Call for Applications: Climate Change Adaptation Program

Deadline: 17-Sep-2024

The European Commission is seeking applications for the Programme for Environment and Climate Action under the topic Climate Change Adaptation.

Objectives 

• Climate change is having far-reaching effects ranging from unprecedented forest fires, heatwaves, droughts, floods, or other extreme events to slow-onset processes like desertification, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification or sea level rise.
• Projects under this strand should help to:
  • Ensure continuous progress in enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change, as required by Article 5 of the European Climate Law
  • Achieve the long-term vision of the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change that, in 2050, the EU will be a climate-resilient society which is fully adapted to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
• More specifically, projects under this call should support the strategy’s objective to:
  • make adaptation smarter (improving knowledge, managing uncertainty, and informing adaptation actions by robust data and risk assessment tools that are available to all);
  • make adaptation more systemic (incorporating climate resilience considerations in all relevant policy fields, because climate change has impacts at all levels of society and across all sectors of the economy);
  • make adaptation faster (developing and rolling out adaptation solutions that allow them to adapt more quickly and comprehensively).
• Furthermore, projects should take care to avoid maladaptation, i.e. adaptation actions or practices aimed at a group of people and that actually make them more vulnerable to climate change.
• In order to contribute to these objectives, projects should demonstrate a clear and convincing intervention logic which details:
  • the specific climate risks and vulnerabilities to be addressed, in line with the recently published European Climate Risk Assessment;
  • the suitability of the proposed adaptation options and methods to minimise the identified risks and vulnerabilities;
  • the implementation of these options and methods during the duration of the project; and
  • the approach for monitoring and evaluating the results, including after the duration of the project.

Funding Information

• The indicative available call budget is EUR 61,980,000.
• Climate Change Adaptation: EUR 28,500,000

Areas of Intervention 

• Support the implementation of climate adaptation policies and the revision of national, regional or local climate adaptation strategies and plans 
  • Projects addressing this area should help national, regional and local authorities (including city councils) to further develop and improve effective and science-based adaptation policies and strategies. Across policy levels and sectors, LIFE 2024 call encourages projects which:
    • support cooperation across borders through the EU macro-regional strategies cooperation frameworks and sea-basin and other maritime strategies, Interreg funding programmes, and cooperation and networking opportunities under the Common Agricultural Policy;
    • support to the implementation of the national adaptation policies and the revision of national, regional or local adaptation strategies and plans, including at sectoral level;
    • foster the exchange and implementation of best practices and solutions to common adaptation challenges among the outermost regions and with their neighbours;
    • strengthen the application of key principles of climate-risk management to ensure policy coherence (climate risks are reflected in regulation and funding; existing risks are reduced by building resilience, prevention and preparedness; manage residual risk).
• Implementing state-of-the art tools for climate risk assessment or selection of cost-effective adaptation measures for dealing with climate threats and solutions for adaptation 
  • The lack of access to actionable solutions is one of the main barriers to adaptation. Climate resilience decision support systems and rapid response solutions for decisionmakers and adaptation practitioners must become more accessible and rapid to foster their take-up. Monitoring, reporting and evaluation are essential to setting a robust baseline against which to measure progress on adaptation.
  • The LIFE call 2024, therefore, supports projects that improve the knowledge-based approach to adaptation by improving, implementing and upscaling:
    • the use of state-of-the-art tools and solutions for adaptation modelling, risk assessment, management and decision support;
    • adaptation monitoring, reporting and evaluation;
    • ex-ante project assessment tools to better identify co-benefits and positive impacts on the economy of adaptation and prevention projects.
  • The tools should be used during the project implementation.
• Development and implementation of nature-based solutions for different types of areas (rural, urban and coastal) 
  • Implementing nature-based solutions on a large scale would increase climate resilience and contribute to multiple Green Deal objectives.
  • Blue-green infrastructures are multipurpose ‘no regret’ solutions, which simultaneously provide environmental, social, and economic benefits and help build climate resilience. They include the protection and restoration of wetlands, peatlands, coastal and marine ecosystems; the development of urban blue-green infrastructure; or the sustainable management of forests and farmland.
  • The LIFE call 2024 encourages projects which roll out viable nature-based solutions for adaptation in the management and protection of critical infrastructures and land, coastal and marine areas, including for preserving or improving nature areas and biodiversity. This would include projects that:
    • develop and implement the necessary assessments, guidance, capacity building, and suitable financial approaches and products; quantify the benefits of implemented nature-based solutions and better communicate them to decisionmakers and practitioners at all levels to ensure uptake;
    • leverage more investments in nature-based solutions to generate gains for adaptation, mitigation, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, and health;
    • work in synergy with approaches supporting land-based carbon removals.
• Climate-proofing and resilience of infrastructure and buildings 
  • The built environment like transport and energy networks, or security, telecommunications, health, water and waste management infrastructures, or buildings is characterised by a long life span and high investment and maintenance costs. This sector needs to withstand the current and future climate extremes and global warming effects. The EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change therefore includes specific actions to continue updating the extensive EU climate proofing guidance for new major infrastructure projects, to advance relevant EU-level standardisation work, and to keep preparing Europe’s built environment for the impacts of climate change. Within this context, projects addressing this intervention area should pilot, roll out and promote solutions to climate-proofing and enhancing the resilience of buildings and infrastructures, including by using blue-green infrastructure and nature-based solutions.
  • The LIFE call 2024 encourages projects responding to this objective, and those projects that seek:
    • synergies with broader work on disaster risk prevention and reduction;
    • integration of climate resilience considerations into the criteria applicable to construction and renovation of buildings and infrastructure, including cooperation with standardisation organisations to climate-proof standards (such as national and regional building codes and national annexes to the Eurocodes series) and identification and overcoming of related barriers;
    • integration of climate risks into the assessment of the climate resilience, under the current and future climate conditions, of the existing built environment, i.e. infrastructure and buildings, etc. – including as regards the integration of climate change in relevant national processes for environmental assessments.
• Adaptation solutions for agriculture and forestry 
  • Climate change will have far-reaching consequences and will increase the risks for agriculture, forest management, and Natura 2000 and other land management, both through the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, but also through slow-onset processes like desertification, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification or sea level rise.
  • Projects addressing this intervention area could support the transition to more sustainable forms of agriculture and help to speed up the roll-out of adaptation solutions, which help farmers, forest managers, Natura 2000 managers and other land managers to tackle climate risks and to identify and implement suitable adaptation approaches.
  • LIFE call 2024 encourages, in particular, projects which:
    • incentivise and assist the rollout of nature-based solutions through implementation of assessments, guidance, and capacity building;
    • encourage and implement adaptive, resilience-enhancing and climate risk-reducing afforestation, reforestation, forest restoration and forest management systems, including closer-to-nature forestry approaches;
    • encourage the better use of genetic diversity and non-harmful, more climate resilient plant genetic resources, including by broadening the supply of suitable high-quality plant reproductive material, and by encouraging collaborative, transnational production and transfer of seeds and planting material through active policies and actions;
• Water management 
  • Europe is increasingly facing situations of either too much or not enough water, and climate change exacerbates the challenge of sharing water resources. Ensuring that freshwater is available in a sustainable manner is fundamental for climate resilience. It requires transformational changes in all sectors, and the wider use of nature-based solutions. They also need to reduce water use sharply and to maintain water quality.
  • Within this context, and in support of the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework and Floods Directives, this intervention area encourages approaches and solutions, which ensure a stable and secure supply of high-quality freshwater, prevent droughts, reduce water use, protect and restore wetlands, and prevent floods.
  • LIFE call 2024 encourages, in particular, projects which:
    • ensure climate-resilient, sustainable use and management of water across sectors and borders by improving coordination of thematic plans and other mechanisms, such as water resource allocation and water-permits;
    • reduce water use by raising the water-saving performance of products, encouraging water efficiency and savings, and by promoting the wider use of drought management plans as well as sustainable soil management and land use;
    • guarantee a stable and secure supply of drinking water, by encouraging the incorporation of the risks of climate change in risk analyses of water management.
• Climate adaptation and health 
  • Climate change is already adversely affecting public health, and risks will increase over time, affecting in particularly vulnerable groups. They include illness and death from heat stress; climate-sensitive food-, vector- and water-borne diseases; negative impacts on mental health; combined effects of air pollution, heatwaves, forest fires and floods; and health troubles caused by pollen and other allergens. The actual and projected effects of climate change are also putting additional pressure on – often already strained – health care systems, health service workers and health budgets.
  • Against this background, this intervention area aims to prevent, and prepare for, climate change related health impacts and risks, to promote climate-resilient health services, and therefore to reduce climate-related morbidity and mortality, particularly in the most vulnerable communities.
  • The LIFE call 2024 encourages particularly projects which:
    • help develop and implement policies and actions that maximise the health gains from adaptation actions, and that promote a comprehensive response to address the impacts of climate change on health (like, for instance, ‘Health National Adaptation Plans’ or Heat Health Action Plans);
    • facilitate collaboration on human, animal, environment and climate health challenges;
    • implement adaptation actions across sectors that deliver positive health outcomes, including food and agriculture, water and sanitation, housing, urban planning, health care, transport and energy;
• Preparedness for compound risks and cascading risks 
  • Whilst the importance of adaptation is increasingly recognised, multiple reports58 highlight the lack of preparedness and related challenges. Extreme weather events and their impacts have an almost constant presence in the media, and their increased intensity and frequency due to climate change is a particular concern for the E U outermost regions, which are exposed e.g. to hurricanes. Yet, many European cities must also step up their preparedness e.g. for heatwaves and other climate-related health threats, or for growing damages to buildings and infrastructures.
  • The LIFE call 2024 encourages projects which support preparedness for extreme weather events and their multiple risks and cascading effects, notably at a local level and in the outermost regions, and which foster ‘no regret’ adaptation solutions with multiple co-benefits, like nature-based solutions and disaster risk prevention measures.
• Financial instruments, innovative solutions and public private collaboration on insurance and loss data 
  • The share of non-insured economic losses caused by climate-related disasters appears to be widening because of slow adaptation action and more frequent extreme weather events. It is therefore important to examine and promote natural disaster insurance penetration in Member States and to promote national disaster insurance schemes that encourage users to invest in adaptation.
  • Projects in this area should therefore work to promote financial instruments and innovative solutions to deal with climate-induced risks, and public-private collaboration to reduce the share of uninsured climate-related economic losses (including by improving collection and access to climate-related economic loss data). Synergies with related EU-initiatives and EU-funded projects are encouraged.
  • LIFE call 2024 encourages, in particular, projects which:
    • identify and implement best practices in financial instruments for risk management;
    • promote and increase natural disaster insurance penetration, thereby addressing the climate insurance protection gap;
    • strengthen dialogue between insurers, policymakers, local and regional authorities and other stakeholders.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
  • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
  • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • non-EU countries:
      • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the LIFE Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature
• the coordinator must be established in an eligible country

For more information, visit EC.