Hubs for Circularity (H4C) are to be the European lighthouses of resource efficiency: through implementing best practice in industrial and urban symbiosis (I-US), the H4C are intended to achieve a step change in circular utilisation of resources and GHG emission reductions within given geographic areas. The European Community of Practice (ECoP) builds on and brings together ongoing work and expertise on H4C and I-US, initially supporting the H4C demonstrations funded under Horizon Europe. This project will develop both the ECoP network of stakeholders (commencing with funded H4C demo projects) together with an information and knowledge platform to enable stakeholders to take action. By creating awareness and fostering knowledge sharing between regions/cities and their industries, the H4C Platform will provide the tools and the evidence base for the approach to be adopted widely across Europe. A sustainable business model for deployment of the toolkit and services developed under the project will ensure the H4C ECoP is maintained well into the future. This consortium led by ISQ not only includes world leaders in the field (experienced in delivery, training, stakeholder engagement, models and methodologies) but also has the specific committed support and participation of many of the European bodies (those representing regions, cities, industry, educational institutions etc) that are needed to both disseminate the project outcomes and initiate implementation. Working closely with its sister consortium H4C-Europe, the H4C ECoP consortium is confident of delivering an ECoP and H4C platform that will achieve the target of greater circularity and carbon neutrality through profitable actions that also benefit communities/civil society.

In an era of increasing urban vulnerabilities to disasters, this project stands as a beacon of innovation and action. Cities across the globe, including those within the European Union, face increasing number of crises, from climate-driven catastrophes to seismic shocks. These events disrupt economies, societies, and scar the environment, calling for more than just a return to the pre-disaster state; they call for metamorphosis. In "Metamorphosis" project, I will build on the "build back better" principles and develop a framework and tool that would help cities to leap forward by integrating climate adaptation and mitigation, and become not only resilient but also climate neutral. This approach aligns seamlessly with two pivotal EU missions: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, and Climate Adaptive Regions by 2030. This inquiry focuses on the Climate City Contract (CCC), a transformative and inclusive governance tool developed by the net-zero research and practice community in the EU. This project aims to evolve it into a Climate Recovery Contract (CRC), one tailored for post-disaster scenarios. The backdrop for this exploration is Ukraine's post-war recovery, offering a unique field to integrate climate transformation into recovery planning. All together, the EU-Ukraine context forms fertile ground for the expansion of knowledge on post-disaster recovery and the crafting of practical instruments like CRC. These endeavors will empower cities not merely to return to their prior states after disasters but to stride forward, embracing climate resilience and net-zero recovery in a collaborative manner, a metamorphosis urgently needed in the face of the global climate emergency.

The construction sector is responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions, 50% of all extracted materials, and 35% of waste generated. TIMBERHAUS will contribute significantly to decreasing these numbers and reaching Europe’s climate policy targets by developing innovative circular solutions for sustainable wood construction. TIMBERHAUS will use the considerable expertise and innovation power of the multi-actor consortium consisting of key stakeholders across the value chain to realise the full circular and sustainable potential of wood construction. Game changing wood processing technologies based on machine learning and artificial intelligence will be developed and used in the prototyping of innovative wood construction products incorporating currently underutilized wood resources and post-consumer wood. Supporting the New European Bauhaus, holistic and circular wood building blueprints for multi-story buildings incorporating local cultural traditions and design languages as well as human health and well-being aspects will be co-created and demonstrated as digital pilots together with European cities and their stakeholders. New knowledge on the quantitative limits and opportunities of wood as a resource will be generated to give valuable input to forest and climate policy development. To support the European Commission’s framework for carbon removal certification, TIMBERHAUS will develop a robust and cost-efficient methodology to quantify the carbon removal benefits of wood construction products and other materials. A European observatory for wood construction will be established to provide best practise guidelines and monitor statistics and market uptake. Localised and EU-level decarbonisation strategies for buildings will be developed along with roadmaps for mainstreaming multi-story wood buildings. Based on project learnings, policy recommendations will be provided along with recommendations for new or updated European harmonised technical specifications and Eurocodes.

The impacts of climate change on people, planet and prosperity are intensifying. Many regions and communities are struggling to avoid losses and need to step up the effort to increase their climate resilience. Ongoing natural capital degradation leads to growing cost, increased vulnerability, and decreased stability of key systems. Therefore, the European Mission on Climate Adaptation acknowledges the need to adopt a systemic approach by working across sectors and disciplines, experimenting, and involving local communities. NBRACER steps up to this challenge with an innovative and practical approach to accelerate the transformation towards climate resilient regions that are safe, green, clean, healthy, and just. Adaptation will be based on the smart packaging of nature-based solutions (NBS), rooted in the resources supplied by biogeographic landscapes, and embedded in a transformative action approach that mobilizes and enables regions and communities to accelerate forward. NBRACER works with Demonstrating and Replicating regions in the European Atlantic biogeographical area to vision and co-design place based sustainable NBS that are at one with the regional landscapes, upscaling these into coherent regional packages and building time and place specific adaptation pathways integrating local solutions and regional scales. This process is supported by a regional scale effort to build adaptation journeys with community support, with input from teams testing and validating place based NBS solution portfolios situated in landscapes. Innovative technical and adaptation transformation support packages provide quantitative mapping methods and a transformative action approach and capacity building, and networking enable scaling out and building connections. Led by Deltares, advanced in climate adaptation science, the consortium builds synergy from the strength of practitioners, ecosystem engineers, innovators of transformative adaptation, finance, and capacity building experts.

EIT-H2Cities is a XKIC collaboration driving industry-led systemic innovation for the uptake of hydrogen (H2) applications in mobility. EIT UM, EIT-M and CKIC will collaborate with industry actors to create Hydrogen Living Labs in two RIS cities. Together with the local community, innovators will test new products and changes in the energy chain. Hereby, EIT-H2Cities will break the circular conundrum of high production cost, low demand, no infrastructure, and address cities’ lack of capacity to build a replicable roadmap for local authorities looking to integrate hydrogen into their net-zero strategies. On budgetary division, in EIT-H2Cities the three KICs aim to consume less than 20% of the total costs. Defined innovation partners cover 48% of total costs and new legal partners will cover 32% of total costs. The decision to have legal partners within the XKIC is innovative in itself but also drives up co-financing and ensures city and industry full engagement in the initiative with a higher likelihood of financial success. Furthermore, EIT-H2Cities will build on programmes such as the Mission Platform and aims to become an umbrella association for wider engagement beyond the project lifespan, including for example district heating systems and local generation and storage. Our open partnership model will deliver EIT core KPIs on marketed innovation and SME/ Start-ups created, while a commercial pipeline and city replications will result from the experience of EIT-H2Cities. Dissemination, communication and exploitation activities will aim at inspiring follower cities and exposing citizens to the benefits of H2 applications in the mobility sector. Overall, EIT-H2Cities is a unique opportunity for a highly relevant XKIC that responds to community needs and enables EU companies to gain skills, capacity and market share in a rapidly growing economic sector.