Demonstrating transformative solutions to increase cross-border climate resilience

Expected Outcome:

In support to the implementation of the EU Adaptation Strategy, the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change and the EU Preparedness Union Strategy and contributing to the upcoming European Climate Action Plan, project results are expected to improve adaptative capacities of European internal border regional and local authorities, allowing them to jointly address with their neighbours the pressing climate risks.

Projects results should contribute to all of the following outcomes:

• Climate resilience solutions for cross-border risks have been developed and demonstrated. This includes social, governance or nature-based solutions.
• Regional and local authorities from each side of country borders are better prepared to withstand jointly the impacts of climate change, including systemic risks and cascading effects.
• National, regional and local authorities are taking on shared responsibilities and are actively involved in the development and testing of innovative solutions to deal with cross-border climate risks.

Scope:

Rationale

Cross-border risks^[1] and cooperation are crucial in the European Union, where 37.5% of the EU population lives in border areas, spanning 38 intra-EU borders that often involve both administrative and linguistic divides^[2]. While adaptation plans are usually prepared within a single territory (e.g. at national, regional or local levels), climate risks do not stop at the borders. For instance, around 70% of Europe's freshwater bodies are part of international river basins, making flooding and droughts typical cross-border risks. Similarly, wildfires pose a significant cross-border threat, as they can spread rapidly across national borders, affecting multiple countries simultaneously. The same applies to cross-border coastal areas affected by sea level rise and coastal erosion.

At the regional and local level, the implementation of adaptation tends to be fragmented between different bodies such as managers of forests, water, protected areas or coastlines. To be truly resilient, European regional and local authorities therefore need to integrate their action with their neighbours and consider seriously the cross-border dimension of climate risks.

Solutions sought

Proposals should develop, test and demonstrate approaches and innovative solutions relevant for cross-border risks, leading to an increase of climate resilience in cross-border regions.

Moreover, particular attention should be given to coordination between the national and regional governance aspects of the bordering regions. Services to better predict, monitor and report on cross-border climate events should be explored as a first step.

The proposals should address all of the following aspects:

• Address at least one relevant cross-border climate risk (e.g. water scarcity, flooding, storms, wildfires, sea level rise) but are strongly encouraged to address risks systemically and to cover cascading and compound risks as well as risks emerging from the degradation of ecosystem services;
• Develop, and demonstrate a common classification of the climate risks and define what level of risks are acceptable across the national border.
• Develop and demonstrate innovative integrated solutions to make both sides of the border climate resilient. Those solutions should cover cross-border governance and/or socio-economic aspects (but are not limited to that). Nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation should be explored as a priority, in line with the Mission Implementation Plan.
• For the successful implementation of the solutions and to ensure their sustainability beyond the duration of the project, the development and testing of the proposed solutions should be embedded, as much as possible in the adaptation planning of the regional or local authority participating in the project and/or in national plans.

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

Demonstration sites and related activities

The Mission encourages collaborations between regional and local authorities facing similar challenges and considers this to be a very efficient approach to secure a large impact. Therefore, the demonstration activities of the proposals:

• Must take place in at least two distinct cross-border demonstration sites located in EU Member States or Associated Countries. The demonstration areas must span adjacent regions on both sides of a national border, fostering cross-border collaboration. Regional or local authorities in these areas should actively participate in the project, ideally as beneficiaries or associated partners within the consortium.
• Should identify at least 1 “replicating” cross-border site spanning adjacent regions on either side of a national border, located in Member States or Associated Countries, interested in reapplying the lessons learnt (totally, partially or with the required adjustments) in their territories. For the replication, the consortium could include one or more partners that would provide support for the technical exchanges and the knowledge uptake in the “replicating” regions or local authorities. Replicating regions are not necessarily expected to carry out on the ground activities already in the course of the project. However, replicating regions should at least prepare the theoretical framework for replicating the successful solutions and explore means to fund the implementation of those solutions.

Links to the Mission and to other projects and initiatives

Proposals should build (when relevant) on existing knowledge and adaptation solutions developed by previous projects and explore synergies with ongoing projects from EU and national programmes^[3].

Synergies with other funding sources (EU and national) are encouraged to identify opportunities to scale up the solutions demonstrated and to foster their broad deployment across Europe through other programmes.

Proposals should include a mechanism and the resources to establish operational links and collaboration with the Mission Implementation Platform (including on monitoring). Projects funded under this topic will be expected to participate in the Mission Community of Practice and to share relevant knowledge to feed the work of the project stemming from HORIZON-MISS-2026-01-CLIMA-02.

All projects funded under this topic should work together as a cluster (under the umbrella of the Mission), coordinate their activities and align their outputs as much as possible to maximise their impact.

Proposals are encouraged to (dedicate resources to) 1) link their monitoring to the framework developed by the project UNDERPIN; 2) to rely on the (updated) CLIMAAX framework for their climate risk assessments.

Applicants should acknowledge these elements and already account for them in their proposal, making adequate provisions in terms of resources and budget to engage and collaborate with the Mission.

[1] In this context, cross-border risk is understood as risk spanning the border between two or more countries and affecting both or all areas.

[2] JRC 2024 Cross-border and emerging risks in Europe

[3] Interreg and LIFE are particularly relevant for this topic