Transformative innovation for climate change adaptation

On 27 November 2024, Arnault Morisson, thematic expert for a Smarter Europe from the Policy Learning Platform participated to the peer review “Transformative Innovation for Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)”, organised by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) for the city of Turku, Finland. The initiative aims to develop a climate adaptation economy in the European Union (EU) by leveraging transformative innovation. 

Key objectives include:

• Enhancing understanding of transformative innovation in climate adaptation.
• Assisting EU regions, especially Climate Adaptation Mission Charter signatories, in implementing innovative adaptation strategies.
• Piloting localised transformative innovations for climate resilience.
• Providing practical, co-created guidance for innovative adaptation strategies.
• Documenting insights from experimentation and targeted support to expand the knowledge base.

Climate resilience is of a transversal nature, requiring systemic approaches. Place-based transformative innovation can therefore help accelerating the adaptation of the EU and its territories to the impacts of climate change.  
The peer review provided a space to share good practices and insights for the City of Turku on four policy challenges, namely:

• How can CCA be strengthened and integrated across different spatial sectors (urban planning, transport, housing etc.) within city strategies, including setting appropriate and measurable targets?
• How to make implementation more effective by using target indicators? Concrete examples from other cities?
• How can stakeholder participation, particularly that of young people, be more effectively integrated into CCA efforts?
• How can Turku and regional council enhance long-term cooperation with key actors, such as businesses, to strengthen adaptation efforts beyond single projects?

During the peer review, Arnault Morisson presented the policy brief on regional missions and good practices from Interreg Europe projects aimed at addressing the challenges of climate change adaptation, for instance:

The Low cost actions to mobilize citizens in climate adaptation is an initiative from the city of Roeselare, Belgium, to engage citizens in climate adaptation by promoting tree planting, water infiltration, and facade gardens through campaigns like “Behaag Roeselare” and “Love Tree.” Neighborhood challenges enhance biodiversity and public planting, adding thousands of trees and shrubs since 2022.