Call summary :

Scope and expected outcomes

Expected Outcome: In support of the European Green Deal, the EU Adaptation Strategy and the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, successful proposals will support adaptation efforts in regional and local authorities located in coastal areas and identified as hotspot to climate change.

Projects results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Climate resilience solutions to protect citizens and activities in coastal regions have been demonstrated and are made largely available for upscaling. This includes social, governance, nature-based and digital solutions.
- Coastal regions, cities and local authorities (in the projects and beyond) have increased their climate resilience and are better prepared to adapt to climate change.

Scope:

Rationale

As highlighted in the first European Climate Risk assessment by the European Environment Agency: Southern Europe, low-lying coastal regions (including many densely populated cities) and EU outermost regions are geographical ‘hotspots’ concentrating climate risks with high severity and demanding urgent action. On the other hand, the IPCC sixth assessment report recognised sea level rise as an “existential threat for coastal communities and their heritage, particularly beyond 2100”[1], also highlighting the urgency for increasing adaptation efforts. This is why this topic specifically addresses coastal resilience in hotspot regions.

Solutions sought

Proposals should identify approaches and demonstrate innovative solutions to increase climate resilience in coastal areas. They should explore, in a systemic way, how to best adapt to different pressures -- ranging from sea level rise (e.g., coastal floods, coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion) and invasive species to changing physical and chemical properties of the waters. Proposals should outline how the innovative solutions they put forward avoid maladaptation, consider equity and inclusivity and address long-term climate impacts (i.e. 2100 and beyond).

Nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation should be explored as a priority, in line with the Mission Implementation Plan and the Nature Restoration Law recently adopted. Blue-green infrastructures (as opposed to grey) may represent multipurpose, “no regret” solutions, which simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build climate resilience.

As coastal areas will likely need to undergo significant transformations to become climate-resilient (i.e. transformational adaptation is needed), proposals should integrate stakeholder and citizen engagement. In other words, the solutions put forward in the proposals are expected to be co-designed with regional and local stakeholders and tailored to their needs. To achieve this, the proposals should consider socio-economic impacts (including on vulnerable groups), social acceptability and expected population response to the proposed coastal adaptation measures and solutions. When assessing socio-economic impacts, trade-offs and co-benefits should be considered to ensure coherent and systemic approaches. Thus, this topic requires the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (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.

Looking into the potential of digital solutions for adaptation could be part of the proposals and would support the digital transition. This includes connecting climate adaptation measures to early-warning systems to limit the effects of extreme-weather events in near-real time.

Demonstration sites and related activities

The Mission encourages collaborations between coastal regional and local authorities facing similar challenges and considers this to be a very efficient approach to secure a large impact.

Proposal should address all the following aspects:

- Demonstration activities must take place in the territory of at least 3 different coastal regional or local authorities, each established in a different Member States or Associated Country, with the involvement of these regional or local authorities (preferably participating in the consortium as a beneficiary or associated partner).
- The territory of at least one of those 3 demonstration activities should be located in a “EUCRA hotspot area” -- i.e. Southern Europe[2], low-lying coastal area[3], or EU Member State outermost regions.
- The proposals should already identify at least 3 “replicating” coastal regional or local authorities from 3 different Mem