Category: News

On the 22nd of March 2023, it took place the first Open Training Session, organized by the REGILIENCE project.

This training session provided a holistic overview of European strategies and initiatives on climate adaptation and gave an insight into initiatives and projects supporting regions. The interactive session allowed all participants to contribute and exchange with the speakers:

• Johannes Klumpers (DG CLIMA) – explained the EU landscape on resilience including the EU adaptation strategy and the Climate Law including the links to the recently published IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report. He explained the approaches of the EU-wide climate risk assessment and the Adaptation Mission Charter.
• Jole Lutzu (REGILIENCE) – introduced the first Mission Adaptation project cluster and provided the speakers with an introduction to the developed tools and specific case studies.
• Richard Smithers (MIP4ADAPT) – highlighted the opportunities for regions to receive technical support from MIP4ADAPT to build adaptation strategies and the activities of the initiative.
• Alison De Luise (Covenant of Mayors Europe) – showcased the Policy Support Facility of the Covenant of Mayors and its initial results and ongoing activities on adaptation. She explained how the policy support facility can help local and regional authorities to move from the planning to the implementation of adaptation actions.
• Matthias Watzak-Helmer (FEDARENE) moderated this session held on March 22^nd 2023

The speakers provided valuable insights into their work on climate resilience and offered knowledge and inspiration. Benefits and offers for European regions and inspiring good practice solutions completed the contributions and steered fruitful discussions with the participants. The sessions stressed the importance of adaptation to reach climate resilience and underlined the need for timely actions of all actors within their fields of action and due to multi-level governance cooperation. Regions can benefit from plenty of ongoing opportunities to build up knowledge and capacities for adaptation or exchange in communities of practice.

This event is part of the REGILIENCE Open Training Sessions which aims for sharing knowledge and inspiration. You can learn more about all upcoming and past sessions and help us tailor future sessions according to your needs on the dedicated REGILIENCE page here.

The next session “Step by Step towards climate resilience” will provide insight on pathway development approaches including user experience reports held on the 21^st of April 2023 from 11 am to 13 pm. Find more info on the particular session or register here before the session.

You can watch the full recording below:

March is the month we celebrate women!

Together with our sister projects, ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TransformAr, we decided to interview impactful women from our programs, who are working actively on resilience and adaptation tools, solutions and initiatives to mitigate the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

As part of REGILIENCE, we spoke to Ms Lina Liakou, Global Director of Network Engagement and Head for Europe and the Middle East for REGILIENCE partner Resilient Cities Network.

Q.: Ms Liakou, you are a Global Director of Network Engagement and Head for Europe and the Middle East for REGILIENCE partner Resilient Cities Network, and you are also the former Deputy Mayor for Urban Resilience and Development planning for the City of Thessaloniki. How does your expertise as Deputy Mayor inform and translate into your work as part of the REGILIENCE project?

Ms Lina Liakou: When you work within a local government, you understand better the day-to-day challenges and internal barriers. Thanks to this experience, I have a better sense of what enables innovation within to trigger systemic change. And this is now embedded in me and translates into my work and contribution to REGILIENCE—I look through the lens of cities to identify and maximise the value this can bring to them.

Q.: What made you want to get involved in city governance, sustainability, and resilience?

Ms Lina Liakou: When I realised this is where true change takes place, I knew I had to get involved in local governance. Every aspect of our lives is affected by how a city is governed. And this is true for every life in a city—that’s when resilience becomes essential for change. Resilience brings perspective and understanding of how to enhance the lives of people and the performance of the systems—it’s like a glue that puts together all the values and aspects of what makes a city great.

Q.: How have your studies contributed to the research on climate change and how does your field of expertise complement other disciplines in the projects you are now working in?

Ms Lina Liakou: As an architect, I understand the city as an interconnected system which is key if you want to measure and build resilience to climate change. This way of seeing cities and the world also applies to the project. It helps us understand our expertise’s interconnectedness and how we can integrate and intervene most effectively.

Q.: What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in this career path and what has been the most important lesson you’ve learned?

Ms Lina Liakou: Bringing people together and mobilising them for a common goal. Even when we want to achieve the same, interests and perspectives always differ. That is why storytelling and creating narratives that speak to the interests of the various stakeholders is so important—they allow us to convey the importance and urgency for resilience building.

Q.: As an expert in transforming cities and organizations, what would you say is Europe’s biggest challenge now regarding our ability to adapt to climate change?

Ms Lina Liakou: Our biggest challenge is how we ensure that in the process of adapting to climate change we don’t leave anyone behind. We need to have equity in the heart of our climate action.

Q.: What makes you most hopeful for the future?

Ms Lina Liakou: The younger generations. For them climate action is not “good to have” but our duty towards each other. 

Web-based climate change adaptation platforms in Europe are critical tools for addressing the challenges posed by climate change and, fortunately, the number of existing or planned national and transnational adaptation platforms in Europe is increasing (European Environment Agency, 2015). These platforms can offer a range of features and tools that can help, for example, citizens, organizations and regions – among others – adapt to changing weather patterns, extreme weather events, and other unavoidable climate-related impacts.  

 There are several reasons why we should use web-based climate change adaptation platforms in Europe, for example: 

1. Enhance climate resilience: by using web-based climate change adaptation platforms, citizens, communities, regions and many more can better understand and prepare for the impacts of climate change. These platforms can provide information on climate projections, risks, and vulnerabilities, as well as tools for risk assessment and management, and can be updated more easily than books. By building climate resilience, we can minimize the negative impacts of climate change and better adapt to a changing environment; 
2. Foster collaboration: web-based climate change adaptation platforms can foster collaboration between different stakeholders, including government agencies, businesses, communities, and citizens. By sharing information, best practices, and experiences, these platforms can help build partnerships and networks that are essential for effective climate action; 
3. Improve decision-making: climate change adaptation platforms can provide decision-makers with the information they need to make informed decisions about climate-related risks and opportunities. By using data and analytics, these platforms can help identify and prioritize adaptation strategies that are most effective and cost-efficient, and, for example, support avoiding maladaptation with decision support tools; 
4. Increase public awareness: web-based climate change adaptation platforms can raise public awareness about the impacts of climate change and the importance of taking action. By providing accessible and engaging information, these platforms can help educate citizens, communities and regions about climate-related risks and inspire them to act; 
5. Support innovation: climate change adaptation platforms can support innovation and even promote replication by providing a place to showcase innovations, for experimentation and collaboration. By bringing together stakeholders from different sectors and disciplines, these platforms can foster the development of new technologies, solutions, and approaches to climate change adaptation. 

 Under the implementation of the REGILIENCE project, we mapped and analyzed 124 web-based climate change adaptation platforms in Europe. The project identified 16 platforms that have more potential to support regions with practical knowledge resources and tools to assist them in implementing resilience pathways, complementing the efforts of the European Climate Adaptation Platform (Climate-ADAPT). The review process confirmed that the web-based climate change adaptation platform landscape is dynamic, and each platform provides unique features and tools for addressing climate change, being all essential for building a more resilient and sustainable future. The type of information most often offered by the platforms includes experiences from practice and implemented adaptation measures, decision-support tools, scientific research results, and policy actions at transnational, national and subnational levels. Most of the platforms are a result of temporarily funded projects and international/national/regional policy initiatives. Another important finding was that 25% of the platforms sampled were not available in English, which demonstrates their strong national and regional focus. 

 The most comprehensive web-based adaptation platform is Climate-ADAPT. Launched in 2012 by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA), it aims to provide an extensive database of information on climate change adaptation in Europe, including information on climate impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation strategies and measures – allowing users to integrate their own information and results. The platform is designed to support decision-making at different levels, from national to local, and is intended for use by policymakers, researchers, and practitioners working on climate change adaptation. 

 While web-based climate change adaptation platforms in Europe offer a wealth of information and tools for addressing climate change, there are also some factors to consider. Some of them are: 

1. Data availability and quality: climate change adaptation platforms rely on climate data and projections to inform decision-making. However, data availability and quality can vary across regions and time periods, which can limit the accuracy of climate models and projections; 
2. Accessibility: despite efforts to make web-based platforms accessible to all users, some citizens may face barriers in accessing the information and tools they need, particularly those with limited internet access, language and digital literacy barriers, or disabilities; 
3. Local/regional context: climate change impacts and adaptation strategies can vary significantly depending on the local/regional context, including geography, demographics, and socioeconomic factors. Web-based platforms may not always capture these nuances, which can limit their functionality for local/regional decision-making; 
4. Policy implementation: even with the most detailed/comprehensive information and the best tools available, the successful implementation of climate change adaptation measures often depends on political will, resources, and coordination across different sectors and levels of government. Web-based platforms alone, unfortunately, cannot address these complex policy and governance challenges; 
5. Funding: climate change adaptation requires significant resources, including funding opportunities, capacity building, and technical expertise. While web-based platforms can provide information and guidance, they cannot always address the funding gaps and resource limitations that may hinder effective adaptation efforts. 

 Web-based climate change adaptation platforms in Europe are essential tools for addressing the challenges imposed by climate change. They can enhance climate resilience, foster collaboration, improve decision-making, increase public awareness, and support innovation. These platforms may indeed provide vital support when it comes to tackling climate change and implementing adaptation measures, building a more sustainable future for ourselves and future generations. Web-based adaptation platforms in Europe are an important resource for addressing climate change, and they should be seen as part of a broader suite of tools and approaches for building climate resilience and adaptive capacity. 

You can download the opinion article here.

On 22 December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly decided to establish a day, to celebrate and recognise the achievements women play in science and technology. This is how The International Day of Women and Girls in Science was established and is now celebrated every year on 11 February.

Why is talking about gender imbalance in STEM so important? 

 Women are key players when it comes to driving innovation and progress. When it comes to higher education, the SheFigures study from 2021, based on data from Eurostat, highlights that in 2018 the EU had already achieved some important goals for gender parity, with women representing 48.1% of doctoral graduates at the European level. However, on the other side, at both European and country levels, female doctoral graduates were over-represented in the field of Education and under-represented in the broad fields of Information and Communication Technologies and Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction. When it comes to employment, women were also less represented among the population of employed scientists and engineers at the European level (41.3%). 

Another worrying statistic is that just 33,3 % of researchers globally are women and even then, they are less likely to get funding or get promoted. 

Not to mention that women’s work rarely gets the recognition it deserves – less than 4% of Nobel Prizes for science have ever been awarded to women, and only 11% of Senior research roles are held by women in Europe. 

 The lack of gender balance in STEM is rooted to some extend to the early educational development of women. From an early age, women are excluded from some subjects in school that are considered more male-oriented. Females also lack strong female role models they could look up to within those highly crucial years of their development. 

These factors accumulate over time and discourage women not to pursue careers in STEM. Did you know that “women account for only 29% of PhD graduates in engineering, manufacturing and construction across the EU? They represent only 25% of self-employed professionals in technical professions such as science, engineering, or information and communication technologies and significantly under-represented among inventors, with only 10% of patent applications coming from women”. 

Regions, cities and communities were encouraged during COP27 to:  

1) agree on a clear vision for climate resilience, but also make clear what are the implementation challenges, roadmaps and actionable items that can take further the goals set by the Paris Agreement;  

2) prioritize multi-level governance actions and specifically emphasize on the interplay between the local and regional level and  

3) raise their voices about the need to act now, build partnerships with key institutions, reach out to strategic partners that are thinking out-of-the-box and engage with bottom-up initiatives that may elevate local climate action.  

 That said, the Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change and Societal Transformation provides an excellent opportunity to act towards all these objectives!   

 More than 12 EU-funded Horizon projects with over 150 million EUR of funding have already been granted under the Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change, while, in parallel, numerous academic and non-academic institutions have produced evidence and guidance on the benefits, shortcomings and potential of integrated adaptation planning over the past years. Demand for effective support to regions and communities entering the Mission and engaging in the development and promotion of transformative adaptation pathways becomes more than evident. The overarching goal of the Mission Implementation Platform (upcoming launch in 2023) is to accelerate upscaling of adaptation action at local and regional level and link to implementation in science, business, policy and practice in line with the EUs’ ambitions to address the most important climate hazards by 2030.  

These projects and the cities and regions involved, either as partners or as case studies, need to work together, elevate their efforts in peer-to-peer exchange and upscaling, to achieve:   

• even higher policy impact across the EU and globally by better implementation of recent or immediately upcoming key policies (e.g., EU Adaptation Strategy, EU Green Deal, EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, Climate Law, Global Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework) and initiatives (e.g., Green City Accord, Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, Climate Pact, EU Taxonomy, EU Missions on Oceans, Climate Neutrality or Soil Health and Food),   
• convince all relevant EU policy sectors (including both public and business-oriented decision-makers and practitioners) that local and regional adaptation actions matter and work for their goals and purposes as well;   
• support highly vulnerable and low-capacity regions and communities that, for various reasons, have not yet engaged in large consortia applying for Mission-related projects (REGILIENCE, based on the regional needs assessment carried out, is planning to select 10 highly vulnerable regions in Europe by the end of 2022 and support them in developing their transformative resilience pathways) and, last but not least,   

• provide a space for strategic and advocacy work at EU and global level is necessary to ensure adaptation and resilience building opportunities as well as needs are voiced in and worked on by the EC and globally.  

In addition, the European Commission explicitly committed – through the publication of the 2021 EU Strategy of Adaptation to Climate Change – to increase financial support to local and regional communities to accelerate the transition from planning to action in climate adaptation. Via the pilot programme “Policy Support Facility”, which runs under the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy – Europe, cities and regions from the 12 most vulnerable members states of the European Union have received access to tailored opportunities such as personalised technical assistance, national workshops and interactive webinars.   

Finally, yet as important is the fact that the European Commission has started sending invitations for the first meeting on the Community of Practice of the Mission that will take place on 26 January 2023 in Brussels. This event is addressed to practitioners of regional and local adaptation, and will include Signatories of the Mission Charter, the Friends of the Mission, Mission Board members and national representatives. One of the main objectives of this meeting, is to invite regional and local authorities to share about their main challenges in terms of financing, citizen engagement and access to data.