2021 year marks an inflection point in mobilizing ambition to tackle the climate emergency. As Parties prepare to bring their National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to COP26, non-State actors are taking it upon themselves to building resilience and cutting on emissions by pledging their commitments to the Race to Resilience and Race to Zero campaigns.

Regional governments play a crucial role in this regard, as they develop and implement policies that are coherent with the global and national level but clearly consider their own characteristics and circumstances. To this end, RegionsAdapt has been working since its launch at COP21 to strengthen the voice and actions of regions worldwide working on adaptation through capacity building, knowledge exchange and cooperation. With over 50 plans and 230 adaptation actions reported annually, RegionsAdapt has been able to position itself as the first global initiative to support the acceleration of adaptation by regional governments.

Nonetheless, we are conscious that the time to further drive our ambition has come, which is why we have worked collaboratively with our members to develop a reinforced RegionsAdapt Strategy to transform RegionsAdapt from a community of Members to a boosted initiative offering concrete services to support international visibility, implementation and cooperation amongst regions.

The new strategy is comprised of four pillars of work:

1. Visibility and Advocacy;
2. Policy;
3. Implementation; and
4. Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

which are in alignment with the initiative’s three commitments and with our overall goal of strengthening RegionsAdapt, showcasing the fundamental role played by subnational governments in the climate agenda and promoting a more integrated and balanced approach between adaptation and mitigation actions.

In the coming years, RegionsAdapt will build on these pillars of work to enhance regions ambition on climate adaptation and resilience, particularly by:

• Promoting mulltilevel governance, increased ambition and action on climate adaptation and resilience, positioning regional governments as key actors and RegionsAdapt as the official platform for regions in the UNFCCC processes and international agenda through the Climate Advocacy Working Group and continued collaboration with the LGMA and Marrakech Partnership.
• Mainstreaming adaptation into sectoral policies through peer-to-peer learning and capacity building in partnership with BC3.
• Support regional governments in their effective planning and implementation of adaptation plans and increasing resilience through the RegionsAdapt Community of Practice.
• Showcase regional leading actions through the Regions4 Knowledge Hub.
• Support climate action projects and initiatives through Regions4 Visiting Experts and Call4Projects schemes.
• Continue offering a reporting platform to enhance transparency and accountability of implemented actions in partnership with CDP.

The RegionsAdapt Strategy 2021-2022 is available for download here.

We invite regions interested in accelerating their adaptation efforts and joining the RegionsAdapt to contact us at mgarcia@regions4.org