The main objective of the project is to contribute to a transition towards a green economy in Europe through organization of the international conference “Transition to a green economy” (T2gE). This international conference will be an event of major strategic nature during the Slovak Presidency of the European Council. Conference will bring together a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Its ambition is to improve understanding of the green economy concept, identify conclusions and pathways for transition as well as to involve and mobilise various actors and stakeholders in the discussions of possible future actions. The conference also aims to strengthen synergy among various recent initiatives and programmes launched by the European Commission (i.e 7EAP, Circular economy package, Energy Union, Juncker Commission’s priorities etc) and by the Member States, to the benefit of the overall coherence. The conference will aim to bring together policymakers from various EU countries, as well as a range of stakeholders from international organizations, academia, business, and civil society and encourage an open debate around key green economy issues. At the end of the conference, draft conclusions, for both the national and the European level, will be approved which will be useful tool for implementation of policy in the field of green economy. Parallel breakout sessions will be devoted to various relevant subjects with the involvement of representatives from civil society, policymakers, business, science and innovations, and regional and local authorities. The participants will present examples of the green economy approaches from successful countries, which will be discussed and reflected in the conclusions to ensure that green economy policy conclusions are relevant to countries’ needs. Part of the conference will be oriented on practical demonstration of Slovak examples of green/circular economy – field trip.

Worldwide, water resources management is increasingly challenged by water scarcity and climate change, which can trigger and aggravate other ecological (e.g. pests) and socioeconomic threats (e.g. commodity price fluctuations) via feedback loops and cascading impacts across systems. In this context, planning for the future is rife with uncertainties for which conventional decision-making methods and policies are inadequate. The objective of TRANSCEND is to identify and catalyze the adoption of Transformational Adaptation Policies (TAP) to water scarcity, including innovative allocation systems and economic instruments, that are robust and adaptable to uncertainty and change, while simultaneously achieving equitable and sustainable economic growth and welfare. To this end, TRANSCEND will develop a groundbreaking ecosystem of innovation that combines three key pillars: (i) a knowledge network for stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing, (ii) an actionable modeling suite that integrates interdisciplinary socio-ecological science and ensemble forecasting to guide TAP design, and (iii) an accounting and monitoring toolbox that supports implementation and enforcement of TAP in practice. TRANSCEND will apply the ecosystem of innovation to design and implement TAP in 7 labs: Júcar River Basin (RB) (Spain); Reno RB (Italy); Tympaki RB (Greece); Nitra RB (Slovakia); Caplina-Mauri-Desaguadero RB (Peru, Chile & Bolivia); Orontes RB (Lebanon, Syria & Turkey); and Mahanadi RB (Indian states of Chhattisgarh & Odisha). TRANSCEND will leverage this diverse set of demonstrators to initiate adoption of the ecosystem of innovation in 8+ inspiration labs, train 160+ transformation agents, and mainstream uncertainty analysis in key national and European Green Deal strategies. This will provide the knowledge and tools to catalyze robust and systemic transformations to water scarcity and climate change globally, with a clear impact pathway towards TAP adoption in 100+ basins by 2030.

CASRI unites Environment Protection Agencies (EPAs) and similar partners from 13 European countries to support national policy makers and societies to address the Global Challenges and Sustainable Development Goals. EPAs are direct or semi-governmental organisations responsible for monitoring and protecting the environment. CASRI EPAs highly value environmental and sustainability research and innovation (ES R&I), i.e. R&I that is systemic, actionable and transversal. These EPAs and the European Environment Agency have formed an Interest Group (IG) to enhance ES R&I collaboration in the EPA Network representing 37 countries. This CSA HEU-WIDERA Topic proposal aims at facilitating the IG through Collaborative Action coordinating and enhancing systemic, actionable and transversal Sustainability Research and Innovation (CASRI) related to research, policy and R&I funding. CASRI capitalises on the unique capacities of the EPAs and, for the first time, aligns them with the European Research Area. CASRI aims to identify and coordinate ES R&I needs, align national ES R&I programmes and facilitate and converge the application of ES R&I results at both the multilateral and European level while also complementing existing EU and Member State programmes. To achieve this, CASRI addresses eight objectives: 1) Conduct a comprehensive review of national ES R&I funding, exploitation programmes and knowledge needs; 2) Identify national and transnational gaps; 3) Derive transnational commons and develop a Strategic R&I Agenda; 4) Identify opportunities for co-implementation of the SRIA; 5) Bring together funders to collaboratively invest and synergistically deliver the SRIA, or parts thereof, at regional, national and transnational scales; 6) Prepare the implementation of multiannual joint calls; 7) Implement other joint supporting activities for ES R&I; 8) Improve the mid to long term capacities for the collaboration of EPAs and the European Research Area stakeholders.