At this years’ ECCA from 19-21 June the REACHOUT project had the unique opportunity to present and discuss its climate service tools and toolkit development. At ECCA other tools and decision-support platforms that facilitate climate adaptation efforts were also explored. Several thematic areas were covered, including stepping up climate action, adaptation responses to sea level rise and coastal change, nature-based solutions, preparing for climate extremes, reframing societal transformation, and climate resilience of future energy infrastructure and systems.

Toolkit forum plenary and demonstration sessions

Together with sister projects, REACHOUT organized a plenary and a demonstration session dedicated to climate resilience tools. The plenary session took place on Tuesday, June 20 with ~ 150 participants and an additional ~100 online participants. The session was led by Jan Cools (TransformAr) and Ad Jeuken (Deltares/REACHOUT) focussing on the practical aspects of utilizing tools and approaches for climate resilience. With thought-provoking pitches, a panel discussion and insightful reflections, renowned experts and practitioners were brought together to explore innovative ways of strengthening climate resilience at regional and global scales.

The Toolkit forum demonstration session took place on Wednesday 21st of June. Through pitches and demonstrations, different climate services-tools developed in the Green Deal projects REACHOUT, REGILIENCE, ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TRANSFORMAR were shown. During the Toolkit forum the Triple-A Toolkit was presented and discussed. One of the aims was to identify which tools to include in the toolkit and which tools should be used and promoted. The discussion facilitated interaction between urban/regional resilience policy makers (target EU mission on cities and adaption), consultants, climate service platforms and developers. By bringing together both users and developers, this forum contributed towards a sustainable toolkit development built on existing services and frameworks through the discussion. By showcasing tools, the status and challenges of climate service development in support of urban and regional adaptation were discussed.

Take-away messages ECCA 2023

An impressive selection of tools is available to support local authorities and regions in adaptation efforts. Different EU funded projects are contributing towards this goal. The following messages can be taken away from the sessions:

– Tool developers present are aware of the need to improve the accessibility and utility of existing tools. Also, the need for coordinated action among the different projects and platforms in support of the Mission on Adaptation was acknowledged.

– There is a clear need for better disclosure of tools. There is currently no one-stop-shop where users can find the right tool for the job. The idea of a common finding place for tools is supported. REACHOUT’s Triple-A Toolkit aims to provide such a finding place.

– If such a one-stop-shop toolkit can be developed from REACHOUT (but also in collaboration with our sister projects), how can it be sustained after the duration of the projects? The platform for the mission on adaptation can potentially be a suitable landing place. REACHOUT will explore this idea further with other key players.

– There is a clear need for tools to better capture the social dimensions of adaptation to support just transformation.

– There is a clear need for capacity development and training, to help users to apply the tools that are available.

For more details on REACHOUT and ECCA please read the deliverable Midterm City toolkit forum