Leon Kapetas

Email

lkapetas@resilientcitiesnetwork.org

Partner

Resilient Cities Network

To which areas of REACHOUT will you contribute?

As part of REACHOUT, Leon leads the development of a Learning Programme for Climate Services for Cities. He is also engaged in supporting the City of Athens to develop climate services that address pressing socio-environmental challenges (incl. heatwave and flood risk)

What are your hopes/goals for REACHOUT?

My hope is that we manage to build capacity in Cities in the context of climate adaptation and mitigation. Through REACHOUT we would like to mainstream climate resilience in urban policy and decision making, to cover both structural and non-structural measure development supported by the latest climate analysis. Ultimately, we hope that climate action does not sit in an office, but instead diverse stakeholders and citizens become involved in building systemic climate resilience.

Bio

A hydrologist by training, Leon Kapetas is Lead for Programs and Climate Resilience for the Resilient Cities Network in Europe and Middle East. His work focuses on Nature Based Solutions as a vehicle for climate adaptation, raising natural capital while also meeting socioeconomic community objectives. Leon has gained experience in research and consulting environments across high and low income countries. He has been involved in the development of ‘climate resilience toolkits for PPPs’ for the World Bank. He has also worked as climate resilience consultant for the WB in the African urban context. Leon previously worked in South America focusing on water resources development in Andean catchments, with an emphasis on regions challenged by mining activity. As Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, Leon developed techniques for demonstrating NBS’ value-for-money in adaptation planning. Over the years, he has engaged in numerous capacity building schemes on climate resilience & NbS mainstreaming. Leon is actively engaged in the development and delivery of European Commission Research & Innovation projects.