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Horizon Europe

CLIMAAX

CLIMAAX (CLIMAte risk and vulnerability Assessment framework and toolbox) is a Horizon Europe-funded project of 24 months that was launched in January 2023 with an estimated eligible cost of €20 002 272.50 with a maximum grant amount of €19 999 772.50.

Citizens in virtually every inhabited place on the planet are increasingly experiencing dramatic consequences of a changing climate. Also within Europe, the adaptation gap between the multi-hazard climate risk and the risk management capability is growing. However, the risk profiles of communities and regions display an immense diversity. The European landscape of disaster risk management and climate adaptation is far from uniform. This sheer diversity in risk profiles imposes a challenge to the implementation of the European Union Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, aiming to support every European region to improve its resilience to climate change impacts. Every region should be enabled to develop or upgrade their risk management plans addressing climate adaptation and emergency response targets. A comprehensive multi-hazard Climate Risk Assessment (CRA) is an indispensable element of this regional risk management.

The project responds to this call by providing financial, analytical, and practical support to this stakeholder group, allowing an improvement of regional climate and emergency risk management plans. It is designed to significantly contribute to the harmonisation and consolidation of the practice of climate risk assessment, leaving a substantial legacy for upcoming European initiatives.

The CLIMAAX framework, toolset and support programme is a major contribution to the goal of the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change to improve the climate resilience of a large number of European regions and communities, particularly the regions with high vulnerability, limited resources and/or low adaptation capacity. This analysis will provide a clear picture of (a) the outline of a (semi-)operational CRA support service that will be able to service a large group of regions and communities after the end of the CLIMAAX project; (b) which (group of) institution(s) would be willing and able to sustainably provide such a service; (c) an outline of a CRA ISO certificate dedicated to CRA, and (d) how the support service can be aligned with European policies on climate adaptation and emergency response.

Objectives

CLIMAAX’s overall mission is to provide general support to European regions and communities to better understand, prepare for and manage climate risks and opportunities, by providing local and regional administrative units access to climate risk profiles,  enhanced early warning systems,  and guidance for the development of comprehensive risk management plans.

The project specifically aims to:

  1. Co-design a harmonised methodological framework to assess the climate change risks and impacts at the regional scale across Europe in close cooperation with the national and regional authorities who oversee the climate risk assessment processes, after a process of benchmarking and comparison of the already ongoing climate risk assessment frameworks;
  2. Develop an operational multi-risk assessment methodological framework and supporting Toolbox to assist regions and communities in better understanding, preparing for and managing climate risks; the co-design of the operational framework and Toolbox will include an iterative co-creation process through5 selected Pilot Sites;
  3. Development or improvement of community-based Emergency and Risk Management Plans to cope with the increase of the frequency and intensity of the climate and weather events affecting their Key Community Systems and to support the implementation of effective adaptation and resilience-building strategies at local level;
  4. Include algorithms to support the adjustment of current Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems to the change in the frequencies and intensities of the climate and weather events affecting their Key Community Systems, ensuring its adaptation to Climate Change;
  5. Allow regions and communities to efficiently access currently available information on climate change impacts and climate data services from the Climate ADAPT platform and the JRC Risk Data Hub, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and Emergency Service (CEMS), EEA’s European Climate Data Explorer, and other European climate services, knowledge portals and repositories;
  6. CLIMAAX framework and Toolbox implementation in >50 EU Regions/Cities/Communities allowing the demonstration and beta testing of the climate risk and vulnerability assessment framework Toolbox, the refinement of the assessment tools, and the enhancement of the adaptive capacity; Implementation of the Financial Support for Third Parties programme and creation of an active Community of Practice.

Website: https://www.climaax.eu/            

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climaax/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/climaax_EU

Contact person at EURADA: Jip Lenssen – jip.lenssen(at)eurada.org

 

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