thessaly & ARSINOE project
Ms. Stefania Manca, Municipality of Genoa/EU Agenda Partnership for Climate Adaptation
Mr Alessio Satta – MEDSEA Foundation Sardinia, Italy and Mr Laurence Couldrick –West Country Rivers Trust, West Country Region, TransformAr project
Giovanni Luigi Brumat, Cantina Toblino viticulture cooperative, Trentino, Italy, IMPETUS project

Moderators: Mr. Vasileios Latinos, ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, REGILIENCE project
Backend moderator: Ms. Jole Lutzu, ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, REGILIENCE project

More information about the 3rd EU Macro-regional strategies week can be accessed at the following link: https://eumrsweek.tw.events/

On 11 January, REGILIENCE took part in the first Regional resilience project cluster meeting for 2022, together with the 3 other innovation actions – TransformAr, Climate Impetus and ARSINOE. 

The goal of the meeting was to follow up on the coordination and the cooperation between the four projects within the last few months and for the months to come.  

 

All projects had the opportunity to share their milestones and inputs. Some of the main points covered in the meeting included: 

• Discussion of the main tasks and responsibilities in the upcoming months; 
• A meeting set up for 14 January with the Environmental Agency to discuss the Climate-ADAPT platform and whether a collaboration can be formed, based on their plans for the future of the platform; 

• REGILIENCE is currently working on a resilience map of regions, soon visible on the REGILIENCE website; 
• A needs survey will be prepared, collecting baseline data about the regions covered by the Innovation Actions. A citizen survey (covering geography, economic, social and cultural differences) is also planned. Both will be ready beginning of 2022; 
• An indicator set for regional resilience is being set up. Innovation Action activities have been analysed and clustered in order to help learn more about how those activities are helping with the resilience of regions;  
• A maladaptation meeting with experts will be held between January and March. Maladaptation is a ‘“result of an intentional adaptation policy or measure directly increasing vulnerability for the targeted and/or external actor(s), and/or eroding preconditions for sustainable development by indirectly increasing society’s vulnerability”; 
• REGILIENCE will review and foster synergies of 30 online platforms to improve their performance and usability for regions and communities. Currently the teams are working on the platform assessment criteria as well as the cooperation letters; 

The next regional resilience project cluster meeting, where projects will have the opportunity to report on their actions, will be held in March. 

 

On 24 November 2021, during a one-day event, REGILIENCE took part in the HE Climate Adaptation Mission Workshop, which took place online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The workshop was also attended by the 3 regional resilience projects – ARSINOE, IMPETUS, TransformAr. Apart from representatives of REGILIENCE and the 3 Horizon 2020 “Regional resilience” projects, the event was also attended by representatives of DG CLIMA, DG RTD and CINEA.  

The workshop started early in the morning and everyone’s spirits were high! 

The workshop was divided into 2 main sessions. The goal of the first session was to discuss the potential synergies, gaps and overlaps between the projects. The first session turned out very fruitful – topics such as steps towards strengthening the combined action and impact of the four Horizon 2020 “Regional resilience” projects, establishing synergies and common fronts between the projects to work together in the elaboration of specific technology, knowledge sharing, dissemination and communication, and exploitation roadmaps were discussed. 

As per the second session, the main goal discussed was about shaping the pathway for combining action and increased impact from the four Horizon 2020 “Regional Resilience Projects”. This was achieved by understanding the ambition of the ‘Mission Adaptation’ and the project’s expectations, together with an exchange of good practices and ideas, and combining possible contributions from each of the involved projects to the ‘Mission Adaptation’.  

The participants were really pleased with the outcome of the workshop and all the discussions that were formed. Everyone was excited about joining forces and agreed that in order to maximise the impact of the projects and strengthen the engagement of regions, close collaboration between all is needed. 

​​REGILIENCE is made of a solid consortium of 9 partners, led by IEECP with the engagement of networks (FEDARENE, ICLEI, R-CITIES, F6S) and knowledge holders from science and practice (FC.ID, adelphi, REGEA, FT), within 5 work packages and 18 tasks, building on each other.  

Keep up to date with the REGILIENCE project actions, follow us on Linkedin and Twitter. 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101036560. 

As COP26 ends, leaving many wondering how the ongoing climate crisis can be tackled in a quicker and more efficient global way, the need to find impactful solutions despite the lack of significant change envisioned is more pressing than ever. Are there ways to tackle the changing climate, not only by cutting down emissions but with adapted solutions? This is where REGILIENCE comes in with consequential solutions rooted in adaptive tools for climate resilient regions.  

REGILIENCE is a HORIZON2020-funded project which will foster the adoption and wide dissemination of regional climate resilience pathways, following a demand-driven approach and bearing in mind the expertise and knowledge acquired, as well as the solutions available from Innovation Packages and other sources. It will work hand in hand with 3 regional resilience projects – ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TransformAr. REGILIENCE will furthermore be working towards the 13th Sustainable Development Goal on Climate Change and reflect its five targets. 

Just as the COP26 summit closes, the REGILIENCE project begins. The project aims to support the Green Deal targets and communication by implementing Innovation Packages that will address key community systems and comprises the adaptation solutions and pathways deemed essential for climate and social resilience in the specific regional contexts and the set timeline.  A workshop was organised on November 24th on shaping the pathway for combining action and increased impact from the four Horizon 2020 “Regional Resilience Projects”. This was achieved by understanding the ambition of the ‘Mission Adaptation’ and the project’s expectations, together with an exchange of good practices and ideas, and combining possible contributions from each of the involved projects to the ‘Mission Adaptation’. 

There will be a wide dissemination of solutions and approaches within networks, regional authorities and key stakeholders, including civil society organisations and citizens. With around 700 specific activities with an estimated audience of 100,000 individuals, including 8 large network events, 52 workshops/webinars, 30 twinning, 300 helpdesks, 10 testing, and 40 media activities, amongst others. 

A push for vulnerable regions 

REGILIENCE will provide additional coordination by developing a needs survey covering the 50 most vulnerable regions in the EU, which will be shared and matched with Innovation Package and other similar Horizon 2020 projects. Furthermore, there will be reviewed and fostered synergies among 30 online platforms to improve their performance and usability for regions and communities and have earmarked budget for engaging the corresponding institutions. 

The REGILIENCE project aims to facilitate the replication of Innovation Packages in 10 vulnerable and low-capacity regions, additional to those targeted by the Innovation Package projects, after a selection process and the signature of a workplan agreement. This ambition is aligned with the Horizon Europe’s proposed Mission “Prepare Europe for climate disruptions and accelerate the transformation to a climate-resilient and just Europe by 2030”. 

REGILIENCE Tools  

The tools developed by REGILIENCE include a Resilience Fundamentals Course, a citizen Resilience Scan Tool, information about resilience funding and financing, including recommendations for the inclusion of climate resilience in the national and regional plans for the EU Recovery Package and the Multiannual Finance Framework, on overcoming barriers and obstacles, maladaptation and the running of 10 tests for innovative public-private partnership approaches. 

Consortium 

REGILIENCE is made of a solid consortium of 9 partners, led by the Institute for European Energy and Climate Policy (IEECP) with the engagement of networks with the European Federation of Agencies and Regions for Energy and Environment (FEDARENE), ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability – European Secretariat (ICLEI Europe), Resilient Cities Network (R-CITIES), F6S Network Limited (F6S) and knowledge holders from science and practice Associação para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento de Ciências (FC.ID), adelphi, North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (REGEA) and Fresh thoughts Consulting (FT), within 5 work packages and 18 tasks, building on each other. 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101036560. 

 

Media contacts 

Jen Heeman, Research and Project Assistant, IEECP, jen@ieecp.org  

Marine Faber Perrio, Senior communications associate, IEECP, marine@ieecp.org