All over Europe many initiatives are deployed to adapt to climate change and to mitigate risks. These range from policy incentives to technical solutions and are initiated over a variety of governmental levels ranging from local to national and cross-border. On the other hand, actionable knowledge is still scarce and scattered amongst institutional levels, sectors and countries. Knowing about and learning from evolving knowledge, practical experience and good practices helps other regions and sectors facing similar problems to speed up their adaptation. Therefore, the European Commission aims to support and broaden knowledge exchange between member states.
To share, obtain and create knowledge in an easily accessible way, the Climate-ADAPT online platform was set up. This platform is developed in co-creation with representatives from the European Commission, climate adaptation practitioners and scientists. It helps in learning about sectoral and national adaptation policies and provides a wealth of information on climate adaptation initiatives, from scientific approaches and studies to applied case studies and adaptation measures. The main objective is to share knowledge and to provide inspiring examples on how adverse impacts of climate change can be effectively reduced or prevented. Since its launch, a growing community of European organisations, scientists and practitioners have contributed to the knowledge base of Climate-ADAPT, making it the main hub for climate adaptation in Europe.
After the launch by the EU commissioner and national minsters of environment in 2012, the platform has been continuously improved and is still being used intensively. Through the extensive outreach of the platform, people, regions, and sectors have been able to find and inspire each other, and new networks have been formed. The Covenant of Mayors of European cities is an example of such a newly established network, adding the metropolitan perspective of adaptation.
