Regions4 – Partner in the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change

To sustain Regions4 shift towards supporting its members to implement the Regions4/Race to Resilience commitments, Regions4 has varied its sources of income in 2022 and applied alongside other partners to project implementation funding proposals to support regional governments put in practice efficient and effective adaptation pathways and solutions. 

Regions4 is now part of two consortiums that have been granted funding under the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change Horizon Europe Work Programme: Maximising the Impact and Synergy of European Climate Change Research and Innovation (MAIA) and Pathways2Resilience (P2R).

Through these projects, Regions4 European members will be able to benefit from systematised research sources, funding opportunities, and guidance in developing their climate resilience action plans, and at the same time, Regions4 will democratise the knowledge and tools with the regions outside the EU to also advance their climate action and resilience.

>>> Learn more about the EU Mission on Adaptation here.

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Tools and Resources: A Guide to the Regional Resilience Journey (RRJ)

What is this journey about

The Regional Resilience Journey (RRJ) is an adaptable framework for regions and communities that wish to transition to climate resilience through a transformational adaptation approach. It helps regions to flourish in their future climates, by moving beyond reactive and incremental adaptation of existing systems. Instead, it seeks to bring about systems change where this needed to close the adaptation gap and deliver long-term prosperity in the face of climate change.

The framework provides step-by-step guidance, a set of activities, tools and milestones that allows regions at all maturity levels to either produce their first climate resilience plans and intervention portfolios or to improve the existing ones by applying a systemic approach, just transition principles and by harnessing transformative innovation.  

A systemic approach to accelerating climate resilience

Aiming at transformational adaptation the RRJ inherently supports a systemic or systems approach, which, instead of breaking down the complexities of climate resilience to be considered as separated parts, encourages to understand and address this complexity with all its relevant parts and relationships in its entirety. Such a systemic approach allows regions and communities to more intentionally frame interventions towards a desirable future, taking into account leverage points and stakeholder perspectives, balancing disaster risk reduction with long-term prevention and adaptation, and avoiding maladaptation. 

The RRJ uses a whole-of-government and multi-level governance approach to support regions in work beyond departmental siloes, supports meaningful engagement of stakeholders across all relevant stages of the journey, and requires an underpinning transdisciplinary knowledge and data.

A just transition to climate resilience

The RRJ is designed to support regions and communities in a just transition to climate change, having integrated a range of principles, processes and practices that aim to ensure that no people, workers, places, sectors, countries or regions are left behind in the transition. As suggested by the IPCC (2022) regarding just transitions, it stresses the need for targeted and proactive measures to ensure that any negative social, environmental or economic impacts of economy-wide transitions are minimised, while benefits are maximised for those disproportionally affected. 

The RRJ supports regions in co-designing their adaptation strategies with a participatory approach, recognizing the role that vulnerable populations play in a just transition. It will help regions in mapping the different stakeholders most exposed to the different climate risks and identifying the enabling conditions required to achieve the best possible future for all. 

An iterative and multi-layered process

No transformation adaptation to climate resilience is linear. Allowing for experimentation and learning, and for iterations and evolution are critical. The RRJ is designed for multiple iterations – regions are encouraged to undergo parts of the journey and the journey itself multiple times, revisiting assumptions, and learning from insights and stakeholder sentiment. Gaps in knowledge, data or finance will become apparent as different elements are explored or stakeholders engaged.

It will be of strategic interest then to undergo different iterations with different focuses (such as by using different approaches or zooming into different sectors). It is advised that regions form cross-sectoral teams and to engage representatives from different departments.

Your journey

Regions and communities are in the driving seat. The RRJ is there to support them in undertaking this journey, adapting to their situation as needed.

The RRJ should be applied taking into account the local context and build on what has already been achieved or is in motion. The RRJ should build on already developed strategies – revising and revisiting where relevant.

It is not necessary to use the RRJ as a whole new methodology, starting from scratch.

The RRJ approach ultimately provides the regions with the tools and methodologies to collect the necessary information to use the RRJ itself in the most strategic way possible, recognizing that the local stakeholders are often the most knowledgeable on their own needs.

Learning by doing

The RRJ framework and its support structure will be improved over time building on the experiences of regions and communities that are applying it.

>>>To learn more about the RRJ please, visit the dedicated P2R website.