As Europe faces increasing climate change, building resilience and adapting to new conditions is crucial. In response to this challenge, efforts are at the forefront EU climate change adaptation missionwhich actively contributes to achieving tangible progress across the continent. This mission funds 46 projects from Horizon Europe, the EU's flagship research and innovation programme. These projects are at the heart of regional and local adaptation efforts, delivering practical solutions to real climate risks and helping communities respond to the growing impacts of climate change.

Project catalog, completed in April 2025 by CINEA authors Manny Sidhu and Lee Madigan, brings together key information on each of these 46 projects. It focuses on their objectives, the results achieved, the climate risks they face and the local and regional authorities involved. The projects cover a wide range of sectors and reflect the full diversity of Europe’s geography, climate challenges and adaptation needs.

Mission Implementation Platform (MIP4Adapt): The backbone of adaptation

At the heart of Europe's efforts to build climate resilience is Mission Implementation Platform (MIP4Adapt). This platform acts as a key instrument for the EU's mission on climate change adaptation, providing strategic coordination, tools and targeted support to help regional and local authorities turn ambitions into concrete actions. MIP4Adapt ensures that regional and local authorities have access to the knowledge, resources and networks needed to translate plans into impactful adaptation actions. It offers:

• Strategic coordination and alignment activities across the mission, mission projects and community of practice (CoP).
• Customized technical assistance for charter signatories, including expert advice on developing adaptation strategies and access to financing.
• Monitoring and tracking progress through tools like Barometer.
• Knowledge sharing through the Mission Portal, which provides tools, events, case studies and examples of successful climate adaptation.

Innovation in Action: The Diversity and Impact of Mission Projects The 46 projects funded by the mission are being developed, tested and demonstrated across Europe, addressing diverse climate risks in sectors ranging from water and health to agriculture and infrastructure. Together, MIP4Adapt and these projects form a strong collaborative framework for climate change adaptation, supporting the EU mission's objectives of preparedness, transformation and resilience.

Examples of projects and their benefits:

• Cross-sectional projects: Projects like ARSINO (Climate-resilient regions through systematic solutions and innovations) are pioneering innovative, connected approaches to strengthening climate resilience at the regional and local level, testing portfolios of solutions in nine “Living Labs”. IMPETUS (Dynamic information management approach for the implementation of climate-resilient adaptation packages in European regions) accelerates the transition to a sustainable economy through a dynamic information management approach and system Resilience Knowledge Booster (RKB) in seven pilot regions.
• Ecosystems and Nature-Based Solutions (NbS): This broad category emphasizes the importance of harnessing natural processes. For example, the project ARCADIA (Transformative climate resilience by NbS in the continental bio-geographical region) leads to support the adoption of NbS through the development of regional strategies and has established 15 co-innovation labs across eight European countries, where communities and stakeholders jointly develop NbS action strategies. CARDIMED (Climate adaptation and resilience demonstrated in the Mediterranean region) is developing a unified framework and digital infrastructure to strengthen climate resilience in the Mediterranean, testing more than 80 interventions and 34 types of NbS.
• Finance and local economic systems: Project CLIMATEFIT (Resilient climate financing and investment taskforces) aims to bridge the resilience financing gap by providing knowledge and building the capacity of public authorities to mobilize and coordinate public and private sources of finance. It is collaborating on 20 innovative investment strategies.
• Infrastructure: ICARIA (Improving climate resilience of critical assets) focuses on asset-level modeling to uncover the full spectrum of individual and compound climate hazards and risks, including direct, indirect and cascading impacts, and assess the effectiveness of sustainable adaptation solutions.
• Stakeholder and citizen engagement: AGORA adaptation (A Gathering place to co-design and co-create Adaptation) supports community-based adaptation practices by engaging citizens, civil society organizations, academics, and policymakers to co-create innovative solutions, emphasizing democracy and climate justice. The project launched groundbreaking digital tools such as a mobile app and digital academies.

Through close cooperation with local stakeholders, projects develop and scale nature-based, technological and social solutions, strengthen local governance and citizen engagement a increase knowledge and capacity at all levels of decision-making. In this way, they support the mission's objectives in the areas of preparedness, transformation and resilience.

This catalogue, and in particular the EU Mission projects themselves, are an innovative example of how Europe is striving to build a more resilient future. They offer portable models and tangible impacts on the ground, serving as inspiration for everyone from politicians to citizens. By exploring this catalogue, you can discover how Mission-funded initiatives are shaping more climate-resilient communities and facilitating collaboration and mutual learning across Europe. Spring