Demonstration of solutions specifically suited to rural areas and small/ medium size population local communities

ExpectedOutcome:

Projects results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• communities in rural areas provide examples for reapplication on how to become better prepared for the anticipated effects of climate change, as they have designed and experimented measures and implemented interventions that increase resilience.
• small and medium size local communities^[1] have been directly involved in development and testing of transformative solutions, which improve their capacity to identify and implement solutions that improve climate resilience of their territories, becoming active actors of change.

Successful proposals will support the European Green Deal, the Adaptation Strategy, the Mission on Adaptation to climate change and the implementation of the long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas.

Scope:

While many larger cities and regions have identified the potential impacts of climate change in their territories and have in many cases already developed adaptation scenarios, their smaller and medium-sized counterparts often lack the necessary resources for conducting climate risks analysis and planning and have so far been limited in addressing climate risks effectively. As a very large number of localities are indeed small or medium in size, with large and rural territories, their lack of preparedness translates in a crucial weakness of the overall continent preparedness and response to the changing climate. The shortage of skilled labour and in particular of experts with climate assessment and environmental skills prevent a majority of municipalities from implementing local investments^[2].

This capacity limitation, coupled with the typical large territorial responsibility of the involved authorities and the very diverse risks they are exposed, makes in many cases difficult to leverage efficiencies of scale as it is the case in more densely populated areas. This has unluckily translated in many cases into more deadly impacts of extreme weathers events in relation to the population exposed.

Proposals should identify approaches and innovative solutions leading to an increase of the resilience and adaptation capacity to climate change which are particularly suitable for implementation by small and medium local authorities and the rural context. These solutions could include technological, social and business-related aspects or a combination of those. Nature-based solutions should be explored as priority and be at the very heart of the development whenever possible. Moreover, particular attention should be given to the potential of digital solutions in a rural or small/medium size population entity context, to also support their twin digital transition. Opportunities of circular economy to increase resilience and reduce dependencies should be seized^[3].

The proposed solutions should specifically address the most urgent climate risks identified at the local scale, with tailor-made responses and measures taking into account local specificities, such as, socio-economic, identity characteristics and governance. Alongside the solutions, the proposal should support small and medium local authorities to close skills gaps and strengthen in-house capabilities for climate adaptation. To best focus the approaches and solutions to the local challenges, the proposal is expected to clearly identify the type of actors it addresses, being those either rural areas or small sized urban areas.

The participation of small and medium-sized local authorities in the consortium is strongly encouraged and would be evaluated positively as this can support the development in-house capacities and skills. However, as the capacity and availability for engagement of small / medium size local communities and in the rural area might be too limited to directly participate in the consortium, the proposal should at a minimum include specific considerations on how to facilitate their engagement and how their needs are reflected. This could take, for example, the form of a board or of a consultation body where they are directly engaged singularly or in association and/or grouping between themselves, should this be the preferred approach and form for the local authorities to delegate specific local competences, or could be achieved potentially leveraging the support already put in place by the Mission Implementation Platform^[4].

Under the Mission approach, collaborations to develop and test effective solutions between regions/local authorities/communities facing similar challenges are highly encouraged and considered as a means to secure a larger impact. To this purpose, while the required demonstration is expected to take place in at least three locations, the proposals should already identify other regions/local authorities/ communities, where reapplication of the proposed approach will be suitable as sharing common climate change challenges. Inclusion already in the proposal of at least three “replicating” regions/local authorities/communities, interested in reapplying the lessons learnt (totally, partially or with the required adjustments) in their territories is required; this could take the form of inclusion in the consortium of one or more partners providing support for the technical exchanges and the knowledge uptake in the “replicating” regions. Replicating regions/local authorities/communities are not expected to also conduct a demonstration or carry out on the ground activities in the course of the project but they should at least prepare already the theoretical framework for implementing the replication through the lessons exchanged with the demonstration regions.

Proposals should build (when relevant) upon previous developed or existing knowledge and adaptation solutions, designed and developed from previous projects, including from beyond EU, addressing climate change adaptation and funded by EU and National programmes, in particular the European Union Framework programmes for Research and Innovation (such as Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe under their different pillars and clusters), as well as the LIFE programme. Synergies with other funding sources (EU and national) should be sought, in order to support common approach towards climate adaptation, sustainability, transfer of knowledge and innovative solution and including to identify opportunities to scale up the solutions demonstrated and to foster their broad deployment across Europe through other programmes such as the LIFE programme, and its integrated projects in particular, the European Regional Development Funds, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, or the Just Transition Fund.

Additionally, proposals should connect to other relevant projects funded by Horizon- Europe, in particular on just climate resilience and transformative approach funded by the topic HORIZON-MISS-2024-CLIMA-01-05: Improve design for transformative approaches and build local capacity for implementation of available solutions focused on climate adaptation. Synergies and cooperation could also be beneficial with the projects funded under the topic HORIZON-CL6-2024-COMMUNITIES-02-1-two-stage: Innovating for climate-neutral rural communities by 2050.

Proposals should include a mechanism and the resources to establish operational links and collaboration with the Mission Implementation and the Climate-ADAPT^[5] platforms.

Projects funded under this topic will get direct access and are expected to contribute into the Mission Community of Practice and to the networking activities supported by the Mission Implementation Platform. These networking and joint activities could, for example, involve the participation in joint workshops, the exchange of knowledge, the development and adoption of best practices, or joint communication activities. To this extent, proposals should provide for dedicated activities and earmark appropriate resources.

In addition, projects will be requested to feed results and contribution to progress towards the objectives of the Mission to Mission Implementation Platform, as the central Mission action for monitoring, support and visualisation of the Mission progress in Regions in EU Member States and Associated Countries. Regions participating in the projects will also be required to feed their results to the Climate-ADAPT and EEA assessments. Applicants should acknowledge this request and already account for these obligations in their proposal, making adequate provisions in terms of resources and budget to engage and collaborate with the Mission governance.

Specific Topic Conditions:

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6 to 7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

[1]defined as towns with between 5000 and 50000 inhabitants – ESPON TOWN project - TOWN – Small and Medium-Sized Towns | ESPONect -

[2]Skills shortage is delaying the green transition, EIB Municipality Survey shows

[3]See as reference the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative https://circular-cities-and-regions.ec.europa.eu

[4]Currently managed by MIP4Adapt under the contract CINEA/2022/OP/0013/SI2.884597 funded by the European Union. About MIP4Adapt (europa.eu)

[5]The European Climate Adaptation Platform Climate-ADAPT is a partnership between the DG Climate Action and the European Environment Agency.https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/