Recent devastating events, such as the floods that hit Valencia in October 2024, have raised questions about Europe's preparedness to face climate extremes and how cities can prepare for what science has long predicted. warns. In response to this urgent need, a European research team has developed a practical tools, which aim to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and policy.

Project DISTENDER, funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 programme, spent four years researching and collaborating to help regions and municipalities integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation into a single, data-driven framework. The main objective of the project was to create integrated methodological framework for a joint analysis of both dimensions of climate action.

An integrated strategy for sustainable resilience

Expert researchers within the DISTENDER project warn that only by addressing adaptation (adapting to ongoing impacts) and mitigation (reducing emissions) together can we achieve truly sustainable resilienceIf these dimensions are not addressed together, there is a risk of maladaptations – taking measures that solve one problem but worsen another.

The DISTENDER methodology includes comprehensive vulnerability assessment under different climate and socio-economic scenarios. The analysis is carried out across key sectors including water, energy, air quality, health and agriculture, and the adaptive capacity of the area is also assessed. To ensure the relevance and transferability of the methodology across very different territories (for example, pilot work in Austria, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands), a multi-scale, participatory approachThis approach is important because adaptation typically takes place at the city level, while mitigation is often managed at the national or regional level.

Decision support system and decision matrix

DISTENDER turns complex scientific modeling into practical guidance through Decision Support System (DSS). DSS is designed to transform complex climate and socioeconomic information into a clear, comparable set of indicators and options.

The core of this system is decision matrix, where rows represent possible strategies and columns represent key indicators such as price, emissions, public health or land useThis tool provides policymakers with a practical way to navigate trade-offs and identify balanced options, especially with limited budgets and timelines. Thanks to this structured comparison Across sectors and scales, maladaptation can be detected at an early stage – for example, if a strategy improves air quality but also increases energy demand, this side effect is immediately visible.

Bridging the gap between science and policy

One of the biggest challenges the project faced was transforming highly technical scientific outputs into something useful for decision-makers, as “scientists and policymakers speak different languages.” To overcome this problem, the key was co-creative process – workshops and continuous dialogue between researchers, public authorities and stakeholders. The involvement of stakeholders (bottom-up approach) also helped to anchor the analysis in local realities and keep the strategies robust and applicable.

The long-term legacy of DISTENDER is replicable method, which any region or city can use to develop integrated climate strategies. In addition, it will be made publicly available a large, harmonized data set with open access to support further research. The project team is also exploring follow-up initiatives, including a potential European early warning network for extreme events and projects that combine this methodology with AI-based forecasting.

The project showed that building a more resilient and sustainable future is “a way of collaborating across disciplines and borders.” JRi