Horizon Europe – the EU’s mission to adapt to climate change

EU missions are a new way of finding concrete solutions to current challenges. They are the result of a coordinated effort by the European Commission to bring together the necessary resources in the form of funding programs, policies and regulations, as well as other activities.

One of the EU’s main missions under Horizon Europe is to pursue climate change adaptation. The mission supports the European Commission’s work on the implementation of the European Green Deal in particular. Funds fromHorizon Europemake it possible to link and support EU policies and programs, leveraging local action and citizen involvement. With this money, EU missions are on track to achieve their ambitious 2030 goals in key areas such as adapting to climate change, cleaning up marine and freshwater ecosystems, making cities climate-neutral, and ensuring healthy soils.

A recent communication from the European Commission on the EU’s Horizon Europe missions provided an in-depth assessment of progress to date on individual missions, including the one on climate change adaptation.

Horizon Europe’s mission to adapt to climate change

The EU’s climate change adaptation mission focuses on supporting EU regions, cities and local authorities in their efforts to build resilience to the impacts we are experiencing.

Mission seeking to put climate change adaptation strategies into practice helps:

• better understand what climate threats we face now and what awaits us in the future;
• develop their paths to be better prepared and cope with the changing climate;
• Implement the innovative solutions needed to build resilience.

The mission aims to identify by 2030. At least 150 European regions and communities direction for developing climate resilience.

The Mission for the Future. adaptation to climate change is a contribution to a new field of policymaking in which there is little experience globally and in Europe, but in which the EU has taken a bold step with a new EU adaptation strategy in 2021. The mission implements new activities oriented toward supporting research and innovation affecting the European Green Deal (e.g., climate change adaptation, disaster risk, biodiversity). The mission is becoming a key vector for the implementation of the EU’s adaptation strategy and is launching a coordinated research and innovation effort under Horizon Europe.

Objectives of the EU climate change adaptation mission – Horizon Europe program

Specific Objective 1: Prepare and plan for climate resilience:

• Provide general support to European regions and communities to better understand, prepare for and manage climate-related risks;

Specific Objective 2: Accelerate transformations leading to climate resilience:

• Working with at least 150 regions and communities to accelerate their transformation to a climate-resilient future by co-creating innovation pathways and testing solutions;

Specific Objective 3: Demonstrate systemic transformations leading to climate resilience:

• Conduct at least 75 large-scale demonstrations of systemic transformations leading to increased climate resilience in European regions and communities.

The current state of the EU’s climate change adaptation mission

Currently, 291 EU regions and local authorities from 25 member states and 63 private companies are participating in the climate change adaptation mission.

Participation in the climate change adaptation mission provides the following benefits to the regions:

• The possibility of funding research and innovation to join major innovation activities, pilot projects and demonstrations (Horizon Europe budget for 2023-2024 – 138 million euros);
• Support from climate change adaptation practitioners;
• Opportunities for networking, learning and exchange of experiences between regions, local authorities and communities;
• Tips and tricks from the MIP4Adapt mission implementation platform.

Participants in the climate change adaptation mission are committed to building resilience, involving stakeholders, private companies, industry, research organizations and citizens.