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Climate adaptation has become one of the main targets for Europe by 2030. As climate change escalates, the EU is facilitating the research and implementation of new societal innovations at the local level to accelerate our resilience. Regions4Climate will implement innovative actions to enhance climate resilience in close collaboration with stakeholders within the real-life environments of partner regions.
Flood due to heavy rainfall in Germany. Photo: trinculo_photo/Getty Images
By employing a cross-sectoral approach, the project will develop and validate resilience solutions including novel technologies, their integration, and their application in combination with new business models and innovative policies. This will facilitate and empower decision-making and enhance regional resilience to climate change by providing a suite of proven, scalable and easily replicable climate change adaptation solutions.
SEI Tallinn is playing an important role in this project by coordinating stakeholder engagement and participatory research activities related to resilient regional development in the Pärnu region. Furthermore, SEI Tallinn will be involved in research related to climate risks, such as landslides and urban heat islands.
The urban heat island effect will be monitored using a network of ground-based sensors and heat island mapping for Pärnu will be performed. This mapping will help Pärnu make informed urban planning decisions now and in the future, with the aim of minimising the impact of urban heat on citizens and infrastructure.
The Regions4Climate project, which is coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, brings together 44 partners from twelve different European countries to demonstrate innovations that enhance societal resilience to the impacts of climate change, in line with the Paris Agreement and the EU Green Deal.
12 European regions will be developing and testing their own resilience plans and transformative adaptation pathways, enhanced by cross-border collaboration and knowledge exchange. Partner regions include the Basque country (Spain), South Aquitaine (France), the Azores (Portugal), Toscana (Italy), Køge Bay (Denmark), Burgas (Bulgaria), Helsinki-Uusimaa (Finland), Pärnumaa (Estonia), Eastern Crete (Greece), Castilla y León (Spain), the Nordic Archipelago (Finland, Åland and Sweden), and Troodos (Cyprus Republic).
Based on cross-sectoral strategies created by and for people, the project partners will collaboratively develop and implement novel social, technological, digital, business, governance, and environmental solutions to reinforce adaptive capacity and minimise vulnerability to climate impacts.
The five-year project, starting in January 2023, has received a total grant of 24,522,103.00€ from the European Commission under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme addressing the topic of “Large scale demonstrators of climate resilience creating cross-border value” under agreement n° 101093873 HORIZON-MISS-2021-CLIMA-02-04.
Head of Unit, Senior Expert (Sustainable Cities and Resilient Communities Unit)
SEI Tallinn
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