AdJUST is a transdisciplinary European consortium whose objective is to achieve a step change in societal understanding of the distributive repercussions of the transition to climate neutrality, and to identify effective and actively-supported policy interventions to accompany climate action so that no-one is left behind. AdJUST combines research approaches from complementary disciplines with a continuous social dialogue, ensuring that the project practices open science, models procedural justice, and builds understanding, trust and capacity among citizens and other stakeholders concerning the transition to climate neutrality. AdJUST engages European public bodies, industry, civil society and researchers—i.e. the quadruple helix—to design and promote a shared vision, inspiring them towards the common goal of achieving climate neutrality. It relies on state-of-the-art economic assessment tools, statistical analysis, and research approaches from other Social Sciences & Humanities disciplines—including political science, business management, public administration, political theory, philosophy and ethics—to generate methodologically-sound research results on the full range of challenges of the just transition. These comprise technical, economic, and social/equity dimensions for firms, workers, households and public bodies, and the potential distributional impacts of the EU Green Deal, NextGenerationEU and Fit for 55. AdJUST produces a set of actionable and context-specific policy recommendations—complementing the Just Transition Fund and the Social Climate Fund—to effectively manage competitiveness and distributional trade-offs associated with the transition across Europe, and in specific countries and sectors. Moving well beyond standard public opinion analysis of preferences for climate action, AdJUST probes the conditions under which households, firms, and unions will actively support these initiatives to transition Europe to carbon neutrality.

NetworkNature+ will continue NetworkNature’s legacy as a ‘network of networks’ and expand it to engage new audiences in addressing the societal challenges outlined by the EU. It will maintain and enhance the established evidence/demand/policy-driven multi-stakeholder platform for NBS, strengthening partnerships and fostering new relationships around a clear strategic framework for action, underpinned by an updated EU Research & Innovation NBS Roadmap and complementary analysis of policy opportunities for integrating NBS at EU, Member State, regional and local level in view of EU 2030 policy targets and EU Missions. NetworkNature+ will provide scientific NBS insights across selected policy priorities and different European and international contexts. This will guide our work around dialogue, stakeholder interactions, knowledge sharing and awareness raising, resulting in products, standards and advisory services that support the growing NBS community of innovators, practitioners and developers. A targeted training and capacity building programme will promote a step change from siloed, project-based thinking towards an integrated, systemic and stakeholder-led approach to NBS planning, design and investment, while leveraging the role of ecosystems as critical infrastructure that support regenerative economic activities and help reduce biodiversity loss. We will enable regional and Europe-wide transdisciplinary collaboration to answer identified R&I needs for NBS via knowledge exchange between EU-funded NBS R&I projects and stakeholders, together with skills development and capacity building for target groups from science, policy, business and society. International collaboration with key strategic partners (e.g. UNCBD, IPBES, IPCC, UNFCCC, UNEP, UNDRR) and selected regions will enable European expertise to inform the global NBS discourse, contributing to the EC’s vision of “a stronger Europe in the world” and supporting new investments for NBS.

Agricultural intensification in EU farmland led to the loss of landscape features (LF) which provide ecosystem services (ES) and support for biodiversity. To tackle this, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aims to increase the prevalence of LF to 10% of the agricultural area, but there are several technical, administrative, economic and social barriers to achieve this. The overall goal of LAFERIA is to identify the key factors that can promote the reintroduction of LF in intensive agricultural areas, and develop strategies to overcome key barriers to achieving the EU objective. Specific objectives include: (i) Quantify LF coverage and connectivity across different agricultural systems; (ii) Establish a comprehensive picture of the benefits and costs of LF for biodiversity, ES, climate change adaptation, yields, incomes, and society at large; (iii) Explore the drivers and challenges for the reintroduction of LF; (iv) Develop strategies and business models to reintroduce LF. The research plan is organised around three major thematic blocks: A first block focuses on environmental sciences, and addresses the current prevalence of LF across distinct agricultural systems in the EU, their importance for ecological connectivity, and their potential for biodiversity and ecosystem benefits. A second block builds on social sciences, and focuses on the key factors which may lead to the reintroduction of LF in areas of intensive agriculture, through a co-learning process with stakeholders, analysing factors of success and failure in existing initiatives, complemented with detailed research at regional (case study) level. In a final block we will translate the results into the design and development of strategies, encompassing the identification of priority regions and agricultural systems to reintroduce LF, the maximisation of the biodiversity and ES potential from LF, and the development of policy tools, business models and market-based solutions taking advantage of LF.

TERRASAFE is a pioneering initiative envisaging to empower local communities in southern Europe and northern Africa to successfully face the escalating challenges of desertification through the adoption of nature-based, social and technological innovations. TERRASAFE’s vision will be operationalized in 5 pilot areas that share a high vulnerability to desertification but, simultaneously, represent the 4 main types of desertification (vegetation decline, soil degradation, water scarcity, and depopulation) and strongly contrast in socio–cultural-ecological circumstances. This vision is supported by a transdisciplinary consortium, ranging from universities to SMEs commercially exploiting innovations. TERRASAFE’s vision is implemented through a multi-actor approach covering all WPs, in particular by setting up 5 partnerships in the 5 pilot areas. In a co-creation process, these partnerships will then (i) define their visions on building desertification resilience and plan their ensuing TERRASAFE work; (ii) map and analyze past and ongoing desertification, identifying hotspots; (iii) evaluate and demonstrate innovations at these hotspots, comparing them with current and traditional/organic practices; (iv) elaborate policy recommendation for the wider uptake of the TERRASAFE-certified innovations, both within and beyond the pilot areas, taking into account lessons learnt from past and ongoing policies against desertification; (v) share their TERRASAFE’s experience with the other areas, other desertification-prone communities and the general public. The consortium will support the partnerships by providing not only harmonized frameworks for each activity but also advice on adapting these frameworks to their specific needs. Finally, the SMEs will provide a wide offer of innovations that they will tailor towards the respective desertification hotspots, in close collaboration with the partnerships.

Together with key stakeholders, NaturaConnect will co-develop knowledge, tools and capacity building programmes to support Member States in implementing an ecologically representative, resilient and well-connected trans-European nature network (TEN-N) that builds on the existing network of protected areas and Green and Blue Infrastructure. Through research, engagement and dissemination activities at the European scale and in a set of six case studies, we will elicit stakeholders’ visions and preferences about conservation objectives, tap into best practices in protected areas management and funding mechanisms, mobilize data and test the TEN-N spatial prioritization analyses and tools produced by NaturaConnect. This addresses two major obstacles identified by the EU Nature Legislation Fitness Check: lack of stakeholder awareness and cooperation, and insufficient knowledge and access to existing funding mechanisms. NaturaConnect will further address a third major obstacle, limited availability of knowledge on biodiversity distribution, drivers of change and conservation solutions. To address this, NaturaConnect brings together a consortium of the top European scientists, policy experts and NGOs to produce and mobilize relevant data and knowledge. This includes refining and applying state-of-the-art models on biodiversity, ecosystem services and environmental change across Europe and under current and future climate and land-use. Equipped with improved data, knowledge, models and spatial planning methods we will identify gaps in protected area coverage, connectivity and resilience under climate and land-use change. We will further develop scenarios for expanding protected areas, establish ecological corridors and other areas of connectivity to address these gaps, thereby offering a blue-print for realizing TEN-N. NaturaConnect will further provide knowledge and decision support for policy, financing and implementation of TEN-N at all relevant scales.