The Pathways2Resilience Programme will help guide 100 European regions and communities in planning action on climate adaptation and resilience. Working toward achieving the goals of the EU’s Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, the programme will work at the EU local stakeholder level to support regions as they boost adaptation strategies, develop resilience pathways, and enhance local capacity. 

European communities and regions are already acting on climate change: As per the findings of the Committee of the Regions (2021), 90 per cent of climate change adaptation measures are led at the local and regional levels. But how can we make sure that they have the capacity to adapt at this scale? Pathways2Resilience kicks off its support of 100 regions and communities in their climate adaptation journey with a call for Expressions of Interest, marking the beginning of a collaborative movement toward improved resilience. 

Funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, Pathways2Resilience supports regions as they map out their resilience pathways – all in efforts of achieving the goals of the EU’s Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change. Putting the EU on track to reach its broader goals on adaptation, Pathways2Resilience will allocate €21 million across 100 regions and communities over two cycles of calls. Today marks the launch of an Expression of Interest for this opportunity, marking a preliminary step to a first call (opening in late 2023 or early 2024) through which successful applicant regions and communities will receive up to €300.000 in sub-grants to support their resilience transition. 

Focusing on systemic innovation, selected regions and communities will build up their portfolio of adaptation activities, develop resilience pathways, and enhance local capacity, all with the input of local stakeholders. They will also be supported as they examine finance mechanisms, and gain access to training modules and a toolbox with methods, tools, and guidelines. 

Though not mandatory to participate in the calls, respondents to the Expression of Interest questionnaire will help Pathways2Resilience partners to gauge their adaptation challenges, barriers, and support needs. In turn, this will ensure that the support offered by Pathways2Resilience partners is well-matched to what regions and communities really need to meaningfully boost their resilience. Further, those who fill out the questionnaire are also eligible for support from Pathways2Resilience partners in strengthening their applications with matchmaking activities and facilitated discussions. 

The Expression of Interest is open until 15 September 2023 at 18:00 CEST and is open to local or regional public authorities from the EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. 

Next steps

• Fill out the questionnaire on the project website 👉 https://bit.ly/3MbYYOD

• Subscribe to the Pathways2Resilience Newsletter to follow and receive the project’s latest news, events, calls, progress and results here

• For more detailed information check here