Blog: European cities and regions on course for ‘transformational adaptation’

By Fleur Monasso and Sayanti Sengupta, Climate Centre

A stocktake last month by nearly 40 European cities and regions involved in the Pathways2Resilience (P2R) programme found measurable shifts in awareness and institutional approaches to climate adaptation, as well as an increasing use of data-driven methodologies, including analyses of climate risk and vulnerability.

The joint assessment, ahead of a conference in the southern Spanish city of Malaga, provided valuable insights into the current state of adaptation planning across all the locations that are part of EU-supported P2R, helping them develop transformative action plans for adaptation.

Almost all (some 90 per cent) of adaptation measures in Europe are currently undertaken by local and regional authorities, according to the Brussels-based European Committee of the Regions. And the exchanges in Malaga demonstrated strong interest among regions in learning from each other, while an interactive format facilitated substantive discussions revealing both common obstacles and innovative approaches to overcoming them.

Participants reported that they are moving away from sectoral, siloed planning to more integrated frameworks that address interconnected risks.

Local authorities are establishing goals based on assessed vulnerabilities and local realities, with most saying they adopt consultative approaches that emphasize joint designs.

Storytelling

The delegation from London, for example, presented its experience with P2R implementation, highlighting extreme heat as a priority area. Unlike flood risk, which is covered by statutory processes and clear institutional responsibilities, the management of heat risk lacks comparable governance structures, they said.

For London’s P2R team, the solution lies in collaboration and investment planning. “Success needs to really happen through collaboration. This does take a lot of time, but ultimately it really makes the difference,” said Ashlea Scicluna from the Greater London Authority.

Their approach is dual: a broad vision of adaptation that covers multiple climate risks complemented by a concrete action plan tackling the biggest gaps.

The Nijmegen region in the Netherlands, meanwhile, identified the complexity of coordination as a challenge, noting that there are as many as 15 different adaptation plans there, each with a distinct focus.

Nijmegen has taken a selective approach through P2R, concentrating on flood resilience and sustainable building practices on a 40-year planning horizon, engaging all stakeholders such as companies, farmers, and institutions such as hospitals.

And the team from Slovakia’s Presov region reported some difficulty in initiating discussions “due to reluctance from certain stakeholders”, but they organized informal discussions and workshops using systemic mapping to demonstrate impacts across various sectors.

A field trip through local forests, where experts demonstrated impacts such as tree disease and depleted groundwater, was particularly effective; presenting information through storytelling also made it all more accessible for a wide variety of audiences.

Lasting change

What emerged most powerfully from the Malaga gathering was not just technical knowledge but the value of peer-to-peer sharing on the successes behind transformation in adaptation.

Speakers emphasized the importance of identifying key actors and understanding who can own and drive what, and forming teams to implement specific goals.

Transformational adaptation was felt to be as much about relationships and trust as risk assessments and technology.

Aiming to empower over 100 cities and regions by 2027, P2R will continue advancing its vision for a further 18 months of tailored capacity-building, training, peer-learning, and expert guidance on innovative financing, helping to ensure participants become part of a pan-European network driving systemic and lasting change.

Through the Climate Centre’s participation in P2R, the Red Cross Red Crescent network’s approach to scaling up adaptation and supplying humanitarian perspectives is enriched in Europe, where National Societies are now following a regional road map.

More broadly and together with the IFRC worldwide, we are helping to scale up locally led adaptation through the Climate Action Journey, which offers interesting comparisons with P2R’s Regional Resilience Journey; it’s hoped they can inspire each other in the future.

A new visual platform illustrates how the P2R communities across Europe are tackling climate challenges and building resilience here, uncovering regions’ unique stories, milestones and progress.

London’s parched Greenwich Park in August at the end of a long summer heatwave, with bleached grass and many trees already losing their leaves and younger ones looking seriously stressed. Under P2R the city plans a “whole of society approach that will build adaptive capacity in many organizations [including] working to leverage data and knowledge, ensuring it is useable by communities and other stakeholders to promote transparency and collaboration”. (Photo: Alisdare Hickson via P2R)