UNDERPIN addresses critical gaps in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) for climate adaptation across Europe. It will design, develop, and validate an outcome-oriented framework that enhances existing frameworks for assessing climate resilience. This framework will include operationalized process and outcome indicators to track adaptation progress at local, regional, and national levels. A major challenge is the lack of standardized indicators capturing the effectiveness of adaptation efforts. Existing frameworks often focus on processes but fail to assess long-term resilience outcomes. UNDERPIN aims to bridge this gap by developing indicators that evaluate both short-term results and long-term impacts, helping stakeholders assess how well adaptation actions reduce vulnerabilities and enhance resilience. To achieve this, UNDERPIN will review existing climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) indicators and integrate novel data sources, including Earth observation and citizen science. The project will involve stakeholders in three pilot regions to co-create and refine the framework, ensuring practical relevance and adaptability. A user-friendly dashboard with AI and machine learning tools will provide real-time analysis at the EU and regional level, helping decision-makers track progress, identify gaps, and make data-driven decisions. A citizen science and just climate resilience lens is used throughout the different activities of UNDERPIN. By aligning with EU and global reporting standards, such as the EU Adaptation Strategy and the UNFCCC, UNDERPIN will harmonize climate adaptation monitoring across governance levels, fostering a coordinated approach to resilience-building in Europe.

PROSPECT+ will build on the existing H2020 project PROSPECT to enable capacity building in regional and local authorities in order to finance and implement effective and efficient sustainable energy plans, including their proper monitoring and verification and also ensuring that such plans are using synergies from other local plans and that their effects are properly monitored. The learning will continue through the 5 learning modules (public buildings, private buildings, public lighting, transport, and cross-sectoral), with more attention given to improved decision-making of cities on how they choose projects for financing, as well as how to assess and ensure that their projects are finance-ready. The types of innovative financing and the modules will stay the same, but the methodology, the process, and the learning materials will be greatly improved. The ambition of PROSPECT+ is to ensure that over 200 EU cities in at least 20 EU MS improve their capacities when it comes to implementing projects from SECAPs and similar sustainable plans.

The recovery of wildlife populations (large carnivores and large herbivores) has created many additional challenges for pastoralism, already under pressure from multiple socio-economic drivers. These challenges include damage (depredation), extra costs, and many social conflicts. Some of the major obstacles to addressing these challenges are conflicts between stakeholders and the contested nature of relevant knowledge. The CoCo project will address these obstacles by adopting a multi-disciplinary approaches with a strong social science representation and a Multi-Actor Approach with widespread stakeholder engagement that facilitates co-creation of knowledge with high legitimacy. The process will cover (a) the relationship between livestock husbandry practices and damage from wildlife, (b) ways to integrate wildlife management and pastoral management, (c) perceptions and values that different stakeholders have about the pastoralism-wildlife interface, (d) experience with different governance structures, (e) the potential of new and emerging technologies in both wildlife and pastoral management and monitoring, and (f) a cost benefit analysis of different scenarios for pastoral and wildlife management. The project will use methods as diverse as systematic reviews, field inspections, face-to-face interviews, focus groups, questionnaires and modelling. The project’s ambition is to collect original quantitative data from at least 1000 pastoralists, 1000 hunters and 1000 landowners and qualitative data from 100’s of stakeholders deployed in a comparative way across 12 countries. The insights stemming from the reviews, the analysis of new data, and the modelling will be integrated into a Roadmap for Coexistence that produces policy relevant recommendations for a better standardization, harmonization and integration of both pastoral and wildlife management systems. This will reduce conflicts and secure multi-functional landscapes for both pastoralists and wildlife.

B-WaterSmart will accelerate the transformation to water-smart economies and societies in coastal Europe and beyond. We will apply a large-scale systemic innovation approach to select, connect and demonstrate a tailored suite of technology, management and smart data solutions for multiple users and sectors, and create new business models based on circular economy and water-smartness. We bring together six cities and regions as living labs with high ambitions to address water-related challenges and opportunities – Alicante (ES), Bodø (NO), Flanders (BE), Lisbon (PT), East Frisia (DE), Venice (IT) – selected for complementarity of scale, users, sectors and challenges, and for opportunities of mutual learning, replication & upscaling through a network of followers already mobilised. We built each case around the actual problem-owner (water utility, municipality), a research partner, innovative solution providers and market-uptake partners (6 are SMEs), complemented by partners with specific crosscutting expertise (social sciences & humanities, IT, business development, water sector outreach). We will apply a participatory approach for co-creation & implementation of solutions through local Communities of Practice and a joint innovation alliance of problem owners, and develop recommendations for suitable governance models, regulation & policy instruments. We will deliver a novel framework to assess gains in water-smartness and sustainability at different scales. Our cases will demonstrate in real systems, at multiple scales, a range of promising technologies for water reuse/nutrient recovery, and smart data applications for more efficient, safe allocation & use of resources (water, energy, nutrients). For the apps, we build on FIWARE technology to enable interoperability and exchange across sectors, which is key for systemic change. All cases have defined criteria and target values to achieve by the project end and by 2040, and can build on synergies with other funding.

REGILIENCE aims to foster the adoption and wide dissemination of regional climate resilience pathways, following a demand-driven approach and bearing in mind the expertise and knowledge acquired, as well as the solutions available from Innovation Packages and other sources. It will implement the LC-GD-1-3-2020 RIA project results on the Innovation Packages. REGILIENCE will provide coordination by developing a needs survey covering the 50 most vulnerable regions in the EU, which will be shared and matched with Innovation Package projects, 2 citizen surveys and the development of an indicator set for regional resilience, including its testing. We will furthermore review and foster synergies of 30 online platforms to improve their performance and usability for regions and communities. In terms of support, REGILIENCE will provide wide dissemination of the solutions and approaches within networks, regional authorities and key stakeholders, including civil society organisations and citizens. Overall, we plan for almost 700 specific activities with an estimated audience of 100,000 individuals, including 8 large network events, 52 workshops/webinars, 30 twinning, 300 helpdesk, 10 testing, and 40 media activities, amongst others. These aim to share experiences, learn from failure, provide guidance and disseminate knowledge and tools which will be developed by REGILIENCE, such as the Resilience Fundamentals Course, a citizen Resilience Scan Tool, information about resilience funding and financing, including recommendations for the inclusion of climate resilience in the national and regional plans for the EU Recovery Package and the Multiannual Finance Framework, on overcoming barriers and obstacles, maladaptation and the running of 10 tests for innovative public-private partnership approaches. Complementary to wide dissemination, we plan to facilitate the replication of Innovation Packages in 10 additional vulnerable and low-capacity regions.